Exploring the Moderating Role of Employee Entitlement: Insight into the Social Support Paradox

Abstract

This study examined the interface of paradoxical responses (i.e., employee entitlement and job satisfaction) to social support in the form of employee orientation in hospitality contexts. A large-scale, multi-source, survey-based field study on restaurant employees and customers was conducted. The findings showed that employees who received support developed a sense of entitlement that ultimately undermined the benefits of job satisfaction on limiting employee incivility toward customers. This understudied entitlement perspective is insightful for justifying the paradoxical negative effect of social support in hospitality service settings. Practical implications for hospitality managers to handle the social support paradox and employee entitlement, as well as study limitations and future research directions, are all discussed.