Predicting turnover intention in Indonesian public organisations: investigating the effect of citizen and workplace incivility, and job insecurity

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the effect of citizens' uncivil behaviours on the turnover intention of public service personnel. It tested the moderated mediation role of job insecurity and workplace incivility. The conservation of resource (COR) theory was employed to explain the public service personnel's reactions to resource loss threats and the desire to conserve the remaining resources.Design/methodology/approachA longitudinal quantitative study design was used with a moderated mediation regression technique. Data were collected from 235 full-time public service personnel from five Indonesian public service organizations. The organizations included higher education, regional government institutions, and health, tourism, and transportation departments. All measures were valid and reliable for study purposes.FindingsThe citizen incivility's effect on turnover intention was mediated by job insecurity and moderated by workplace incivility. Citizen incivility positively influenced job insecurity only under high workplace incivility. Therefore, citizens' uncivil behaviours could not increase public service personnel's job insecurity and turnover intention without high workplace incivility.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on citizens' incivility as a source of social stressors in Indonesian public organizations. The findings showed that citizens' hostile behaviours impact public employees' job insecurity only through workplace incivility.