Stop being mean! Customer incivility influencing employee incivility via employee burnout: a hospitality context

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of customer incivility on employee burnout and incivility in the restaurant sector. The results showed that supervisory support moderated the relationship between customer incivility and employee burnout but not the relationship between employee burnout and employee incivility. The study also investigated the role of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment) as mediator in the relationship. A sample of 446 Chinese restaurant employees was used, and the results indicated that customer incivility had a significant impact on employee incivility through employee burnout. The study found that supervisory support served to moderate the relationship between customer incivility and employee burnout, but it had no impact on the correlation between employee burnout and incivility. Additionally, it explored the sequential mediating effect of the three aspects of burnout, namely emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment. This study provides insights for restaurant operations to minimize employee incivility, especially for stressful times such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.