The cost of rude customers: customer incivility and employee performance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recognizing the substantial challenges faced by frontline employees in the dynamic tourism and hospitality industry, who frequently contend with incivility during their daily interactions with customers, this study represents a valuable addition to the incivility literature. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the adverse effects of customer incivility on frontline employees’ behaviour, with a particular focus on examining their affective and cognitive responses. Frontline employees in the US. Midwest participated in the survey questionnaires. A two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) examined the measurement model and structural model. The study's findings provide compelling evidence that customer incivility relates to employees’ negative affectivity concerning their jobs. This negative affectivity is unveiled as an underlying mechanism that establishes a connection between customer incivility and decreased service performance and increased turnover intention. Additionally, customer incivility triggers cognitive responses in employees, leading to a desire to retaliate, which has a negative impact on their service performance. The moderating role of supervisor support was observed. In identifying both mediators and a moderator of customer incivility's impact on employee performance, this research endeavours to enrich the existing literature. The study shares a thoughtful discussion of the theoretical and practical implications.