Work calling and abusive supervision: Boon or bane in hospitality organization?

Abstract

Although research on calling is increasing, there is still ample opportunity for a deeper understanding of how calling impacts employee behaviors in the workplace. Precisely, whether calling makes employees engage in constructive deviant behaviors for customers has remained unexplored. Drawing upon the attribution theory and the theory of planned behavior, the study proposes that work calling fosters a customer-focused constructive voice that prompts employees to engage in pro-customer rule-breaking. The study further examines the role of abusive supervision and job autonomy as boundary conditions to explain such employee behaviors. Two independent multi-wave and multi-source studies were conducted in hospitality organizations to examine the proposed hypotheses. This study extends the literature on constructive deviance by supporting the association between work calling and pro-customer rule-breaking mediated through constructive voice. This study also lends support for positive impacts of abusive supervision on individual employee level outcomes. The implications for academicians and practitioners are discussed.