Impact of Customer Incivility on Turnover Intention; A Mediating Role of Job Burnout in Front-Line Workers of Five Star Restaurants in Islamabad

Abstract

Employee turnover continues to represent one of the most significant challenges faced by restaurant industry, and customer incivility is regarded as being related to this phenomenon. In order to obtain a better understanding about the relationships between customer incivility, restaurant frontline service employee burnout and their turnover, information was collected from 169 frontline service employees working in five star restaurants of Islamabad, Pakistan. Employees provided details of their experiences and attitudes regarding customer incivility as well as information on their job burnout and turnover intention. Results confirmed that customer incivility has a positive relationship with restaurant frontline service employee job burnout. Further, this study found that the relationship between customer incivility and turnover intention through job burnout were mediated. The moderating roles that organizational support and supervisory support play upon the relationships between customer incivility and burnout were also investigated. Results confirmed that organizational and supervisory support moderates the relationship between customer incivility and burnout.