The Effect of Guest Incivility Behavior Towards Hotel Employees’ Job Performance
Abstract
Workplace incivility is one of many types of workplace abuse. It affects anyone, but it may be prone to happen to hospitality industry workers such as hotel employees. This negative behavior has a significant negative impact on the employees. This study wants to determine the effect of guest incivility behavior on hotel employees' job performance. This study employs a descriptive research design using a quantitative questionnaire approach—one hundred seven hotel employees were involved in this research. This research shows that guest uncivility behavior does hurt their job performance. They will likely have low job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, increased turnover intentions, and higher stress levels. Future research can be conducted with a larger sample size as a small number of respondents from the hotel might not represent the majority of hotel employees. The hotel industry and stakeholders should use the result to grasp a solution to said problem.
References
Abubakar, A. M. (2018). Linking work-family interference, workplace incivility, gender and psychological distress. Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 226–242. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-06-2017-0207
Akbari, M. (2018). Developing a typology of customer misbehaviours (Case study: hotel industry, Iran five stars' hotels, Homa, Parsian Azadi, Esteghlal, Evin). International Journal of Business Excellence, 16(1), 19-34.
Alola, U. V., Olugbade, O. A., Avci, T., & Öztüren, A. (2019). Customer incivility and employees' outcomes in the hotel: Testing the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 9–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2018.10.004
Baker, M. A., & Kim, K. (2021). Becoming cynical and depersonalized: How incivility, co- worker support and service rules affect employee job performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(12), 4483–4504. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-01-2021-0105
Cai, R. (Raine), Lu, L., & Gursoy, D. (2018). Effect of disruptive customer behaviors on others’ overall service experience: An appraisal theory perspective. Tourism Management, 69, 330–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.013
Cheng, B., Zhou, X., & Guo, G. (2019). Family-to-work spillover effects of family incivility on employee sabotage in the service industry. International Journal of Conflict Management, 30(2), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcma-06-2018-0076
Cho, M., Bonn, M. A., Han, S. J., & Lee, K. H. (2016). Workplace incivility and its effect upon restaurant frontline service employee emotions and service performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(12), 2888– 2912. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-04-2015-0205
Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Magley, V. J., & Nelson, K. (2017). Researching rudeness: The past, present, and future of the science of incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 299–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000089
Doe, F.& Essiaw, M. (2021). When being hospitable hurts (staff experiences of bullying from hotel guests). International Hospitality Review. ahead-of-print. 10.1108/IHR- 11-2021-0071.
Gettman, H., & Gelfand, M. (2007). When the Customer Shouldn't Be King: Antecedents and Consequences of Sexual Harassment by Clients and Customers. The Journal of applied psychology. 92. 757-70. 10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.757.
Halim, H., Tengku Radin, T. M., Azizan, F. L., & Nazri, N. S. (2021). Workplace environment, leader communication and Hotel employee retention: Job satisfaction as a mediator. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 37(4), 384–404. https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2021-3704-22
Hemelryk, S. (2006). How polite are we? Reader’s Digest, July, 54−62.
Holm, K., Torkelson, E., & Bäckström, M. (2022). Workplace incivility as a risk factor for workplace bullying and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study of targets and bystanders in a sample of Swedish engineers. BMC Psychology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00996-1
Homburg, C., Wieseke, J., & Bornemann, T. (2009). Implementing the marketing concept at the employee–customer interface: The role of Customer Need Knowledge. Journal of Marketing, 73(4), 64–81. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.4.64
Karatepe, O.M., Kim, T.T. & Lee, G. (2019), “Is political skill really an antidote in the workplace incivility emotional exhaustion and outcome relationship in the hotel industry?”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Vol. 40, pp. 40-49, doi: 10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.06.001.
Kassiani Nikolopoulou. Scribbr. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.scribbr.com/author/kassianin/page/3/
Khan, M. S., Elahi, N. S., & Abid, G. (2021). Workplace Incivility and Job Satisfaction: Mediation of Subjective Well-Being and Moderation of Forgiveness Climate in Health Care Sector. European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education, 11(4), 1107–1119. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11040082
Kim, H. & Qu, H., (2018). The Effect of Experienced Customer Incivility on Employee’s Behaviour Towards Customers and Co-Workers. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 43, No. 1, January 2019, 58–77 DOI: 10.1177/1096348018764583
Kim, H., Shin, S., Heath, C. J., Zhang, Q., & Higgins, E. T. (2017). Regulatory mode and willingness to increase retirement savings contributions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47(8), 436–445. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12450
King, B., & Tang, C. M. (2018). Employee preferences for industry retention strategies: The case of macau’s “Golden nest eggs.” International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 21(2), 115–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2018.1429343
Koopmans, L., Bernaards, C. M., Hildebrandt, V. H., Lerner, D., de Vet, H. C. W., & van der Beek, A. J. (2016). Cross-cultural adaptation of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire. Work, 53(3), 609–619. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-152237
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Kusluvan, S., Kusluvan, Z., Ilhan, I., & Buyruk, L. (2010). The human dimension. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), 171–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965510362871
Li, S., Zhan, J., Cheng, B., & Scott, N. (2021). Frontline employee anger in response to customer incivility: Antecedents and consequences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 96, 102985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102985
Meier, L. L., & Spector, P. E. (2013). Reciprocal effects of work stressors and counterproductive work behavior: A five-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(3), 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031732
Morrow, P.C., McElroy, J.C. & Scheibe, K.P. (2011), “Work unit incivility, job satisfaction, and total quality management among transportation employees”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 1210-1220, doi: 10.1016/j.tre.2011.03.004.
Porath, C.L. & Pearson, C. (2013), “The price of incivility”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 91 Nos 1-2, pp. 115-121
Prosser, C. (2018, December 10). Survey finds fast-food workers spat on, abused and threatened. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/fast-food-workers-urge-customers-to-stop-the-abuse/10601502
Rahim, A. & Cosby, D.M. (2016). “A model of workplace incivility, job burnout, turnover intentions and job performance”, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 35 No. 10, pp. 1255-1265, doi: 10.1108/JMD-09-2015-0138.
Torres, E. N., van Niekerk, M., & Orlowski, M. (2016). Customer and employee incivility and its causal effects in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 26(1), 48–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2016.1178620
Ugwu, F. O., Onyishi, E. I., Anozie, O. O., & Ugwu, L. E. (2021). Customer incivility and employee work engagement in the hospitality industry: Roles of supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 5(3), 515–534. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-06-2020-0113
Walker, D. D., van Jaarsveld, D. D., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2014). Exploring the effects of individual customer incivility encounters on employee incivility: The moderating roles of entity (in)civility and negative affectivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(1), 151–161. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034350
Yang, L.-Q., Sliter, M., Cheung, J. H., Sinclair, R. R., & Mohr, C. (2018). Social support from coworkers scales. PsycTESTS Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/t71203-000
Yao, J., Lim, S., Guo, C. Y., Ou, A. Y., & Ng, J. W. (2022). Experienced incivility in the workplace: A Meta-analytical review of its construct validity and nomological network. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(2), 193–220. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000870
Akbari, M. (2018). Developing a typology of customer misbehaviours (Case study: hotel industry, Iran five stars' hotels, Homa, Parsian Azadi, Esteghlal, Evin). International Journal of Business Excellence, 16(1), 19-34.
Alola, U. V., Olugbade, O. A., Avci, T., & Öztüren, A. (2019). Customer incivility and employees' outcomes in the hotel: Testing the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Tourism Management Perspectives, 29, 9–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2018.10.004
Baker, M. A., & Kim, K. (2021). Becoming cynical and depersonalized: How incivility, co- worker support and service rules affect employee job performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 33(12), 4483–4504. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-01-2021-0105
Cai, R. (Raine), Lu, L., & Gursoy, D. (2018). Effect of disruptive customer behaviors on others’ overall service experience: An appraisal theory perspective. Tourism Management, 69, 330–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.013
Cheng, B., Zhou, X., & Guo, G. (2019). Family-to-work spillover effects of family incivility on employee sabotage in the service industry. International Journal of Conflict Management, 30(2), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcma-06-2018-0076
Cho, M., Bonn, M. A., Han, S. J., & Lee, K. H. (2016). Workplace incivility and its effect upon restaurant frontline service employee emotions and service performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(12), 2888– 2912. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-04-2015-0205
Cortina, L. M., Kabat-Farr, D., Magley, V. J., & Nelson, K. (2017). Researching rudeness: The past, present, and future of the science of incivility. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 299–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000089
Doe, F.& Essiaw, M. (2021). When being hospitable hurts (staff experiences of bullying from hotel guests). International Hospitality Review. ahead-of-print. 10.1108/IHR- 11-2021-0071.
Gettman, H., & Gelfand, M. (2007). When the Customer Shouldn't Be King: Antecedents and Consequences of Sexual Harassment by Clients and Customers. The Journal of applied psychology. 92. 757-70. 10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.757.
Halim, H., Tengku Radin, T. M., Azizan, F. L., & Nazri, N. S. (2021). Workplace environment, leader communication and Hotel employee retention: Job satisfaction as a mediator. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 37(4), 384–404. https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2021-3704-22
Hemelryk, S. (2006). How polite are we? Reader’s Digest, July, 54−62.
Holm, K., Torkelson, E., & Bäckström, M. (2022). Workplace incivility as a risk factor for workplace bullying and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study of targets and bystanders in a sample of Swedish engineers. BMC Psychology, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00996-1
Homburg, C., Wieseke, J., & Bornemann, T. (2009). Implementing the marketing concept at the employee–customer interface: The role of Customer Need Knowledge. Journal of Marketing, 73(4), 64–81. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.4.64
Karatepe, O.M., Kim, T.T. & Lee, G. (2019), “Is political skill really an antidote in the workplace incivility emotional exhaustion and outcome relationship in the hotel industry?”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Vol. 40, pp. 40-49, doi: 10.1016/j.jhtm.2019.06.001.
Kassiani Nikolopoulou. Scribbr. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.scribbr.com/author/kassianin/page/3/
Khan, M. S., Elahi, N. S., & Abid, G. (2021). Workplace Incivility and Job Satisfaction: Mediation of Subjective Well-Being and Moderation of Forgiveness Climate in Health Care Sector. European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education, 11(4), 1107–1119. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11040082
Kim, H. & Qu, H., (2018). The Effect of Experienced Customer Incivility on Employee’s Behaviour Towards Customers and Co-Workers. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 43, No. 1, January 2019, 58–77 DOI: 10.1177/1096348018764583
Kim, H., Shin, S., Heath, C. J., Zhang, Q., & Higgins, E. T. (2017). Regulatory mode and willingness to increase retirement savings contributions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47(8), 436–445. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12450
King, B., & Tang, C. M. (2018). Employee preferences for industry retention strategies: The case of macau’s “Golden nest eggs.” International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 21(2), 115–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/15256480.2018.1429343
Koopmans, L., Bernaards, C. M., Hildebrandt, V. H., Lerner, D., de Vet, H. C. W., & van der Beek, A. J. (2016). Cross-cultural adaptation of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire. Work, 53(3), 609–619. https://doi.org/10.3233/wor-152237
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Kusluvan, S., Kusluvan, Z., Ilhan, I., & Buyruk, L. (2010). The human dimension. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), 171–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965510362871
Li, S., Zhan, J., Cheng, B., & Scott, N. (2021). Frontline employee anger in response to customer incivility: Antecedents and consequences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 96, 102985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102985
Meier, L. L., & Spector, P. E. (2013). Reciprocal effects of work stressors and counterproductive work behavior: A five-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(3), 529–539. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031732
Morrow, P.C., McElroy, J.C. & Scheibe, K.P. (2011), “Work unit incivility, job satisfaction, and total quality management among transportation employees”, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Vol. 47 No. 6, pp. 1210-1220, doi: 10.1016/j.tre.2011.03.004.
Porath, C.L. & Pearson, C. (2013), “The price of incivility”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 91 Nos 1-2, pp. 115-121
Prosser, C. (2018, December 10). Survey finds fast-food workers spat on, abused and threatened. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-10/fast-food-workers-urge-customers-to-stop-the-abuse/10601502
Rahim, A. & Cosby, D.M. (2016). “A model of workplace incivility, job burnout, turnover intentions and job performance”, Journal of Management Development, Vol. 35 No. 10, pp. 1255-1265, doi: 10.1108/JMD-09-2015-0138.
Torres, E. N., van Niekerk, M., & Orlowski, M. (2016). Customer and employee incivility and its causal effects in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 26(1), 48–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2016.1178620
Ugwu, F. O., Onyishi, E. I., Anozie, O. O., & Ugwu, L. E. (2021). Customer incivility and employee work engagement in the hospitality industry: Roles of supervisor positive gossip and workplace friendship prevalence. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 5(3), 515–534. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhti-06-2020-0113
Walker, D. D., van Jaarsveld, D. D., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2014). Exploring the effects of individual customer incivility encounters on employee incivility: The moderating roles of entity (in)civility and negative affectivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99(1), 151–161. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034350
Yang, L.-Q., Sliter, M., Cheung, J. H., Sinclair, R. R., & Mohr, C. (2018). Social support from coworkers scales. PsycTESTS Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/t71203-000
Yao, J., Lim, S., Guo, C. Y., Ou, A. Y., & Ng, J. W. (2022). Experienced incivility in the workplace: A Meta-analytical review of its construct validity and nomological network. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(2), 193–220. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000870
Published
2023-09-01
How to Cite
MANSHOOR, Amir et al.
The Effect of Guest Incivility Behavior Towards Hotel Employees’ Job Performance.
International Journal of Business and Technology Management, [S.l.], v. 5, n. S1, p. 242-251, sep. 2023.
ISSN 2682-7646.
Available at: <https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijbtm/article/view/23656>. Date accessed: 09 july 2025.
