Investigating the effect of customer incivility on employee incivility via employee burnout in the hospitality industry

This study investigates the relationships among customer incivility, employee incivility, and employee burnout in the hospitality industry. It further explores whether or not supervisory support, as a coping strategy, moderates the relationship between customer incivility and burnout. A survey questionnaire was distributed to 446 restaurant employees in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. A structural equation model (SEM) was then applied for data analysis. The results demonstrate that (a) customer incivility is positively related to employee incivility in the hospitality industry, (b) burnout mediates the relationship between customer incivility and employee incivility, and (c) supervisory support plays an important moderating role between customer incivility and employee burnout. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications are provided, as well as the study’s limitations and recommendations for future studies.