How and for whom does customer incivility affect employee outcomes? A three-wave survey

Purpose This study aims to disentangle the underlying mechanisms among customer incivility, service recovery performance and service employee creativity using conservation of resources theory. It also examines the moderating effects of regulatory focus (i.e. promotion and prevention focus) on the relationship between customer incivility and customer orientation. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from 323 full-time frontline employees in high-contact service industries in Japan. Participants were recruited using an online research panel and administered a three-wave survey with a one-month lag. Findings The results of partial least squares equation modeling revealed that customer orientation was a critical mediator of the effects of customer incivility. Notably, these results remained consistent even when controlling for emotional exhaustion and intrinsic motivation as alternative mediators. Moreover, prevention focus moderated the relationship between customer incivility and customer orientation, whereas promotion focus did not. Research limitations/implications Data collection using an online research panel constrained the generalizability of findings. Practical implications The findings offer service and human resource (HR) managers insights into effectively handling customer incivility in terms of HR practices. Originality/value This study identifies the mediating role of customer orientation in the context of service recovery performance and service employee creativity while ruling out emotional exhaustion and intrinsic motivation.