The Effect of Customer Verbal Aggression on Burnout in Frontline Employees in Hotels and Travel Agencies: The Moderating Role of Perceived Supervisor Support

This study aimed to assess the effect of customer verbal aggression (CVA) on job burnout (JB) in frontline employee in both hotels and travel agencies, trying to reveal if there is a difference between both sectors in this context. The study additionally tested the moderation role of perceived supervisor support (PSS) in the relation between customer verbal aggression and burnout in hotels and travel agencies. Two versions of the questionnaire were distributed online. The first among hotels employees and the second was addressed to travel agencies employees; 613 were retrieved and analyzed using the version of Spss 23.0. The results showed a significant difference among the level of customer verbal aggression, job burnout, and perceived supervisor support in hotels and travel agencies. Although there was a significant relation between customer verbal aggression and job burnout among frontline employees in both settings, this relationship was moderated by PSS in hotels but not in travel agencies. Eventually, the study concludes with recommendations and practical managerial implications in this regard and it can be considered as a first step for helping practitioners to efficiently manage such a phenomenon.

Agarwala, T., Arizkuren-Eleta, A., Castillo, E. D., Muniz-Ferrer, A., & Gartzia, L. (2014). Influence of managerial support on work-life conflict and organizational commitment: An international comparison for India, Peru and Spain. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(10), 1460-1483.

Akkawanitcha, C., Patterson, P., Buranapin, S., & Kantabutra, S. (2015). Frontline employees’ cognitive appraisals and well-being in the face of customer aggression in an Eastern, collectivist culture. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(4), 268-279.

Babakus, E., Yavas, U., & Ashill, N. J. (2009). The role of customer orientation as a moderator of the job demand-burnout-performance relationship: A surface-level trait perspective. Journal of Retailing, 85(4), 480-492.

Blanch, A., & Aluja, A. (2012). Social support (family and supervisor), work-family conflict, and burnout: Sex differences. Human Relations, 65(7), 811-833.

Charoensukmongkol, P., Moqbel, M., & Wirsching, S. G. (2016). The role of co-worker and supervisor support on job burnout and job satisfaction. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 13(1), 4-22.

Cheng, C. Y., Jiang, D. Y., Cheng, B. S., Riley, J. H., & Jen, C. K. (2015). When do subordinates commit to their supervisors? Different effects of perceived supervisor integrity and support on Chinese and American employees. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(1), 81-97.

Chiu, S. F., Yeh, S. P., & Huang, T. C. (2015). Role stressors and employee deviance: The moderating effect of social support. Personnel Review, 44(2), 308-324.

Choi, C. H., Kim, T., Lee, G., & Lee, S. K. (2014). Testing the stressor-strain-outcome model of customer-related social stressors in predicting emotional exhaustion, customer orientation and service recovery performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, 272-285.

Choi, S., Cheong, K. J., & Feinberg, R. A. (2012). Moderating effects of supervisor support, monetary rewards, and career paths on the relationship between job burnout and turnover intentions in the context of call centers. Managing Service Quality, 22(5), 492-516.

Choi, C. H., & Lee, S. K. (2010). Structural relationships between antecedents and con-sequences of hotel employees’ perceptions of difficult customers in emotional labor. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Studies, 12(4), 176-192.

Dormann, C., & Zapf, D. (2004). Customer-related social stressors and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 9(1), 61-82.

Dursun, S., & Aytac, S. (2014). The effect of customer aggression on burnout. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(4), 369-372.

Echeverri, P., Salomonson, N., & Åberg, A. (2012). Dealing with customer misbehavior: Employees’ tactics, practical judgment and implicit knowledge. Marketing Theory, 12(4), 427-449.

Ferguson, M. (2012). You cannot leave it at the office: Spillover and crossover of coworker incivility. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(4), 571-588.

Fu, Y. (2016). Exploring the influence of customer behaviour on frontline employee engagement (A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Recreation and Leisure Studies Waterloo, Ontario, Canada).

Grandey, A., Dickter, D. N., & Sin, H. P. (2004). The customer is not always right: Customer aggression and emotion regulation of service employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 397-418.

Halbesleben, J. R. B. (2006). Sources of social support and burnout: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(5), 1134-1145.

Han, S. J., Bonn, M. A., & Cho, M. (2016). The relationship between customer incivility, restaurant frontline service employee burnout and turnover intention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 52, 97-106.

Harris, L. C., & Kate, L. R. (2003). The consequences of dysfunctional customer behavior. Journal of Service Research, 6, 144-156.

Hayes, A. F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). NY: Guilford Press.

He, Y., Lai, K. K., & Lu, Y. (2011). Linking organizational support to employee commitment: Evidence from hotel industry of China. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(1), 197-217.

Hur, W.-M., Kim, B. S., & Park, S. J. (2015). The relationship between coworker incivility, emotional exhaustion, and organizational outcomes: The mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, 25(2), 701-712.

Jun, J. K., Moon, T., & Hur, W. (2016). The effect of workplace incivility on service employee creativity: The mediating role of emotional exhaustion and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(3), 302-315.

Kalidass, A., & Bahron, A. (2015). The relationship between perceived supervisor support, perceived organizational support, organizational commitment and employee turnover intention. International Journal of Business Administration, 6(5), 82-89.

Karatepe, O. M., Yorganci, I., & Haktanir, M. (2009a). An investigation of the role of job resources in mitigating customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion. Services Marketing Quarterly, 31(1), 72-88.

Karatepe, O. M., Yorganci, I., & Haktanir, M. (2009b). Outcomes of customer verbal aggression among hotel employees. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 21(6), 713-733.

Karatepe, O. M., & Ehsani, E. (2012). Work-related depression in frontline service jobs in the hospitality industry: Evidence from Iran. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 11(1), 16-35.

Karatepe, O. M. (2010). Role stress, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction in the hotel industry: The moderating role of supervisory support. FIU Hospitality Review, 28(3), 48-66.

Karatepe, O. M. (2011). Customer aggression, emotional exhaustion, and hotel employee outcomes: A study in the United Arab Emirates. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(3), 279-295.

Karatepe, O. M. (2014). The importance of supervisor support for effective hotel employees: An empirical investigation in Cameroon. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 55(4), 388-397.

Kashif, M., Braganca, E., Awang, Z., & De Run, E. C. (2017). You abuse but I will stay: The combined effects of job stress, customer abuse, and emotional intelligence on employee turnover. Journal of Management Development, 36(7), 899-914.

Kim, T. T., Paek, S., Choi, C. H., & Lee, G. (2012). Frontline service employees’ customer-related social stressors, emotional exhaustion, and service recovery performance: Customer orientation as a moderator. Service Business, 6, 503-526.

Kim, G., Ro, H., Hutchinson, J., & Kwun, D. J. (2014). The effect of jay-customer behaviors on employee job stress and job satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 15(4), 394-416.

Kim, K.-H., & Kwon, J.-H. (2010). Effect of emotional dissonance and exhaustion on customer orientation for hotel F&B employees. Journal of Foodservice Management Society of Korea, 13(1), 215-231.

King, C., Funk, D. C., & Wilkins, H. (2011). Bridging the gap: An examination of the relative alignment of hospitality research and industry priorities. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(1), 157-166.

Korczynski, M., & Evans, C. (2013). Customer abuse to service workers: An analysis of its social creation within the service economy. Work, Employment and Society, 27(5), 768-784.

Krongboonying, W., & Lin, Y. C. (2015). The moderating effect of perceived supervisor support on the relationship between organizational politics and job satisfaction in aviation industry in Thailand. International Proceedings of Management and Economy, 84, 280-290.

Kurtessis, J. N., Eisenberger, R., Ford, M. T., Buffardi, L. C., Stewart, K. A., & Adis, C. S. (2017). Perceived organizational support: A meta-analytic evaluation of organizational support theory. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1854-1884.

Kusluvan, S., Kusluvan, Z., Ilhan, I., & Buyruk, L. (2010). The human dimension: A review of human resources management issues in the tourism and hospitality industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(2), 171-214.

Lee, G., Kim, T., Shin, S. H., & Oh, I. K. (2012). The managed heart: The structural analysis of the stressor-strain relationship and customer orientation among emotional labor workers in Korean hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1067-1082.

Liaw, Y., Chi, N., & Chuang, A. (2010). Examining the mechanisms linking transformational leadership, employee customer orientation, and service performance: The mediating roles of perceived supervisor and coworker support. Journal of Business Psychology, 25(3), 477-492.

Li, X., & Zhou, E. (2013). Influence of customer verbal aggression on employee turnover intention. Management Decision, 51(4), 890-912.

Lyu, Y., Zhu, H., Zhong, H. J., & Hu, L. (2016). Abusive supervision and customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: The roles of hostile attribution bias and work engagement. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 69-80.

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), 498-512.

Mayo, M., Sanchez, J. I., Pastor, J. C., & Rodriguez, A. (2012). Supervisor and co-worker support: A source congruence approach to buffering role conflict and physical stressors. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(18), 3872-3889.

Nassar, M. (2012). Political unrest costs Egyptian tourism dearly: An ethnographical study. International Business Research, 5(10), 166-174.

Newman, A., Thanacoody, R., & Hui, W. (2011). The effects of perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support and intra-organizational network resources on turnover intentions: A study of Chinese employees in multinational enterprises. Personnel Review, 41(1), 56-72.

Nwokorie, E. C. (2016). Service failure as a causative of customer aggression on hospitality industry employees. Basic Research Journal of Business Management and Accounts, 5(2), 12-18.

Pang, L., Kucukusta, D., & Chan, X. (2015). Employee turnover intention in travel agencies: Analysis of controllable and uncontrollable factors. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17, 577-590.

Pasamehmetoglu, A., Guchait, P., Tracey, J. B., Cunningham, C. J. L., & Lei, P. (2017). The moderating effect of supervisor and coworker support for error management on service recovery performance and helping behaviors. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27(1), 2-22.

Poulston, J. (2008). Hospitality workplace problems and poor training: A close relationship. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 20(4), 412-427.

Rafaeli, A., Erez, A., Ravid, S., Derfler-Rozin, R., Treister, D. E., & Scheyer, R. (2012). When customers exhibit verbal aggression, employees pay cognitive costs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(5), 931-950.

Rathi, N., & Lee, K. (2017). Understanding the role of supervisor support in retaining employees and enhancing their satisfaction with life. Personnel Review, 46(8), 1605-1619.

Robinson, R. N. (2008). Revisiting hospitality’s marginal worker thesis: A mono-occupational perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27, 403-413.

Salanova, M., Llorens, S., García-Renedo, M., Burriel, R., Bresó, E., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2005). Towards a four-dimensional model of burnout: A multigroup factor-analytic study including depersonalization and cynicism. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 65(5), 901-913.

Seiger, C. P., & Wiese, B. S. (2009). Social support from work and family domains as an antecedent or moderator of work-family conflicts? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75(1), 26-37.

Sliter, M., Jex, S., Wolford, K., & McInnerney, J. (2010). How rude! Emotional labor as a mediator between customer incivility and employee outcomes. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(4), 468-481.

Sliter, M. T., Pui, S. Y., Sliter, K. A., & Jex, S. M. (2011). The differential effects of interpersonal conflict from customers and coworkers: Trait anger as a moderator. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 16(4), 424-440.

Sloan, M. M. (2012). Unfair treatment in the workplace and worker well-being: The role of co-worker support in a service work environment. Work and Occupations, 39(1), 3-34.

Song, G., & Liu, H. (2010). Customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion: The mediating role of surface and deep acting. Social Behavior and Personality, 38(10), 1359-1366.

Sun, K. S., & Chiou, H. (2011). Aviation ground crews: Occupational stresses and work performance. African Journal of Business Management, 5(7), 2865-2873.

Sunny, H. H., Hu, H. Y., & King, B. (2017). Impacts of misbehaving air passengers in frontline employees: Role stress and emotional labor. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(7), 1793-1813.

Thomas, C. H., & Lankau, M. J. (2009). Preventing burnout: The effects of LMX and mentoring on socialization, role stress, and burnout. Human Resource Management, 48(3), 417-432.

Toprak, L., Serçek, G. Ö., Karakaş, A., & Serçek, S. (2015). The relation between emotional labor, job burnout and intention to turnover: A research on travel agency workers. Economy and Sociology, 3, 48-53. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nos/ycriat/225.html

Tourigny, L., Baba, V. V., & Wang, X. Y. (2010). Burnout and depression among nurses in Japan and China: The moderating effects of job satisfaction and absence. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(15), 2741-2761.

Wu, J. (2015). Internal audit and review of the negative customer behavior. Journal of Service Science and Management, 8, 578-587.

Yagil, D. (2008). When the customer is wrong: A review of research on aggression and sexual harassment in service encounters. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 13(2), 141-152.

Yeh, C. W. (2015). Linking customer verbal aggression and service sabotage. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 25(6), 877-896.