Confrontation and Avoidance of Uncivil Behaviors in the Workplace: Empirical Evidence From the Tourism Industry

Abstract

This study examines factors hindering employee engagement, focusing on perceived workplace incivility and its relationship with work engagement. It also presents the mediating and moderating roles of emotional responses and coping mechanisms in the workplace to determine “why” and “when” employee engagement is destabilized. The cross-sectional study used 391 samples from the hotel industry; data were collected from the crew staff via self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using Smart PLS. The study’s outcome draws attention to perceived workplace incivility and its significant negative impact on work engagement. The results also reveal that employees’ emotional responses and coping mechanisms play significant mediator and moderator roles in the relationship between workplace incivility and work engagement. In terms of theoretical background, the study makes a novel theoretical contribution by applying Affective Events Theory (AET) when employees confront incivility that triggers emotional reactions and then shows how those reactions lead to adverse work outcomes and behaviors. The study outcomes have significant implications for strategic hotel industry staff and policymakers and provide insights for future researchers. Hotel management might consider this study helpful for generating a crew-supportive work environment and stabilizing employee engagement.