Stand strong or Step Back: Exploring resilience and customer incivility in the retail context

Frontline employees working in the retail sector are subjected to episodes of customer incivility, which precipitate affective emotional responses. This study examines the association between customer incivility and consequent employee behavioral reactions—work withdrawal and work-related rumination. The study also explores the direct association of employee resilience to these affective responses – withdrawal and rumination. The study is grounded in affective events theory (AET), which serves as the theoretical basis for the research framework. The hypothesized relationships were tested using the PLS-SEM technique, utilizing data from 344 retail employees based in the USA and UK through a crowdsourcing online platform. Results support significant direct associations of customer incivility with both physical and psychological work withdrawal. However, resilience was found to have a significant relationship with psychological withdrawal and not physical withdrawal. Empirical support was also found for the association between customer incivility and affective rumination, problem-solving, and detachment, the three forms of post-work rumination. Moreover, empirical support for the linkages between resilience and affective rumination and detachment was found, but not for problem-solving rumination. The study provides valuable insights into multifaceted affective, emotional reactions and psychological responses—withdrawal and rumination—to adverse work environments (i.e., customer incivility and the positive individual trait reflected by employee resilience). This study provides valuable insights into the impact of customer incivility and employee resilience on employee withdrawal behavior and rumination. It explores the interplay between customer and employee dynamics and provides crucial insights and recommendations for the retail industry.