IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i3p1433-d489662.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stress on Frontline Employees from Customer Aggression in the Restaurant Industry: The Moderating Effect of Empowerment

Author

Listed:
  • Yahua Bi

    (Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea)

  • Sooyoung Choi

    (Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea)

  • Jie Yin

    (College of Tourism, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China)

  • Insin Kim

    (Department of Tourism and Convention, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea)

Abstract

In service industries such as restaurants, abusive customer (jay-customer) behaviors may evoke emotional exhaustion and burnout in frontline employees, threatening job satisfaction as well as sustainable management in the hospitality industry. Therefore, there is a need to identify whether (and to what degree) such customer behaviors stress frontline employees enough to affect their mental health, which may lead to employee turnover. To understand jay-customer behaviors in a restaurant setting, this study investigated the factors of jay-customer behaviors that induce job stress and decrease job satisfaction. Additionally, the moderating effect of empowerment was tested to see whether employee empowerment decreases the stress caused by jay-customer behaviors. Data collected from 302 restaurant employees from several cities in South Korea were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The study results demonstrate that three types of jay-customer behaviors (verbal abuse, physical abuse, and sexual harassment) are directly related to frontline employees’ job stress, which in turn, reduces job satisfaction. A moderating effect of empowerment on the relationship between verbal abuse and job stress is found. The results of this study suggest a conceptual model for understanding the process in which jay-customers negatively influence the frontline employees, threatening employee well-being, and they provide valuable implications for the restaurant industry, which can help develop strategies to improve employee welfare and provide better customer management.

Suggested Citation

  • Yahua Bi & Sooyoung Choi & Jie Yin & Insin Kim, 2021. "Stress on Frontline Employees from Customer Aggression in the Restaurant Industry: The Moderating Effect of Empowerment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1433-:d:489662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1433/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1433/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berry, Leonard L. & Seiders, Kathleen, 2008. "Serving unfair customers," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-37.
    2. Stacy H. Lee & Jung Ha-Brookshire, 2017. "Ethical Climate and Job Attitude in Fashion Retail Employees’ Turnover Intention, and Perceived Organizational Sustainability Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    4. Homburg, Christian & Stock, Ruth, 2004. "The Link Between Sales People’s Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction in a Business-to-Business Context: A Dyadic Analysis," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 35550, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    5. C. Bhattacharya & Daniel Korschun & Sankar Sen, 2009. "Strengthening Stakeholder–Company Relationships Through Mutually Beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 257-272, April.
    6. Homburg, Christian & Stock, Ruth, 2004. "The Link between Sales People’s Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction in a Business-to-Business Context: A Dyadic Analysis," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 60486, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    7. Barbara Mazur & Anna Walczyna, 2020. "Bridging Sustainable Human Resource Management and Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-21, October.
    8. Amy J. Hillman & Gerald D. Keim, 2001. "Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: what's the bottom line?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 125-139, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kyle A. Hanners & Shawna Malvini Redden, 2021. "Communicating Values to Cultivate Sustainable Occupational Identity: How Restaurant Workers Resist Service Work Stigma," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Jinsoo Hwang & Yekyoung Yoo & Insin Kim, 2021. "Dysfunctional Customer Behavior, Employee Service Sabotage, and Sustainability: Can Social Support Make a Difference?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Ifeoma Chukwunonso Onyemelukwe & José Antonio Vasconcelos Ferreira & Ana Luísa Ramos, 2023. "Human Energy Management in Industry: A Systematic Review of Organizational Strategies to Reinforce Workforce Energy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, September.
    4. Na Li & Ziyang Liu & Xi Zhang, 2022. "A Study on the Impact of Dynamic Visitor Demand on the Digital Transformation of Enterprises—Considerations Based on the Regional Innovation Environment and the Level of Big Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuen, Kum Fai & Thai, Vinh V. & Wong, Yiik Diew & Wang, Xueqin, 2018. "Interaction impacts of corporate social responsibility and service quality on shipping firms’ performance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 397-409.
    2. Mena, Jeannette A. & Hult, G. Tomas M. & Ferrell, O.C. & Zhang, Yufei, 2019. "Competing assessments of market-driven, sustainability-centered, and stakeholder-focused approaches to the customer-brand relationships and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 531-543.
    3. Harmancioglu, Nukhet & Grinstein, Amir & Goldman, Arieh, 2010. "Innovation and performance outcomes of market information collection efforts: The role of top management team involvement," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 33-43.
    4. Munshi Muhammad Abdul Kader Jilani & Luo Fan & Mohammad Tazul Islam & Md. Aftab Uddin, 2020. "The Influence of Knowledge Sharing on Sustainable Performance: A Moderated Mediation Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Wenbin Sun & Shanji Yao & Rahul Govind, 2019. "Reexamining Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Value: The Inverted-U-Shaped Relationship and the Moderation of Marketing Capability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 1001-1017, December.
    6. Jalal Hanaysha, 2016. "Testing the effects of food quality, price fairness, and physical environment on customer satisfaction in fast food restaurant industry," Journal of Asian Business Strategy, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(2), pages 31-40, February.
    7. Kwan Soo Hong & DonHee Lee, 2018. "Impact of operational innovations on customer loyalty in the healthcare sector," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 12(3), pages 575-600, September.
    8. Jeevan Jyoti & Jyoti Sharma, 2012. "Impact of Market Orientation on Business Performance: Role of Employee Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction," Vision, , vol. 16(4), pages 297-313, December.
    9. Kamran Azeem, 2018. "Impact of Effective Logistic Management on Organizational Performance," KASBIT Business Journals (KBJ), Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institute of Technology (KASBIT), vol. 11(1), pages 95-109, December.
    10. Yee, Rachel W.Y. & Guo, Yujuan & Yeung, Andy C.L., 2015. "Being close or being happy? The relative impact of work relationship and job satisfaction on service quality," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 391-400.
    11. Yang, Qian & Zhao, Xiande, 2016. "Are logistics outsourcing partners more integrated in a more volatile environment?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P2), pages 211-220.
    12. Yin Chen & Yong Long & Jianyin Bai, 2019. "Effect of Positional Embeddedness on Tour Supplier Integration: Chinese Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Małgorzata Okręglicka & Prabhat Mittal & Valentinas Navickas, 2023. "Exploring the Mechanisms Linking Perceived Organizational Support, Autonomy, Risk Taking, Competitive Aggressiveness and Corporate Sustainability: The Mediating Role of Innovativeness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    14. Christopher Groening & Cheryl‐lyn Ngoh & Ryan Luchs, 2022. "The impact of a firm's corporate social responsibility on firm–supplier relationships: The effect of secondary stakeholder CSR on inventory days," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1689-1705, September.
    15. Hamada Fawzy Thabet Abuzid & Muzaffar Abbas, 2017. "Banks Performance and Impact of Market Orientation Strategy: Do Employee Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty Augment this Relationship?," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 7(2), pages 60-66.
    16. Yee, Rachel W.Y. & Yeung, Andy C.L. & Cheng, T.C.E., 2011. "The service-profit chain: An empirical analysis in high-contact service industries," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(2), pages 236-245, April.
    17. Damberg, Sarah V. & Hartmann, Julia & Heese, H. Sebastian, 2022. "Does bad press help or hinder sustainable supply chain management? An empirical investigation of US-based corporations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    18. Jeremy S. Wolter & Dora Bock & Jeremy Mackey & Pei Xu & Jeffery S. Smith, 2019. "Employee satisfaction trajectories and their effect on customer satisfaction and repatronage intentions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 815-836, September.
    19. Rawan Alafeshat & Cem Tanova, 2019. "Servant Leadership Style and High-Performance Work System Practices: Pathway to a Sustainable Jordanian Airline Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-21, November.
    20. Sung Tae Kim & Hong-Hee Lee & Seongbae Lim, 2021. "The Effects of Green SCM Implementation on Business Performance in SMEs: A Longitudinal Study in Electronics Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1433-:d:489662. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.