A meta-analysis of customer uncivil behaviors in hospitality research

ABSTRACT

Although a substantial number of studies on customer uncivil behaviors (CUBs) have been conducted, there has not been a systematic review or a comprehensive analysis of this topic in the hospitality context. This meta-analysis integrated prior studies and examined various moderators between CUB and employee outcomes. The results, based on 45 independent studies and 12,236 employees, indicated that CUB has a relatively large positive effect on employee burnout, revenge intention, and incivility toward coworkers. In contrast, the negative relationship between CUB and employees’ job satisfaction and service performance was not supported. We also examined how national culture (i.e., uncertain avoidance, individualism, long-term orientation) and the research design (i.e., data sources and time points) of the samples influence the relationships between CUB and employee outcomes. Finally, we provide detailed directions for future research to improve CUB research in the hospitality context.

尽管已经开展了大量关于顾客不文明行为(CUB)的研究,但在酒店业中还没有对这一主题进行系统的回顾或全面的分析. 这项荟萃分析综合了先前的研究,并考察了CUB和员工结果之间的各种调节因素. 基于45项独立研究和12236名员工的研究结果表明,CUB对员工倦怠、报复意图和对同事的不礼貌有较大的积极影响. 与此相反,CUB与员工工作满意度和服务绩效之间的负相关不被支持. 我们还研究了样本的民族文化(即不确定回避、个人主义、长期取向)和研究设计(即数据源和时间点)如何影响CUB和员工结果之间的关系. 最后,我们为未来的研究提供了详细的方向,以改进酒店业背景下的CUB研究.

KEYWORDS:

• Customer uncivil behaviors
• hospitality research
• meta-analysis
• cultural differences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [72072066, 71832004, 72172107, and 71572066].