Customer Incivility on Organizational Citizenship Behavior Toward Customers: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective

Main Article Content

Pirasinee Chaikuntaveechot
Wisanupong Potipiroon

Abstract

This study aims to examine how the desire for revenge functions as a mediating variable in the relationship between customer incivility and organizational citizenship behavior toward customers (OCB-C), and how perceived organizational support (POS) moderates this process. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, data were collected from 596 frontline service employees across 60 hotels in Hat Yai, Mueang, and Sadao districts of Songkhla Province. Using a multi-stage sampling approach, 9–10 respondents were surveyed from each hotel. Data were gathered through questionnaires and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).


The results indicate that the desire for revenge fully mediates the relationship between customer incivility and OCB-C. Furthermore, perceived organizational support weakens the indirect effect of customer incivility on OCB-C through the desire for revenge. Specifically, when perceived organizational support is low, customer incivility increases employees’ desire for revenge and subsequently reduces OCB-C. In contrast, when perceived organizational support is high, these negative effects are significantly mitigated. The findings highlight the importance of human resource development (HRD) strategies in promoting and sustaining positive service behaviors among frontline employees.

Article Details

How to Cite
Chaikuntaveechot, P., & Potipiroon , W. (2026). Customer Incivility on Organizational Citizenship Behavior Toward Customers: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective. Human Resource and Organization Development Journal, (บทความเผยแพร่ล่วงหน้า), xx. Retrieved from https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/HRODJ/article/view/285007
Section
Research Articles
Author Biographies

Pirasinee Chaikuntaveechot, Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University

Pirasinee Chaikuntaveechot is a Ph.D. candidate in Management at the Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. Her research interests include customer incivility, employee behavior, workplace aggression, and human resource development in the hospitality industry.

Wisanupong Potipiroon , Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University.

Wisanupong Potipiroon is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Management Sciences, Prince of Songkla University in Thailand and has served as Director of the PhD Program in Management since 2015. He conducts research on leadership, work motivation, and organizational corruption. His work can be found in several leading journals in management and applied psychology. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Review of Public Personnel Administration, Public Personnel Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, and International Review of Public Administration.

References

สำนักงานสถิติแห่งชาติ. (2566). การสำรวจที่พักแรม พ.ศ. 2566. https://www.nso.go.th

Andersson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24(3), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1999.2202131

Balaji, M., Jiang, Y., Singh, G., & Jha, S. (2020). Letting go or getting back: How organizational culture shapes frontline employee response to customer incivility. Journal of Business Research, 111, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.013

Bani-Melhem, S. (2020). What mitigates and exacerbates the influences of customer incivility on frontline employee extra-role behaviour? Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 44, 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.05.006

Becker, T. E. (2005). Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: A qualitative analysis with recommendations. Organizational Research Methods, 8(3), 274–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428105278021

Becker, T. E., Atinc, G., Breaugh, J. A., Carlson, K. D., Edwards, J. R., & Spector, P. E. (2016). Statistical control in correlational studies: 10 essential recommendations for organizational researchers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(2), 157–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2053

Bedi, A., & Schat, A. C. (2017). Employee revenge against uncivil customers. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(6), 636–649. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2016-0095

Bettencourt, L. A., & Brown, S. W. (1997). Contact employees: Relationships among workplace fairness, job satisfaction and prosocial service behaviors. Journal of Retailing, 73(1), 39–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4359(97)90014-2

Bies, R. J., & Tripp, T. M. (1996). Beyond distrust: Getting even and the need for revenge. In R. M. Kramer & T. R. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research (pp. 246–260). Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452243610.n13

Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. Wiley.

Burnfield, J., Clark, O., Devendorf, S., & Jex, S. (2004, April). Understanding workplace incivility: Scale development and validation [Conference presentation]. 19th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, IL, United States.

Cheng, B., Guo, G., Tian, J., & Shaalan, A. (2020). Customer incivility and service sabotage in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(5), 1737–1754. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2018-0992

Cheng, P., Jiang, J., Xie, S., & Liu, Z. (2022). Dysfunctional customer behavior influences on employees’ emotional labor: The moderating roles of customer orientation and perceived organizational support. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 966845. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.966845

Chi, N.-W., Yang, J., & Lin, C.-Y. (2018). Service workers’ chain reactions to daily customer mistreatment: Behavioral linkages, mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(1), 58–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000062

Cho, M., Bonn, M. A., Han, S. J., & Lee, K. H. (2016). Workplace incivility and its effect upon restaurant frontline service employee emotions and service performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(12), 2888–2912. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2015-0205

Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602

Eisenberger, R., Armeli, S., Rexwinkel, B., Lynch, P. D., & Rhoades, L. (2001). Reciprocation of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.1.42

Eisenberger, R., Huntington, R., Hutchison, S., & Sowa, D. (1986). Perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71(3), 500–507. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.71.3.500

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104

Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotional regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.5.1.95

Grandey, A. 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(3), 397–418. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.252

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA.

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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.10.002

Hur, W.-M., Moon, T. W., & Han, S.-J. (2015). The effect of customer incivility on service employees’ customer orientation through double-mediation of surface acting and emotional exhaustion. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 25(4), 394–413. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-02-2014-0033

Im, A. Y., Cho, S., & Kim, D.-Y. (2024). The cost of rude customers: Customer incivility and employee performance. Current Issues in Tourism, 27(13), 2031–2047. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2216807

Jones, D. A. (2009). Getting even with one's supervisor and one's organization: Relationships among types of injustice, desires for revenge, and counterproductive work behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(4), 525–542. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.563

Kao, J.-C., Cho, C.-C., & Kao, R.-H. (2023). Perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behavior – A study of the moderating effect of volunteer participation motivation, and cross-level effect of transformational leadership and organizational climate. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1082130. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1082130

Lim, S., Cortina, L. M., & Magley, V. J. (2008). Personal and workgroup incivility: Impact on work and health outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.1.95

Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. (2017). Mplus user’s guide: Statistical analysis with latent variables (8th ed.). Muthén & Muthén.

Nunnally, J. C. (1978). An overview of psychological measurement. In Clinical diagnosis of mental disorders: A handbook (pp. 97–146). Springer.

Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington Books.

Pearl, J. (2009). Causality: Models, reasoning, and inference (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803161

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879

Porath, C., & Pearson, C. (2013). The price of incivility. Harvard Business Review, 91(1–2), 114–121.

Potipiroon, W. (2014). A multifoci model of workplace incivility and deviance: Examining the moderating role of prosocial orientation (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Albany). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Rhoades, L., & Eisenberger, R. (2002). Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 698–714. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.698

Rhoades, L., Eisenberger, R., & Armeli, S. (2001). Affective commitment to the organization: The contribution of perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 825–836. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.5.825

Siemsen, E., Roth, A., & Oliveira, P. (2010). Common method bias in regression models with linear, quadratic, and interaction effects. Organizational Research Methods, 13(3), 456–476. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428109351241

Skarlicki, D. P., Van Jaarsveld, D. D., & Walker, D. D. (2008). Getting even for customer mistreatment: The role of moral identity in the relationship between customer interpersonal injustice and employee sabotage. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(6), 1335–1347. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012707

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. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020723

Sommovigo, V., Setti, I., & Argentero, P. (2019). The role of service providers’ resilience in the relationship between customer incivility and service recovery performance. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 12(2), 110–123. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-09-2018-0112

Spector, P. E., & Fox, S. (2005). The stressor–emotion model of counterproductive work behavior. In S. Fox & P. E. Spector (Eds.), Counterproductive work behavior: Investigations of actors and targets (pp. 151–174). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10893-007

VanderWeele, T. J. (2019). Explanation in causal inference: Methods for mediation and interaction. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198795605.001.0001

Van Jaarsveld, D. D., Walker, D. D., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2010). The role of job demands and emotional exhaustion in the relationship between customer and employee incivility. Journal of Management, 36(6), 1486–1504. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310368998

Wang, H., Zhu, Y., Liang, Y., & Xie, J. (2022). Does customer mistreatment hinder employees from going the extra mile? The mixed blessing of being conscientious. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 102, 103155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103155

Zhan, X., Zhao, X., Guo, Y., Li, Z., & Qin, X. (2023). Revenge or forgiveness? The dual-path mechanism of employee coping with experienced incivility from an attribution perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-023-09942-4

Zhu, Y., Lyu, Y., & Ye, Y. (2021). The impact of customer incivility on employees’ family undermining: A conservation of resources perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, 102879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102879e