WORKPLACE INCIVILITY AND TURNOVER INTENTION IN FRONTLINE EMPLOYEES: THE PATH THROUGH BURNOUT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

This study aims to examine how workplace incivility affects frontline employees‘ turnover intention; specifically, increased Burnout at work decreases their psychological well-being and, in turn, employees ‗turnover intention. Thus, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate the mechanism by which workplace incivility affects frontline employee turnover intentions. A self-administered survey was used to collect data from Restaurants of Pakistan frontline employees. 361 out of 400 questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 90%. The hypotheses were supported by structural equation modelling analysis. Results indicate that workplace incivility increases turnover intentions, leading to Burnout at work and eventually decreasing psychological well-being. We also examined whether a serial mediation process might exist in which Burnout reduces psychological well-being, increasing the likelihood of turnover intention. Of six proposed hypotheses, five of them showed significant relationships. In addition, serial mediation was not confirmed; there was no serial mediation between workplace incivility and turnover intention in Burnout and psychological well-being. This study relied exclusively on cross-sectional data for its non-empirical analysis. It did not examine the interaction between variables over time. Thus, causal inferences are limited in this study. According to the findings, restaurant managers should establish systematic institutional practices and policies to prevent employees from feeling emotionally exhausted and mentally distant from workplace incivility. Senior management teams would benefit from strict policies and regulations that cultivate incivility prevention behaviors. Keywords Workplace incivility, psychological well-being, Burnout, Turnover intention, Frontline employee