Workplace Incivility and Employees’ Job Apathy: The Roles of Employee Vulnerability and Resilience

Abstract

Workplace incivility is an irritable blemish of restaurant businesses that has attracted much academic attention. How to alleviate the negative psychological and behavioral impacts of workplace incivility on employees has become a crucial issue for restaurant managers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among workplace incivility, employee vulnerability, and job apathy, and examine the mediating role of employee vulnerability and the moderated mediation effect of employee resilience. A survey was conducted with 405 restaurant employees in Taiwan, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that workplace incivility positively affected employee vulnerability, and employee vulnerability positively affected job apathy. In addition, employee vulnerability mediated the relationship between workplace incivility and job apathy. Employee resilience weakened the positive association between workplace incivility and employee vulnerability, thereby diminishing job apathy. This study expands current knowledge on workplace incivility and job apathy, offering insights into their psychological effects and boundary conditions. From a practical implication, the findings provide strategic suggestions for human resource management in restaurants to effectively address workplace incivility, enhance employee resilience, and thereby reduce employee vulnerability and job apathy.