Linking Tolerance to Workplace Incivility, Service Innovative, Knowledge Hiding, and Job Search Behavior: The Mediating Role of Employee Cynicism

Abstract

Although incivility has been identified as an important issue in workplaces, little research has focused on tolerance to workplace incivility. Drawing on conservation of resources and psychological ownership theory, this article investigates the mediating role of employee cynicism on the relationship between tolerance to workplace incivility and outcome variables (i.e., service innovative behavior, knowledge hiding behavior, and job search behavior) in the hospitality industry. Structural equation modeling and artificial neural network were applied on survey data obtained from five-star hotels in Jordan. Building on the proposed theories, we show that employee cynicism mediates the link between tolerance to workplace incivility and knowledge hiding behavior, and job search behavior. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.