Do illegitimate tasks undermine hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance? A moderated dual-path model

ABSTRACT As hospitality firms face labor shortages, employees are asked to perform a greater range of tasks than ever before. However, employees may view certain tasks as outside the acceptable boundaries of their role, and consider them illegitimate. Illegitimate tasks can have a range of negative outcomes, yet we still do not understand how such tasks affect hospitality employees. Drawing on the cognitive-affective processing system framework, we investigate the effects of illegitimate tasks on proactive customer service performance (PCSP) of hospitality employees. In addition, we examine the intervening roles of harmonious work passion and perceived insider status, and the buffering role of traditionality. The results of two studies, using mixed methods, show that illegitimate tasks negatively affected proactive customer service performance (PCSP), and that perceived insider status and harmonious work passion mediate this relationship. Moreover, traditionality moderated these effects. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications.