Reducing service sabotage: the influence of supervisor social undermining, job stress, turnover intention and ethical conflict

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to better understand the relationship between supervisor social undermining and service sabotage through related mediating and moderating variables among customer-contact service employees. Based on a sample of 316 hotel/motel employees, findings show that supervisor social undermining leads to greater service sabotage. Unethical behavior in the form of supervisor social undermining is positively related to job stress and this stress is exacerbated when ethical conflict exists. Moreover, besides being an outcome from unethical behavior, job stress can subsequently influence additional unethical behavior in the form of service sabotage via its impact on turnover intention.