Is political skill really an antidote in the workplace incivility-emotional exhaustion and outcome relationship in the hotel industry?

Abstract

Our study proposes a research model in which political skill buffers the detrimental impacts of supervisor and coworker incivility on emotional exhaustion (EE) and organizational citizenship behaviors directed towards individuals (OCB-I). Our study also examines the relationships between political skill, supervisor incivility, coworker incivility, EE, and OCB-I. Data were gathered from a judgmental sample of 375 customer-contact employees in 22 four- and five-star hotels in Seoul, South Korea in 2017. These employees self-administered the questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the aforementioned linkages. Congruent with our predictions, political skill is a buffer against the detrimental effects of supervisor and/or coworker incivility on EE and OCB-I. As hypothesized, supervisor and coworker incivility erode employees' OCB-I and aggravate their EE. In addition, political skill mitigates employees' perceptions of supervisor and/or coworker incivility on EE and OCB-I.