Coworkers, supervisors and frontline restaurant employees: social judgments and the mediating effects of exhaustion and cynicism

Abstract

Purpose

The current study assesses the relationships between the social judgments made by frontline restaurant employees toward their direct supervisors and coworkers and employees' cynicism, exhaustion and turnover intentions. The mediating effects of cynicism and exhaustion are also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested on 477 frontline restaurant employees using a questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, which included bootstrapping.

Findings

Results indicate that the aforementioned social judgments significantly decrease frontline restaurant employees' exhaustion and cynicism, which are then positively related to turnover intentions. Furthermore, exhaustion and cynicism mediate the relationships between employees' evaluations of their supervisors and coworkers and turnover intentions.

Originality/value

This study is the first to analyze the effects of warmth, competence and morality – which represent fundamental social traits that people use to evaluate others – on turnover intentions via cynicism and exhaustion.

Citation

Bufquin, D. (2020), "Coworkers, supervisors and frontline restaurant employees: social judgments and the mediating effects of exhaustion and cynicism", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 353-369. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-11-2019-0123