Perceived supervisor support and restaurant employees' social loafing: exploring the dual moderating effects of organizational identification and mindfulness

Purpose Inspired by the Self-Determination Theory, the study examines how perceived supervisor support (PSS) influences restaurant employees' social loafing through both individual and collaborative job crafting. It further investigates how organizational identification (OI) and mindfulness jointly moderate the above relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey, 347 U.S. restaurant employees were recruited for the study. PROCESS v4.0 was used for data analysis. Findings Results suggested that PSS increased social loafing via individual job crafting but reduced it through collaborative job crafting. OI strengthened the positive association between PSS and individual job crafting. Mindfulness weakened the link between individual job crafting and social loafing, yet it did not enhance the negative link between collaborative job crafting and social loafing. Moreover, OI strengthened the indirect effect of PSS on social loafing via individual job crafting only among employees who are less mindful. Practical implications Support from restaurant supervisors can act as a double-edged sword in relation to employees' social loafing. Providing mindfulness programs can be especially valuable for restaurant employees in workplaces that promote individual job crafting. Originality/value This study expands knowledge of the factors influencing restaurant employees' social loafing by demonstrating that PSS operates through two distinct mechanisms: individual and collaborative job crafting. It further contributes to understanding how OI and mindfulness shape employees' job crafting and their tendency to engage in social loafing.