How customer incivility reduces employees’ compassionate service behaviors: the exacerbating role of leader–member exchange

Purpose Grounded in uncertainty reduction theory and conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the relationship between customer incivility and compassionate service behavior among frontline employees. In particular, it examines whether workplace uncertainty mediates this relationship and whether, and to what extent, leader–member exchange (LMX) amplifies the negative effect of workplace uncertainty on compassionate service behavior, thereby moderating the indirect effect of customer incivility on compassionate service behavior through workplace uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a four-wave, time-lagged survey design using a sample of 316 customer-facing service employees in the United States, recruited through Prolific. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested using the PROCESS macro in IBM SPSS. Findings Results indicated a significant negative indirect effect of customer incivility on compassionate service behavior through workplace uncertainty. Furthermore, both the relationship between workplace uncertainty and compassionate service behavior as well as the indirect relationship between customer incivility and compassionate service behavior through workplace uncertainty were stronger for employees who reported higher LMX compared to those with weaker LMX. Originality/value This study contributes to the growing literature on the consequences of customer incivility by uncovering workplace uncertainty as a key mediating mechanism. It also challenges the conventional view of LMX as uniformly beneficial, showing that, under conditions of heightened uncertainty, employees in high-quality LMX relationships may experience stronger constraints on compassionate service behavior because uncertainty represents a greater disruption to their typical experience of relational clarity and predictability.