Abstract:
Extant literature confirms that uncivil employee behaviours lead to counterproductive
working environments. This study examines whether the dark triad is associated with
co-worker incivility among the Generation Z food service employees. Further, we also
examine if there are significant gender differences on the effects of machiavellianism,
narcissism and psychopathy on uncivil behaviours. Person-administered questionnaires
were delivered in fast-food restaurants (SMEs) in three Zimbabwean cities. The study
obtained 315 valid responses that were used to estimate model parameters in AMOS .
The results show that machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy were all positively
and significantly associated with co-worker incivility. Using multi-group analysis, the
effects of machiavellianism and psychopathy on co-worker incivility were stronger in
males than female employees while narcissism confirmed to have stronger effects on
female than male employees. Although these traits exist in all humans by varying
degrees, this study recommends that service providers should adopt personality
assessments to enhance service quality. This paper also demonstrates that understanding
the psycho-social traits of employees can be a strong impetus for nurturing a
harmonious workplace. Moreover, managers of high contact services could leverage
gender-responsive work design, on-boarding and training programmes to
counter-manage incidences of potentially gender-skewed behavioural dispositions such
as co-worker incivility.
