Linking organizational exploitation to extra-role behaviors: a conservation of resources perspective

Purpose Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to explore how perceived organizational exploitation affects hospitality employees’ extra-role customer service behaviors by investigating the mediating role of depressed mood at work and the moderating role of reappraisal. Design/methodology/approach This study tested all of the hypotheses using multilevel path analyses with a sample of 340 supervisor–subordinate dyads. Findings The results show that perceived organizational exploitation is indirectly associated with hospitality employees’ extra-role customer service through depressed mood at work and that employees’ reappraisal may help mitigate the negative effect of organizational exploitation. Practical implications First, policies and rules should be established in advance to prevent organizational exploitation. Second, we suggest that hospitality organizations should pay special attention to employees who have low levels of reappraisal, and reappraisal training could be provided to enhance their emotion regulation skills. Third, hospitality organizations could nurture a healthy and supportive emotional climate to create positive emotions in the workplace, in case that depressed mood at work contributes to employees’ extra-role behaviors. Originality/value First, the authors go beyond previous studies to focus on a new behavioral outcome of perceived organizational exploitation, i.e. extra-role customer service. Second, it applies a new perspective of COR theory to determine the underlying mechanism of perceived organizational exploitation. Third, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the boundary conditions under which the destructive effects of perceived organizational exploitation can be mitigated.