The link between workplace incivility, emotional exhaustion, and job embeddedness: examining the moderating role of power distance

Purpose Integrating the conservation of resources theory, Hofstede's national culture theory and the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotions, the authors propose that power distance (as a moderator) and emotional exhaustion (as a mediator) play a role in the relationship between workplace incivility, emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected in two stages using an online survey of 404 employees from three sectors, including hospitality, banking and manufacturing, in Indonesia. The authors tested a moderated mediation model using Hayes' macro PROCESS version 3.5. Findings Workplace incivility contributes to emotional exhaustion, which predicts job embeddedness. Emotional exhaustion also contributes to job embeddedness. In the moderation model, the authors found that the effect of workplace incivility on emotional exhaustion was more substantial for employees with high perceived power distance. Furthermore, power distance also played a moderating role in the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness. Practical implications Since workplace incivility and job embeddedness differ across cultures, the results of this study contain practical management implications for Indonesian settings, especially the hospitality, manufacturing and banking sectors. The authors provide practical management implications for redesigning organizational culture to help employees avoid uncivil interactions in the workplace. The authors also provide implications concerning strategic managerial directions to improve communication and supervisors' skills at all levels of management. Originality/value This study is the first to introduce power distance as a complementary explanation for the relationship between workplace incivility, emotional exhaustion and job embeddedness while focusing on an Asian developing country.