The dark side of co-worker friendship in the restaurant context: roles of gender and promotion focus

Muhammad Haroon Shoukat, Kareem M. Selem, Mukaram Ali Khan and Ali Elsayed Shehata

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 2024, vol. 35, issue 2, 225-243

Abstract: PurposeThis paper investigates the focal role of close co-worker friendship in reducing incivility. Furthermore, this paper examines negative workplace gossip as a mediator and gender and promotion focus as moderators.Design/methodology/approachUsing a time-lagged approach, 553 full-service restaurant front-line co-workers in Greater Cairo responded. Further, the data were analyzed using SmartPLS v.4.FindingsPromotion focus weakened close co-workers’ friendships, causing them to speak negatively about each other with other co-workers. Multi-group analysis showed that males were more likely to spread negative gossip about their close co-workers and thus were subjected to incivility-related behaviors by their co-workers.Originality/valueThis paper is an early attempt to explore the focal role of promotion focus in the full-service restaurant context. This paper adds to affective events theory (AET) with a limited understanding of explaining and predicting co-worker incivility.

Keywords: Co-worker friendship; Affective event theory; Gender; Negative gossip; Promotion focus; Incivility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ejmbep:ejmbe-05-2023-0149

DOI: 10.1108/EJMBE-05-2023-0149

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