Do Social Stressors Moderate the Effect of Polychronicity on Job Performance? Evidence from Four and Five-Star Hotels

Polychronicity refers to the extent to which people prefer to be engaged in two or more tasks or events at the same time and believe their preference is the best way to do things. The present empirical study developed and tested a model that examined the effect of polychronicity on frontline employees’ job performance in hotel industry; and at the same time, the moderating effects of supervisor, coworker and customer incivility as stressors is considered in the relationship between polychronicity and employee’s job performance. Data was obtained from frontline employees in the four and five-star hotels in Northern Cyprus. The results suggest that polychronicity stimulate high employees’ job performance. Customer incivility negatively and significantly influences job performance. Customer incivility moderates the relationship between polychronicity and job performance. That is, high customer incivility weakens the positive relationship between polychronicity and job performance. Coworker incivility did not influence job performance. Coworker incivility failed to moderate the relationship between polychronicity and job performance. Supervisor incivility did not influence job performance. Supervisor incivility moderates the relationship between polychronicity and job performance. That is, high supervisor incivility weakens the positive relationship between polychronicity and employees’ job performance. Managerial implications and propositions to spark and guide future research are highlighted. Keywords: Polychronicity, Supervisor incivility, Coworker incivility, Customer incivility, Hotel frontline employees, Job performance.