Moderating Effects of Primary Job Status on Customer Incivility and Positive Customer Oriented Behaviour in Ghana’s Hospitality Industry

In many service industries within developing economies, frontline employees are frequently exposed to discourteous and disrespectful customer behav-iour while operating under demanding and resource-constrained conditions. Guided by Social Exchange Theory and Organizational Support Theory, this study examined the effects of customer incivility on positive customer-oriented behaviour (PCOB) among frontline employees in Ghana’s hospitali-ty industry, with particular attention to the moderating role of primary job sta-tus. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 410 frontline employees working in hotels, restaurants, and resorts across Ghana. The data was analysed using partial least squares structural equa-tion modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that cus-tomer incivility has a significant positive effect on positive customer-oriented behaviour, indicating that employees often respond to low-intensity deviant customer actions by intensifying courteous, professional, and service-focused behaviours. Also, primary job status significantly moderates this relationship, such that the positive influence of customer incivility on PCOB is stronger for employees with more secure employment arrangements and weaker for those in temporary or casual positions. This study contributes to the service management literature as empirical evidence from a developing-country context and by clarifying how primary job status conditions employ-ees’ positive behavioural responses to customer incivility.