While interpersonal stressors are prevalent in public organizations, the underlying mechanisms of how they affect civil servants’ behaviors remain limited. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study develops and tests a moderated mediation model to unpack the draining effect of interpersonal stressors on the work withdrawal behavior of township civil servants via the mediating role of deep acting. Political skill is further identified as a critical moderator in the proposed model. Using three-wave data from Chinese township civil servants, this study finds that township civil servants experiencing interpersonal stressors are more likely to exhibit work withdrawal behavior. Furthermore, deep acting partially mediates the relationship between interpersonal stressors and work withdrawal behavior of township civil servants. Additionally, political skill moderates the relationship between deep acting and work withdrawal behavior, such that this negative relationship is weaker at higher levels of political skill. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
Wang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.