EXPRESS: How Leader Hypocrisy Undermines Frontline Hospitality Employees’ Taking Charge in Customer Service

Guided by social exchange theory, we investigate whether and how leader hypocrisy can inhibit frontline hospitality employees from taking charge in customer service. We gathered multi-wave data from frontline hospitality employees and their supervisors to examine our model. The findings demonstrate that leader hypocrisy bears a negative association with taking charge in customer service through felt obligation. Furthermore, our results indicate that implicit theories of morality, as an individual difference variable, moderate both the direct connection between leader hypocrisy and felt obligation and the indirect effects of leader hypocrisy on taking charge in customer service. Several theoretical and practical recommendations are noted.