Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) and Frontline Employees’ Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Foodservice Context: Exploring the Moderating Role of Work Status

This study identified the direct and indirect effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) on frontline employees’ service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (SOCB) targeting customers and co-workers in the foodservice context. Service-role ambiguity was proposed as a partial mediator in the conceptual model. The moderating effect of work status was also explored in this study. Data were collected from 452 frontline employees, working in 31 different foodservice establishments. All five proposed hypotheses were supported, highlighting the effect of LMX on service role clarity (or ambiguity) and the SOCB. A multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis showed that the effect of LMX on SOCB was higher among part-time employees, compared to full-time employees. One implication of the study findings is that part-time employees should also be treated as a valuable asset to the foodservice organization.