A study of workplace bullying and coping strategies in hospitality sector: role of moral injury and inclusive leadership

Abstract

PurposeBased on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model and Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the current study aims to investigate the direct effects of workplace bullying (WPB) on internal whistleblowing (IW) and workplace withdrawal (WW), as well as the indirect effects, including the mediating role of moral injury (MI) and moderating role of inclusive leadership (IL) in the hospitality sector.Design/methodology/approachThree-waves approach was used to collect data from 266 hotel employees in India. AMOS 21 and Macro-PROCESS were used to analyse the hypothesised relationships.FindingsWPB has a direct effect on IW and workplace withdrawal. MI mediated the relationship between WPB and IW and WPB and WW. Further, IL moderated the relationship between WPB and MI.Practical implicationsThe results of the current study have significant policy-related, academic and practical implications. Executives must be aware of WPB incidents and take prompt action to completely stop them.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by analysing the role of MI as a mediator for the relationship between WPB and WPB's coping strategies like IW and workplace withdrawal. This study also answers repeated calls for more research on MI and MI's consequences.