Distributive Injustice and Work Disengagement in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry: Mediating Roles of the Workplace Negative Gossip and Organizational Cynicism

Abstract

This study aims to explore how work disengagement (WD) is affected by employees’ perceptions of distributive injustice (DI). It also investigates the mediating roles of workplace negative gossip (WNG) and organizational cynicism (OC). Responses were received from the full-time employees of category (A) travel agencies and five-star hotels operating in Egypt. WarpPLS 7.0 was used to run a PLS-SEM analysis on the 656 valid responses. The results revealed that there is a positive relationship between employees’ perception of distributive injustice and work disengagement level; in addition, there is a positive relationship between perception of distributive injustice and workplace negative gossip and organizational cynicism. Results also reported positive relationships between workplace negative gossip, organizational cynicism, and work disengagement. Furthermore, findings showed that workplace negative gossip and organizational cynicism mediate the relationship between distributive injustice and work disengagement. Some groundbreaking investigations were conducted as part of the research. Research on how DI affects WNG, OC, and WD is still lacking. In terms of contextual significance, an empirical investigation of the relationship between these factors in hotels and travel companies is unavailable. By empirically examining these connections in the context of Egyptian hotels and travel agencies, the current study has filled a gap in the literature on tourism and hospitality, human resources management, and organizational behavior.