“Reluctant stayers do not get what they want”: the relationship between procedural injustice and workplace incivility

Purpose - Research has explored the behavioural responses of reluctant stayers to various organisational perceptions. This study extends current research to explain how employees who perceive procedural injustice respond, when they intend to leave but are unable to, due to limited job alternatives. This study postulates that employees who perceive procedural injustice are more likely to develop turnover intentions. Procedural injustice is expected to indirectly influence workplace incivility, with turnover intentions as the mediator. Further, the availability of job alternatives is expected to moderate the relationship between turnover intentions and workplace incivility, to form a moderated-mediation model. Design/methodology/approach - Data was collected from 204 retail employees across five major shopping malls within the Caribbean nation of Trinidad, using a two-wave research design. A path-analytic approach was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings - The findings provided support for the propositions that procedural injustice predicts turnover intentions, that turnover intentions mediate the procedural injustice – workplace incivility relationship, and that the availability of job alternatives moderate the relationship between turnover intentions and workplace incivility. Originality/value - This study addresses a clear research gap since no study has examined how employees' perceptions of procedural injustice affect their behaviour when they intend to leave but are unable to, due to limited job alternatives. This study extends research on the behaviour of reluctant stayers.