Impact of customer incivility on restaurant employee stress spread and turnover: COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

In response to the unprecedented pandemic in recent history, COVID-19 vaccination mandates in the U.S. caused significant changes and disruption in hospitality operations and customer experiences. The primary goal of this study is to examine whether and how customer incivility induced by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the U.S. affects employees' behavioral outcomes (i.e., stress spread between employees and turnover intention) via psychological mechanisms (i.e., stress and negative emotion) and when the relationship is moderated by personal (employee prosocial motivation) and organizational (supervisor support) characteristics. Findings show that customer incivility increases employee turnover intention as well as interpersonal conflicts at work via increased stress and negative emotions. These relationships are weakened when prosocial motivation of employees and the level of supervisor support is high. Findings expand the occupational stress model by specifically incorporating the context of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and further provide implications for restaurant managers and policy makers.

Consumers' Knowledge and Handling Practices Associated with Fresh-Cut Produce in the United States.

Previous studies have shown that three factors influence fresh-cut produce safety from farm to fork: (1) post-harvest practices in processing facilities, (2) employees' handling practices in retail facilities, and (3) consumers' handling practices in domestic kitchens or cooking facilities. However, few studies have examined consumers' food safety knowledge, risk perceptions, and their handling practices associated with fresh-cut produce. To fill this gap, the present study conducted a nationwide survey to assess U.S. consumers' food safety knowledge, practices, and risk perception associated with fresh-cut produce among various demographic groups and investigated factors influencing consumers' food safety practices related to fresh-cut produce. The results showed that consumers lack the knowledge and safe handling practices toward fresh-cut produce regarding storage hierarchy, surface cleaning and sanitizing, and time and temperature control of fresh-cut produce. The men and millennial consumers exhibit a lower level of safe fresh-cut produce handling practices. In addition, a significant interaction was observed between food safety knowledge and risk perceptions on consumers' fresh-cut produce handling practices, such that food safety knowledge can transfer to practice more effectively for consumers with high levels of risk perception. The results can be utilized to design effective consumer food safety education tools for targeted audiences.

Food Safety Challenges and Barriers in Southern United States Farmers Markets.

Purchasing fresh and local produce at farmers markets has seen an increasing trend over the past decade. However, with this rise in popularity food safety challenges need to be recognized and addressed. Farmers market managers play a significant role in ensuring that vendors implement food safety practices at the market. Thus, this study investigated the food safety perceptions of farmers markets managers and vendors in Texas and Arkansas. A total of 123 participants were surveyed, including 38 managers and 85 vendors. The survey included a series of questions to determine gaps in vendor and manager food safety knowledge as well as the barriers and factors that prevent the implementation of relevant food safety practices. The results indicate that a lack of facilities, equipment, and resources containing food safety guidelines specific to farmers markets were the major barriers to the implementation of food safety practices. In addition, only 36.7% of participants had formal food safety training (e.g., ServSafe) and approximately 50% of the market managers provided food safety materials to their vendors. Overall, these data suggest that the development of farmers market-specific training programs to enhance food safety behaviors and practices in farmers markets would be beneficial to stakeholders.