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Introduction
Within the hospitality industry, frontline employees (FLEs) are responsible for the majority of personal contact with customers and play an essential role in both service quality delivery and the processes involved in service recovery (Pasamehmetoglu et al., 2017). These employees are responsible for customer satisfaction and loyalty because their level of direct communication is crucial to securing both factors. Being able to perform beyond their formal role boundaries (extra-role behaviour) is essential, as their positive connections with customers can lead to customer satisfaction and, subsequently, enhanced organisational performance (Pasamehmetoglu et al., 2017; Bani-Melhem, 2020). FLEs are also considered to be the organisational-critical channel/source that connects management with customer needs, problems and complaints. Hence, if customer feedback is not effectively communicated, management will remain unaware of highly valuable information. Consequently, we focus on two important FLEs’' behavioural outcomes considered crucial to service evaluation and customer satisfaction, namely “employee willingness to report customer complaints” and “extra-role service behaviours”. Both can be referred to as proactive behaviours because they involve taking the initiative to improve current workplace circumstances (Crant, 2000; López-Cabarcos et al., 2015).
Past studies tend to emphasise the role that the bright or positive facets of personality traits play in proactive work behaviours (see, for example, Buil et al., 2019; Choi and Hwang, 2019). However, little is known about the influence of the darker aspects of personality traits. To fill this gap, we examine the influence of paranoia as a personality trait. Individuals who are paranoid are distrustful because they feel they are being treated malevolently by other people within the organisation (Kramer, 2001). While individuals are likely to pursue work in an industry that fits their vocational traits (Lyons et al., 2006), they may not always be able to do so, especially in a tight labour market (Dahling et al., 2013). Hence, any organisation, including in the hospitality industry, may employ people with dark personality traits (Furnham et al., 2014). Therefore, they need to understand how such a personality affects the accomplishment of service evaluation and performance so that they can take relevant measures (Bateson et al., 2014). Furthermore, studies on dark personality traits tend to examine their effect on negative work outcomes (Martinez et al.