Buffering negative impacts of jaycustomer behavior on service employees

Abstract

PurposeService employees often encounter jaycustomer behavior in their daily interactions with customers. This paper aims to investigate the influences of day-to-day jaycustomer behavior on service employees’ performance and behavior, as well as the managerial practice to buffer its negative impacts in the retail industry.Design/methodology/approachDiary survey data was collected from 73 service employees in 10 consecutive working days. Multi-level modeling analyses were used to analyze the data.FindingsDaily jaycustomer behavior triggered daily anger and daily anxiety, which, in turn, led to daily sabotage and shrunken daily service delivery, respectively. Procedural justice weakened the jaycustomer behavior – anger relationship but did not buffer the relationship between jaycustomer behavior and anxiety. The indirect effect of jaycustomer behavior on sabotage via anger was stronger when employees perceived low rather than high procedural justice.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research can explore other types of contextual factors to alleviate the negative impacts of jaycustomer behavior.Practical implicationsConsidering the importance of procedural justice in reducing negative consequences of jaycustomer behavior, retail organizations should develop fair decision-making procedures.Originality/valueThis study has several contributions. First, this study advances understanding on detrimental impacts of jaycustomer behavior by distinguishing employees’ acute emotional responses and explaining the differential behavioral outcomes on service quality. Second, the authors apply a daily research paradigm to better capture the daily-happening nature of jaycustomer behavior. Third, the authors add to the insufficient knowledge of buffering the negative effects of jaycustomer behavior on service employees by investigating procedural justice as a moderator.