Customers' irrational beliefs: Scale development and validation

Abstract

The service literature, in addressing constructs predicting customer behaviors during service delivery, has neglected the domain of customers’ irrational beliefs (IBs). The Customer Irrational Beliefs Scale (CIBS) was constructed in a mixed-methods process of scale development and validation –– with five separate customer samples, in which the final stage employs the scale to predict customer behaviors of ingratiation, assertiveness, social benefits, commitment, and loyalty. The customer irrational beliefs (CIB) construct comprises three different reflective indicators: Subjective Favoritism, Absolute Fairness, and Reasoning Supremacy. CIB predicted customer behaviors of ingratiation, assertiveness, and customer-related outcomes such as commitment and loyalty. This work extends theory in conceptualizing customer IBs in service interactions. Insights derived from the CIBS can help service employees be cognizant of what thoughts underlie unusual customer behavior with the prospect of dealing more effectively with it.