Effect of Customer Mistreatment on After-Work Impulsive Behaviors Through Self-Control Depletion

Abstract

Drawing on the ego-depletion theory, the current study examined the effect of daily experience of customer mistreatment at work on employees’ impulsive behaviors after work (impulsive buying, mobile phone overuse, and overeating behaviors) through self-control depletion. Further, we investigated the moderating roles of two resource-gaining activities at work (taking time for relaxation and learning something new at work) on the relationship between customer mistreatment and self-control depletion. With daily diary data collected from 57 fulltime employees across 5 working days, our results revealed that daily experience of customer mistreatment at work was negatively related to employees’ impulsive buying and mobile phone overuse after work (but not overacting behaviors) via self- control depletion. Besides, relaxation, but not learning, buffered the positive relationship between customer mistreatment and self- control depletion. These findings shed light on further understanding the underlying mechanisms between customer mistreatment and employee impulsive behaviors and resource-gaining strategies at work that might mitigate the negative effects of customer mistreatment.