What does the customer incivility tell me about my worth? A diary study on the short-term effects of customer incivility on self-esteem and job satisfaction

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to clarify what are the short-term effects of customer incivility on targeted employees’ self-esteem and job satisfaction. We hypothesised that daily customer incivility reported at the end of the previous workday would predict decreases in next-day morning employees’ self-esteem. In turn, lowered self-esteem would be related to lower job satisfaction levels at the end of the same workday. Additionally, we predicted that the link between lowered self-esteem and lowered job satisfaction would be weaker for employees who engaged more in deep acting. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a daily study on 144 customer-contact employees. Participants completed online questionnaires for 31 days reporting their morning self-esteem levels, together with evening customer incivility and job satisfaction levels. The data were analysed using dynamic structural equation models that allow examining intra-person time series trends, on a day-to-day level, while estimating individual differences therein. Consistent with our predictions, the results provided evidence for the short-term detrimental effects of customer incivility on next-day job satisfaction through lowered self-esteem and for the buffering role of deep acting. Service employees could benefit from training aimed at strengthening their self-esteem and skills on how to handle misbehaving customers effectively.