Stopping the Spread: How Blame Attributions Drive Customer-to-Customer Misbehavior Contagion and What Frontline Employees Can Do to Curb It

Service encounters nowadays are increasingly characterized by customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions where customers regularly become targets of other customers' misbehavior. Although previous research provides initial evidence of the contagiousness of such C2C misbehavior, it remains unclear whether, how, and why C2C misbehavior spreads when frontline employees (FLEs) are involved and what FLEs can do to curb it. Two online and one field experiment in the context of co-working and transportation services reveal that FLE-directed blame attributions drive the spread of C2C misbehavior while perpetrator-directed blame attributions reverse it. These blame attributions are greater the more severely customers judge other customers' misbehavior. Findings further rule out alternative contagion mechanisms (social norms and emotional contagion) and show that contagion spills over to C2C misbehavior unrelated to the initial transgression. By specifying how contagion unfolds and by explicating the central role blame attributions play in C2C misbehavior contagion, this research uncovers its social dynamics, thus extending existing theory on customer misbehavior and attribution theory in multi-actor settings. Managerially, this research provides FLEs with explicit guidance on what they should do (personalized FLE interventions delivered either in person or remotely) and avoid doing (disapproving looks, FLE service recovery) when faced with C2C misbehavior. © The Author(s) 2023.

Australian bus drivers’ perspectives of passenger hostility: A qualitative study

Bus drivers are at risk of the adverse impacts of passenger hostility, yet qualitative research investigating this issue is scant. We interviewed 29 bus drivers, content analyzed their responses, and interpreted findings through the prism of Demerouti et al.’s Job Demands-Resources model. Results indicated: (1) passenger hostility appeared to negatively impact driver wellbeing;(2) organizational policies may perpetuate passenger hostility;(3) support was viewed as inadequate;and (4) COVID-19 was a barrier to monitoring hostility. Findings indicate that strain associated with the demanding and poorly resourced job of bus driving is exacerbated by frequent exposure to passenger hostility. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Customers who misbehave: Identifying restaurant guests “acting out” via asymmetric case models

This study uncovers the impact of combined dark triad personality traits, firm's power, and customer demographic characteristics. It uses a sample of 263 restaurant customers. The findings include customer configurations indicating misbehavior and non-misbehavior cases. From a theoretical perspective, the study questions the philosophy of customer sovereignty and applies asymmetric case-based modeling to identify configurations indicating misbehavior customers and non-misbehavior customers. Strategy implications: from a managerial perspective and to tackle misbehavior, firms should use coercive power (e.g., suing customers who misbehave), reward power (e.g., recognition and flattery when customers behave properly), and referent power (e.g., enforcing customers' affective attachment).