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Unfriendly customers as a social stressor - An indirect antecedent of service employees' quitting intention

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  • Walsh, Gianfranco

Abstract

Summary Recent management research suggests that unpleasant work experiences of service employees cause problems with job performance, affect the bottom line and contribute to high rates of employee turnover. Although various job stressors have been studied as antecedents of employees' decision to quit, less attention has been given to customer behavior as a possible predictor of quitting intentions. The author proposes a model of service employees' intention to quit their job. The model includes a new construct, perceived customer unfriendliness, which is linked with several employee-related variables. An empirical study of more than 200 service employees demonstrates that perceived customer unfriendliness has an indirect and direct impact on employees' job satisfaction which in turn affects quitting intentions. Theoretically, the study complements service research by others that have focused on organizational job stressors in relation to employees' quitting intentions. Managerially, the findings improve service managers' understanding of the drivers of employee turnover.

Suggested Citation

  • Walsh, Gianfranco, 2011. "Unfriendly customers as a social stressor - An indirect antecedent of service employees' quitting intention," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 67-78, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:29:y:2011:i:1:p:67-78
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lindebaum, Dirk, 2013. "Does emotional intelligence moderate the relationship between mental health and job performance? An exploratory study," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 538-548.
    2. Schaarschmidt, Mario, 2016. "Frontline employees' participation in service innovation implementation: The role of perceived external reputation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 540-549.
    3. Johnson, Jeff S., 2023. "How business-to-business salespeople deal with buying center dissenters," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 590-608.
    4. Montani, Francesco & Dagenais-Desmarais, Véronique, 2018. "Unravelling the relationship between role overload and organizational citizenship behaviour: A test of mediating and moderating effects," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 757-768.
    5. Northington, William Magnus & Gillison, Stephanie T. & Beatty, Sharon E. & Vivek, Shiri, 2021. "I don't want to be a rule enforcer during the COVID-19 pandemic: Frontline employees' plight," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Sebastiano, Antonio & Belvedere, Valeria & Grando, Alberto & Giangreco, Antonio, 2017. "The effect of capacity management strategies on employees' well-being: A quantitative investigation into the long-term healthcare industry," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 563-573.
    7. Fellesson, Markus & Salomonson, Nicklas, 2020. "It takes two to interact – Service orientation, negative emotions and customer phubbing in retail service work," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    8. Chux Gervase Iwu & Abdullah Promise Opute & Olayemi Abdullateef Aliyu & Chukuakadibia Eresia-Eke & Tichaona Buzy Musikavanhu & Afeez Olalekan Jaiyeola, 2021. "A Structural Equation Modelling Evaluation of Antecedents and Interconnections of Call Centre Agents’ Intention to Quit," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Adil Zahoor & Mushtaq Ahmad Siddiqi, 2023. "Customer Incivility and Service Recovery Performance: Job Crafting as a Buffer," Vision, , vol. 27(2), pages 178-188, April.
    10. Baruch, Yehuda & Grimland, Shmuel & Vigoda-Gadot, Eran, 2014. "Professional vitality and career success: Mediation, age and outcomes," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 518-527.
    11. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    12. Minjeong Kang & Taeshik Gong, 2019. "Dysfunctional customer behavior: conceptualization and empirical validation," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(4), pages 625-646, December.
    13. Lages, Cristiana R. & Perez-Vega, Rodrigo & Kadić-Maglajlić, Selma & Borghei-Razavi, Niloofar, 2023. "A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the dark side of customer behavior: An integrative customer incivility framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    14. Walsh, Gianfranco, 2019. "Service employees’ naturally felt emotions: Do they matter?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 78-85.
    15. Valentina Sommovigo & Ilaria Setti & Piergiorgio Argentero, 2019. "The Role of Service Providers’ Resilience in Buffering the Negative Impact of Customer Incivility on Service Recovery Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, January.
    16. Taegoo Kim & Soyon Paek & Chang Choi & Gyehee Lee, 2012. "Frontline service employees’ customer-related social stressors, emotional exhaustion, and service recovery performance: customer orientation as a moderator," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 6(4), pages 503-526, December.
    17. Malthouse, Edward C. & Haenlein, Michael & Skiera, Bernd & Wege, Egbert & Zhang, Michael, 2013. "Managing Customer Relationships in the Social Media Era: Introducing the Social CRM House," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 270-280.

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