IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v57y2020ics0969698920307372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employee norm-violations in the service encounter during the corona pandemic and their impact on customer satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Söderlund, Magnus

Abstract

In this study, an experiment was used to examine the effects of employee norm-violations in the service encounter with respect to what was considered appropriate behavior (e.g., social distancing) during the 2020 corona pandemic. The participants were exposed to a grocery store employee whose behavior was manipulated (norm-violating vs. norm-confirming). Norm-violating behavior resulted in lower perceived employee warmth, lower perceived employee competence, higher disgust, and more dehumanization of the employee. These responses mediated the impact of employee behavior on customer satisfaction, so that satisfaction was attenuated when norms were violated. The mediators, however, typically also instill a hostile, avoidance-seeking mindset for those who are subject to norm-violations, which is likely to result in problems when transgressors are to be persuaded to change their behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Söderlund, Magnus, 2020. "Employee norm-violations in the service encounter during the corona pandemic and their impact on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:57:y:2020:i:c:s0969698920307372
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698920307372
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102209?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eugene W. Anderson & Mary W. Sullivan, 1993. "The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction for Firms," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 125-143.
    2. Nicholas Epley, 2018. "A Mind like Mine: The Exceptionally Ordinary Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 591-598.
    3. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher, 2004. "Social norms and human cooperation," Macroeconomics 0409026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    5. Pankaj Aggarwal & Ann L. McGill, 2007. "Is That Car Smiling at Me? Schema Congruity as a Basis for Evaluating Anthropomorphized Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(4), pages 468-479, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Söderlund, Magnus, 2020. "Employee encouragement of self-disclosure in the service encounter and its impact on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. Söderlund, Magnus, 2022. "Service robots with (perceived) theory of mind: An examination of humans’ reactions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Söderlund, Magnus, 2023. "Service robot verbalization in service processes with moral implications and its impact on satisfaction," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Aubel Martin & Pikturniene Indre & Joye Yannick, 2022. "Risk Perception and Risk Behavior in Response to Service Robot Anthropomorphism in Banking," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 30(2), pages 26-42, June.
    5. Taryn Renatta De Mendonca & Yan Zhou, 2019. "Environmental Performance, Customer Satisfaction, and Profitability: A Study among Large U.S. Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Soderlund, Magnus & Oikarinen, Eeva-Liisa & Tan, Teck Ming, 2021. "The happy virtual agent and its impact on the human customer in the service encounter," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. Kathleen Cleeren & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Harald J. Heerde, 2017. "Marketing research on product-harm crises: a review, managerial implications, and an agenda for future research," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 593-615, September.
    8. Lane Peterson Fronczek & Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott & Gergana Y. Nenkov & Anders Gustafsson, 2023. "Friend or foe? Can anthropomorphizing self-tracking devices backfire on marketers and consumers?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 1075-1097, September.
    9. Aubel Martin & Pikturniene Indre & Joye Yannick, 2022. "Risk Perception and Risk Behavior in Response to Service Robot Anthropomorphism in Banking," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 30(1), pages 26-42, June.
    10. Chebat, Jean-Charles & Michon, Richard & Haj-Salem, Narjes & Oliveira, Sandra, 2014. "The effects of mall renovation on shopping values, satisfaction and spending behaviour," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 610-618.
    11. Omar, Suha & Mohsen, Kholoud & Tsimonis, Georgios & Oozeerally, Adam & Hsu, Jen-Hsien, 2021. "M-commerce: The nexus between mobile shopping service quality and loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    12. Baskentli, Sara & Hadi, Rhonda & Lee, Leonard, 2023. "How culture shapes consumer responses to anthropomorphic products," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 495-512.
    13. Alabed, Amani & Javornik, Ana & Gregory-Smith, Diana, 2022. "AI anthropomorphism and its effect on users' self-congruence and self–AI integration: A theoretical framework and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    14. van Esch, Patrick & Arli, Denni & Gheshlaghi, Mahnaz Haji & Andonopoulos, Vicki & von der Heidt, Tania & Northey, Gavin, 2019. "Anthropomorphism and augmented reality in the retail environment," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 35-42.
    15. Sara Kim & Rocky Peng Chen & Ke Zhang, 2016. "Anthropomorphized Helpers Undermine Autonomy and Enjoyment in Computer Games," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 43(2), pages 282-302.
    16. Saiewitz, Aaron & Kida, Thomas, 2018. "The effects of an auditor's communication mode and professional tone on client responses to audit inquiries," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 33-43.
    17. Wei-Tsong Wang & Wen-Hung Chang, 2014. "A study of virtual product consumption from the expectancy disconfirmation and symbolic consumption perspectives," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 887-908, November.
    18. Dhiman, Neeraj & Jamwal, Mohit & Kumar, Ajay, 2023. "Enhancing value in customer journey by considering the (ad)option of artificial intelligence tools," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    19. Abbes, Intissar & Hallem, Yousra & Taga, Nadia, 2020. "Second-hand shopping and brand loyalty: The role of online collaborative redistribution platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    20. Lee, Seonjeong (Ally) & Oh, Haemoon, 2021. "Anthropomorphism and its implications for advertising hotel brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 455-464.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:57:y:2020:i:c:s0969698920307372. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.