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The Role of Service Providers’ Resilience in Buffering the Negative Impact of Customer Incivility on Service Recovery Performance

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  • Valentina Sommovigo

    (Department of Brain and Behavioral Science, Unit of Applied Psychology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta, 11, 27100 Pavia, Italy
    Department of Personnel & Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland)

  • Ilaria Setti

    (Department of Brain and Behavioral Science, Unit of Applied Psychology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta, 11, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

  • Piergiorgio Argentero

    (Department of Brain and Behavioral Science, Unit of Applied Psychology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta, 11, 27100 Pavia, Italy)

Abstract

In the service sector, customer-related social stressors may weaken employees’ well-being, impairing job-related outcomes. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources theory and on the psychology of sustainability, fostering personal resources become critical to encourage service providers who can effectively manage such job demands. This study investigated how customer-related social stressors and customer orientation influence service recovery performance and whether resilience buffers the negative effects of customer incivility on service recovery performance. One hundred and fifty-seven Italian customer-contact employees completed a questionnaire analyzing customer incivility, customer-related social stressors, resilience, customer orientation, and service recovery performance. Regression analyses and SEMs were conducted. Although all customer-related social stressors indirectly and negatively influenced service recovery performance by increasing burnout symptoms, customer incivility only exerted a direct and detrimental impact on service recovery performance. Customer orientation was directly and positively associated with service recovery performance. Highly resilient employees were less affected by variations in service recovery performance across customer incivility levels. Within the psychology of sustainability framework, promoting resilient workplaces is crucial to foster healthy and sustainable work settings. Service organizations can greatly benefit from providing their employees with psychological resilience training programs, cultivating high customer-oriented attitudes through mentoring sessions, and hiring highly customer-oriented and resilient employees for customer-contact occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:1:p:285-:d:195747
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    Cited by:

    1. Hur, Won-Moo & Shin, Yuhyung & Shin, Gyeongpyo, 2022. "Daily relationships between customer incivility, organizational control, self-efficacy, and service performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Yu Zhang & Bingjia Shao, 2019. "The Effectiveness of Customer Participation and Affective Misforecasting in Online Post-Recovery Satisfaction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Bilal Ahmad & Liu Da & Mirza Huzaifa Asif & Muhammad Irfan & Shahid Ali & Muhammad Imad Ud Din Akbar, 2021. "Understanding the Antecedents and Consequences of Service-Sales Ambidexterity: A Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Asif Nawaz & Beenish Tariq & Sarfraz Ahmed Dakhan & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Niaz Ahmed Bhutto & Heesup Han, 2020. "Behaviors also Trickle Back: An Assessment of Customer Dysfunctional Behavior on Employees and Customers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    5. Salih DURSUN & Oğuz BAŞOL, 2020. "Müşteri Sözlü Saldırganlığının Çalışanların İşten Ayrılma Niyeti Üzerine Etkisi: Duygusal Tükenmenin Aracılık Rolü The Effect of Verbal Customer Aggression on Employee," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(78), pages 147-169, June.
    6. Stanley Y. B. Huang & Yu-Ming Fei & Yue-Shi Lee, 2021. "Predicting Job Burnout and Its Antecedents: Evidence from Financial Information Technology Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-10, April.

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