DYSFUNCTIONAL CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR – A REVIEW OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

Market changes in consumer behavior can take a desirable, positive form and be accepted by other market participants, or they can be contrary to accepted social norms. According to Fullerton and Punj [1998] such behavior is the great paradox of modern consumer culture. Dysfunctional consumer behavior has become an inherent part of modern consumer behavior. The purpose of this paper is to review the results of research on dysfunctional consumer behavior based on selected scientific publications. The presentation of research topics and results will be made in two separate parts. The first part concerns the dysfunctional behaviors of customers, i.e. the way they are presented in the literature and the factors determining such behavior. The second part includes a review of research results concerning the broadly understood consequences of dysfunctional customer behavior.

Necessary evil: a strategy to manage dysfunctional customer behavior

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and when used by employees influences witnessing customers’ willingness to spread positive word of mouth (WOM). Design/methodology/approach This research used a qualitative method to develop a typology of necessary evil using two pilot studies and an experimental study to test the theoretical model. Findings The results show that the necessary evil used by employees to manage dysfunctional customers positively influences witnessing customers’ perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice and their subsequent deontic justice perceptions, resulting in their willingness to spread positive WOM. Moreover, the positive influence of necessary evil on witnessing customers’ responses is strengthened when dysfunctional customer behavior (DCB) targets another customer as opposed to an employee. Practical implications This research offers service providers a better understanding of how to manage DCBs. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by introducing necessary evil to the service literature, proposing a new typology of employee response strategies to DCB based on necessary evil and examining how necessary evil drives positive customer responses. Additionally, it is among the first to examine the relationship between deontic justice and traditional justice mechanisms.

Dysfunctional Customer Behavior, Employee Service Sabotage, and Sustainability: Can Social Support Make a Difference?

In a restaurant industry, dysfunctional customer behavior damages customer-contact service employees’ mental health which may lead to employee defection. This study examined the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior on service employees’ service sabotage which is a mechanisms for protecting themselves from outside pressures. Additionally, it determined if emotional exhaustion plays a mediating role in the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and employees’ service sabotage and verified the moderating role of social support. The proposed model was tested empirically using the data from 329 restaurant customer-contact service employees in South Korea. The results indicated that dysfunctional customer behavior increased the incidence of employees’ service sabotage. Moreover, emotional exhaustion was a significant mediator in the link from dysfunctional customer behavior to employees’ service sabotage. In addition, social support moderated the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior on service sabotage. This study provides insights into the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior and methods of supporting employees socially.

The effects of a psychological brand contract breach on customers' dysfunctional behavior toward a brand

PurposeThis paper introduces the concept of dysfunctional customer behavior toward a brand and argues that when customers perceive that a brand has failed to fulfill its promises, a psychological brand contract breach occurs, which in turn leads to a psychological brand contract violation, which evokes dysfunctional customer behavior toward the brand. In addition, this study investigates whether the impact of a breach of this contract is dependent on brand relationship quality, brand apology and restitution.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 conducted the online survey and 224 respondents were used for data analysis and the moderating role of brand relationship quality was examined. Study 2 conducted an experiment with 201 participants to test the moderating role of brand apology and restitution.FindingsThis study found the moderating role of brand relationship quality, brand apology and brand restitution on the relationship between a psychological brand contract breach and dysfunctional customer behavior toward a brand (i.e. brand-negative word-of-mouth, brand retaliation and brand boycott), which is mediated by psychological brand contract violation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the theoretical understanding of dysfunctional customer behavior toward a brand by integrating the literature on brand management with the organizational literature on psychological contracts between organizations and their employees. Furthermore, this study sheds light on the effectiveness of reparative actions by the firm after occurrence of the psychological brand contract breach.

Behaviors also Trickle Back: An Assessment of Customer Dysfunctional Behavior on Employees and Customers

This study examined the trickle in, out, around and trickle back effect of dysfunctional customer behavior on employees and consequently employees’ incivility and service recovery efforts toward customers. Furthermore, this study has specifically tested the mediating effect of employee burnout to examine the trickle around and trickle back effect. To explore the multi-level trickle effect, this study has collected data from two sources, i.e., customers and employees. The data was analyzed with the help of AMOS. The results revealed that customer’s verbal aggression escalates employee’s burnout, which in turn affects employee’s incivility towards customers. However, the indirect paths from disproportionate customer demand toward service recovery efforts and employee’s incivility towards customers were found to be insignificant. This study addressed the existing gap in the literature by examining the trickle effect within and outside the boundaries of an organization. The results of this study laid down some useful managerial and theoretical implications.

How does dysfunctional customer behavior affect employee turnover

Purpose Dysfunctional customer behavior is believed to engender employee stress and, in turn, fuel employee turnover. However, little research has examined the moderating role of individual-level and contextual-level resource variables. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps by examining employee embeddedness and individualism–collectivism as putative moderators of the hypothesized mediation chain. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a field study involving 264 service employees working in two hotels operated by the same international hotel chain, one in South Korea (n=138) and the other in the UK (n=126). Findings Results show that employee embeddedness weakens the impact of dysfunctional customer behavior on employee turnover via employee stress. In addition, findings suggest that collectivists (individualists) are more (less) likely to be receptive to embeddedness cues. Originality/value This is the first known study to show that employee embeddedness can mitigate the impact of dysfunctional customer behavior on turnover via employee stress. This moderated-mediation model is further moderated by employees’ cultural value orientation (individualism–collectivism). Prior literature is not explicit on these complex models.