Managing customer misbehavior:

challenges and strategies

Lloyd C. Harris
Warwick Business School, Warwick University, Coventry, UK, and
Kate Daunt
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Abstract
Purpose – In this study the authors aim to explore the impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and managers and to elucidate the
management tactics and strategies that managers employ in an attempt to minimize the impact of customer misbehavior on the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach – Following a discussion of the research design and methodology employed, the findings of 88 in-depth interviews
are presented.
Findings – These data suggest that customer misbehavior impacts on frontline employees, managers, and managerial strategies. Three main effects of
customer misbehavior on customer-contact employees are uncovered: physiological, cognitive, and attitudinal. These are connected with four main
management challenges: conflicting pressures, recruitment and retention, counseling and motivation, and time expenditure. Finally, data analysis finds
evidence of six main ways in which managers attempted to reduce or to alleviate harmful customer misbehavior: selective recruitment, changes to
training and induction procedures, enhanced rewards, work-team design, increase counseling, and alterations to the servicescape.
Practical implications – The authors recommend that practitioners undertake a misbehavior audit that explores not only the extent of customer
misbehavior but also the mechanisms, systems, and procedures the organization has for identifying, recording, and attempting to minimize the effects
of dysfunctional customer behavior.
Originality/value – This study contributes insights into how customer-contact personnel and managers are both affected and cope with customer
misbehavior. These insights are helpful for service managers faced with customer misbehavior and academicians interested in how employees respond
to contemporary customers.

Keywords Customer misbehaviour, Customer deviance, Customer dysfunctional behaviour, Services marketing, Retail employees, Customers,
Consumer behaviour, Retailing

Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive customers regularly misbehave during exchange. Indeed,
readers can be found at the end of this article. evidence suggests that, customers exploit the somewhat trite
mantra of the “customer is king” and increasingly abuse their
and commonly intentionally abuse, threatened, or even attack
1. Introduction both employees and their organizations (e.g. Yagil, 2008).
The reported pervasiveness of such customer misbehaviors
Management-based insights into the dark side of
is startling. For example, in the US, Grandey et al. (2004)
organizational dynamics overwhelmingly focus on the
uncover evidence of call center workers being exposed to, on
employee as “deviant” and responsible for perpetrating a
average, ten episodes of customer aggression per day, with
range of misbehaviors aimed at disrupting exchange and
some respondents reporting as many as 50 incidents per
organizational activities (Robinson and O’Leary-Kelly, 1998;
working day. Further, Gettman and Gelfand (2007) reveal
Ackroyd and Thompson, 1999; Thau et al., 2009; Greenberg,
that 86 percent of female employees have personally
2010). In this sense, employees are portrayed as experienced at least one incident of sexual abuse whilst at
“perpetrators” while the organization and customers are work. Comparably, Hughes and Tadic (1998) find that almost
presented “victims” of such events (Edwards and Greenberg, 70 percent of female retail workers are subjected to sexual
2010). This focus contrasts starkly with customer-focused harassment by consumers at work. Such incidents are not
research that highlights the deviant activities of customers limited to American consumers: focusing on British workers,
(Fullerton and Punj, 2004; Fisk et al., 2010; Wirtz and the Union of Shop, Distributive, and Allied Workers (2010)
McColl-Kennedy, 2010). Such studies demonstrate that reveal that during every minute of the working day a shop
worker is verbally abused, threatened with violence, or
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at physically attacked.
www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm Despite growing evidence of the frequency of customer
misbehavior, understanding of the strategies and tactics used

Journal of Services Marketing

27/4 (2013) 281– 293 Received 23 May 2011
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] Revised 8 December 2011
[DOI 10.1108/08876041311330762] Accepted 12 January 2012

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by managers and frontline workers to manage incidents of et al. (2010) identify situations in which consumers verbally
such behaviors is underdeveloped in existing studies. Rather and/or physically attack employees or organizational property,
(and arguably, understandably), the focus of extant literature while Yagil (2008) adopts a different approach and notes the
has been on the consequences and coping mechanisms of frequency and different varieties of aggressive and sexually
customer-contact employees. In this sense, the experience and abusive customer behaviors against frontline organizational
role of managers has largely been neglected. Hence, to the personnel. Additional identified individual forms of consumer
best of our knowledge, no previous research has directly misbehavior include; grudge holding (Aron et al. 2007),
focused on the interplay between frontline workers purchasing counterfeit goods (Bian and Moutinho, 2009),
experiences of customer misbehaviors and the subsequent vandalism (Fisher and Baron, 1982), resistance (Cherrier,
challenges that arise for the managers of such personnel. 2009), shoplifting (Tonglet, 2002), and internet deviance
Thus, no previous research has examined explicitly the (Tuzovic, 2010).
strategies and tactics that managers employ in an attempt to In an effort, theoretically and practically to clarify the
maintain/regain a positive working environment when faced disjointed literature on the individual types of customer
with episodes of consumer deviance. The current paper is misbehaviors, a group of scholars attempt to classify and
designed to redress this gap. First, we aim to explore the categories the varying forms in a meaningful way. For
impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and example, Grove et al. (1989) categorize multiple forms of
managers. Second, we aim to elucidate the management customer misdemeanors based on the stage of consumption in
tactics and strategies that managers employ in an attempt to which the misbehavior occurs. First, misbehavior for
minimize the impact of customer misbehavior on the “acquisitive” gain includes activities such as store-based
workplace. In doing so, the current study is founded in calls theft and illegal downloading. Second, “usage” denotes deeds
for research to examine the dynamics of deviance during of claimant fraud and intentional wastage. Third,
service exchange. For example, Fisk et al. (2010) highlight an “dispositional” misbehaviors encompass vandalism and
existing gap in the literature pertaining to our understanding illegitimate waste disposal. Offering an alternative
of the impact of customer misbehavior. Hershcovis and perspective, Lovelock (2001) distinguishes between six types
Barling (2010) and Karatepe et al. (2009, 2010) also of anecdotally derived service jaycustomer which are termed
separately call for research that uses multiple foci and “the thief” who sets out to steal goods, “the rule breaker”
investigates the consequences of customer misbehavior driven who purposely ignores established rules and codes of conduct,
stressors on organizational actors. The article begins with an “the belligerent” who voices threats, obscenities, and insults
overview of extant research that identifies and classifies the at employees and fellow patrons, “the family feuders” whom
varying forms of customer misbehavior. Next, studies which argue between one another, “the vandal” who intentionally
offer insight into the impact of and strategies associated with rips, burns, and damages organizational property, and “the
customer misbehavior are reviewed. Following a discussion of deadbeat” who consumes service without intending to pay.
the research design and methodology employed, the findings In contrast to Lovelock’ (2001) classification which centers
of 88 in-depth interviews are presented. These data suggest on identifying forms of customer misbehavior that occur
that customer misbehavior impacts on frontline employees, during the service encounter and point of service exchange,
managers, and managerial strategies. The paper concludes Fullerton and Punj (2004) offer an contrasting categorization
with a discussion of the implications of the study findings for that forwards five varieties of externally directed and visible
theory, practitioners, and public policy. customer misbehaviors. Identifying the intended target and
thus victim of the misdeed, Fullerton and Punj (2004)
2. Customer misbehavior distinguish between acts that intend to wrong employees
(e.g. physical abuse), patrons (e.g. queue jumping),
A review of existing literature reveals no single generally organizational merchandise (e.g. shoplifting), organizational
accepted label, definition, or classification of customer physical and electronic property (e.g. arson), and the firm’s
misbehavior. For reasons of clarity, the current paper adopts financial assets (e.g. warranty fraud). Adopting a different
the term customer “misbehavior” to denote customer perspective, Harris and Reynolds (2004) confirm that
behavior within the exchange setting that deliberately customer misbehaviors can include both covert and overt
violates the generally accepted norms of conduct in such behaviors. Categorizing the different types of data-derived
situations (Fullerton and Punj, 1993). Additional labels used customer misbehavior on two axes (visibility and motive), the
interchangeably within the literature include “deviant” (Mills, authors distinguish between eight forms of data derived
1981), “aberrant” (Fullerton and Punj, 1993), customer misbehaviors. Harris and Reynolds (2004) forward
“dysfunctional” (Harris and Reynolds, 2003) and “jay” categories of “oral abusers”, “physical abusers”, “undesirable
(Lovelock, 2001) customer behavior. The primary focus of customers”, “vindictive customers”, and “sexual predators”,
past research centers on examining the dynamics of individual highlight the often disheartening experiences of frontline staff
types of customer misbehavior. For example, Wirtz and who must deal with such misbehaviors on a daily basis in a
McColl-Kennedy (2010) investigate one form of customer face-to-face manner, while the identified categories of
misbehavior which they label fraudulent claiming behavior. “property abusers”, “service workers”, and “compensation
Here, consumers opportunistically inflate their insurance writers” that emphasize the strain that customer misbehaviors
claims for financial gain. Examining a different individual type places on organizational property and systems.
of consumer fraud activity, Rosenbaum et al. (2010)
investigate what the authors term “unethical retail
3. Effects of customer misbehavior
disposition,” wherein consumers intentionally purchase and
use an item, later returning it to the store in a fraudulent Aligned with literature that attempts to categorize the various
capacity. Focusing on abusive customer behaviors, Patterson forms of customer misbehavior are studies that examine the

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effects of such misdeeds. The authors note that research in Emotional labor is just one of a number of coping strategies
this area almost exclusively investigates the consequences of that are identified by a small group of studies. Here, scholars
aggressive and sexually abusive customer behaviors on attempt to understand how frontline employees make sense of
frontline employees. For example, Hughes and Tadic (1998) and cope with incidents of customer misbehavior. For
reveal that sexually deviant behaviors by patrons result in example, derived from their qualitative and quantitative
negative outcomes for frontline workers including increased studies, Bailey and McCollough (2000) reveal that emotional
intention to quit, loss of interest in their work, withdrawal labor is the most commonly adopted coping strategy by
from customer interactions, and reduced job performance. frontline workers faced with disruptive customers. Additional
Offering a broader view via amalgamating previous research responses uncovered by Bailey and McCollough (2000, p. 60)
on this area within service contexts, Yagil (2008) classifies the include; over compensating and being “extra nice” to
outcomes of sexual harassment on frontline employees into customers, avoiding serving new customers, and venting
three groups. First, “emotional reactions” include negative with others behind the scenes. Behind the scenes coping
effects on employees’ mood states (e.g. anger), depression, mechanisms are also acknowledged by Bishop et al. (2005)
and stress disorders. Second, “work related attitudes and who in adopting an interpretivist approach, uncover skills that
behaviors” describe employees suffering from reduced job frontline workers use to cope with episodes of violent
satisfaction, morale, and motivation as a result of enduring customer behavior. These include, anger displacement,
sexually abusive behavior by patrons. Third, “physical harm” blaming other frontline workers, and swapping stories with
depicts injury to the employee’s body and personal property. fellow colleagues in order to try and make light of the
Recognizing the consequences of aggressive customer situation.
behaviors, multiple authors draw a link between differing Empirical support for the existence of socially-derived
levels of customer violence and employees’ physical and coping mechanisms is also forwarded by Reynolds and Harris
mental well-being. This is demonstrated by Grandey et al. (2008). Investigating how 64 frontline bar, hotel, and
(2004) who link the frequency of verbal aggression to elevated restaurant employees manage interactions with misbehaving
levels of employee emotional exhaustion within the context of patrons, the authors promote three time-orientated categories
call center workers. Investigating a different service context, of employee tactics labeled; pre-incident, during the incident,
Karatepe et al. (2009) forwards comparable findings for and post-incident. First, pre-incident tactics depict
frontline hotel staff. Specifically, Karatepe et al. (2009) find employees’ engagement in mental preparation for work,
statistical support for the relationship between experienced altering clothing, observing patrons, and consuming
verbal aggression and employee emotional dissonance, intoxicating substances. Second, during-incident tactics
exhaustion, and turnover intentions. Distinguishing between uncovered include ignoring customers, bribing customers,
direct and indirect forms of customer aggression, Dormann altering speech patterns, exploiting sexual attractiveness,
and Zapf (2004) provide evidence of a link between customer- manipulating items within the servicescape setting, and
related social stressors and employee burnout, wherein employing emotional labor (typically, surface acting)
individuals experience feelings of depersonalization and techniques. Third, identified post-incident frontline
reduced sense of personal accomplishment. Employee personnel tactics comprise talking to colleagues, individual
burnout is also the focus of Ben-Zur and Yagil’s (2005) isolation, venting emotions, and attempting to gain revenge
study in which evidence of the relationship between high over the offending customer. Later, Yagil (2008) analyses and
levels of customer aggression (including the use of offensive synthesizes the work of Harris and Reynolds (2003) and
language, verbal threats, and physical attacks) and employee others and distinguishes between employee’s coping tactics
burnout is found to uphold across multiple service settings. that are problem-solving, escape-avoidance, or support-
Divergent to research that examines the outcomes of seeking focused. For example, problem-solving focused
aggressive and sexually abusive customer behavior on strategies involve the employee reducing the stress
frontline employees, Fullerton and Punj (2004) consider, associated with dealing with sexually abusive customers
conceptually, the outcomes of multiple forms of customer through planning, analysis, and effort, while escape-avoidance
misbehavior. Specifically, the authors theoretically distinguish strategies includes attempts to try and trivialize the incident.
between the psychological and financial costs of customer Finally, support-seeking strategies embrace the use of humor
deviance to both frontline personnel and business entities. in group contexts as a means to dissipate the upset caused by
Complementary empirical research, derived from qualitative customer misbehavior.
interviews with frontline hospitality workers is offered by Aligned with literature which recognizes the impact of
Harris and Reynolds (2004). Investigating varied forms of customer misbehavior is a small group of texts which offer
customer misbehavior, the authors forward three categories of prescriptions recommending how employees should deal with
consequences. First, Harris and Reynolds (2004) note misbehaving customers. Typically, such studies are found in
organizational consequences, which encompass the direct practitioner-based literature. For example, identifying nine
and indirect financial costs associated with cleaning up and types of “customers from hell” Belding (2000), prescribes
compensating the victims of customer misdeeds. Second, “L.E.S.T.E.R.” to employees on the interface of customer
positive and negative consequences for fellow customers are misbehavior. Focusing on the tactics that frontline employees
highlighted. Specifically, the authors reveal evidence of should adopt while interacting with misbehaving customers,
patrons who copy the misbehaviors of fellow customers for Belding (2000) recommends, listening, echoing,
gain and those who experience spoilt consumption effects. sympathizing, thanking, evaluating, and responding as
Third, discussion of the impact of customer misbehavior on (somewhat subservient) customer interface tactics.
frontline employees is offered. Identified consequences Concentrating on the activities of “unfair customers”, Berry
include, eroded morale, physical scarring, post-traumatic and Seiders (2008) contemplate what managers can do about
stress, emotional harm, and emotional labor. customer misbehavior. Discussed approaches include firing

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undesirable customers, preparing for rude customers through (although some lasted as long as two hours). In total, 88
learning from past episodes, and responding to customers’ interviews were conducted in 57 firms during 2009-2010; 64
unfairness in a firm manner so not to reward misbehavior. with retail managers and 24 with frontline employees (whose
This small group of studies contrasts markedly in size with a roles were primarily customer-contact). Different interview
much broader and developed body of literature that identifies schedules were developed for both managers and front-line
managerial tactics for dealing with misbehaving employees workers with the interviews of managers concentrated on the
(see Ackroyd and Thompson, 1999; Thomlinson and impact of customer behavior on their role and on their
Greenberg, 2010; Neuman and Keashly, 2010). In this employees while interviews with front-line employees focused
sense, the focus of previous research on managerial strategies on their interpretations of customer misbehavior. In both
and tactics with relation to deviant behaviors has almost case, interview schedules were flexible to permit detailed
exclusively concentrated on the management of deviant discussion of interesting phenomena and were amended as
employees. This focus is to the detriment to our insightful issues were uncovered. Most of the informants were
understanding of managerial strategies and tactics associated female (57), the average age of those interviewed was 34, the
with customer misbehavior. Thus, the authors identify a average length of tenure in the current firm was 3.1 years,
pertinent gap in the literature. with an average industry experience of 7.2 years.
To summarize, a review of extant literature reveals that, to Each interview began with the collection of socio-
date, research that attempts to offer insight into the impact of demographic information, and a discussion regarding the
customer misbehavior has focused almost exclusively on the nature of customer misbehavior. Each interview was audio-
experience of the frontline employee within contexts of violent record and later transcribed verbatim by the research team.
and sexually aggressive behaviors. This focus has been to the Informants were verbally probed through a set of open-ended
detriment of research that examines the experience of questions to provide a verbal account(s) of their work and
frontline workers and managers within organizations who their experiences of customer misbehavior. Thereafter,
frequently and at times simultaneously, encounter multiple rationales, motives, interpretations, and explanations for
forms of customer misbehavior. In this sense, no previous behavior were discussed. As recommended by Lindolf
studies have garnered empirical data that offers insight into (1995) the researchers seized appropriate opportunities to
the proactive and reactive strategies and tactics that managers follow potentially worthy lines of inquiry in order to
employ when dealing with misbehaving customers within their encourage elaboration.
firm. The current study intends to contribute to this identified Data analysis focused on the systematic evaluation of the
research gap. transcripts of interviews coupled with interview notes. To
structure this process we employed a variation of the iterative
4. Research methods analysis process originally designed by Turner (1981) and
advocated by Reynolds and Harris (2006) as especially
Given the relatively poorly understood nature of the effects appropriate for analyses of consumer misbehavior. Following,
and management implications of customer misbehavior and well-established protocol, our data analysis approach involved
the paucity of studies into this phenomenon (see Reynolds coding data into theoretically derived categories in terms of
and Harris, 2009), an exploratory research design was the variety of themes and sub themes that emerged (see
deemed appropriate to elucidate the core issues and to Glaser and Strauss, 1967). We then subjected these themes to
develop insights into the dynamics of these concepts. critical evaluation, resulting in fewer themes and sub themes.
Accordingly, we undertook an in-depth, one-to-one, This process continued until the point of theoretical
interview-based study which allowed informants to describe saturation, wherein no new insights were gained (see Strauss
context-specific events in their own language and jargon while and Corbin, 1990). Coding themes were first undertaken by
allowing the researchers to explore interesting events and to the lead investigator (and data collector) and subsequently
probe informants for interpretations and reflections. independently by the second author. Results were compared
The setting for the study was the retail sector. The retail and broad agreement found in all but the labeling of two sub-
sector was deemed appropriate for a variety of reasons themes. These two codes were jointly discussed leading to
including labor intensity, frequency of customer-contact, and hybrid theme labels and the resulting analysis and codes
size/economic importance. Organizations were selected at approved by a neutral, non-participating academician. To
random from a directory of retail firms. Initial telephone gauge further the veracity of our analysis, our coding
contact with Corporate of Head Offices requested that an procedures and themes were reviewed by two academicians
outlet and individual manger be selected at random. In store, and our themes and findings were critically evaluated by five
one in every two outlets visited were requested to select a senior executives with extensive experience in the field.
random frontline employee. The employing organizations of Following agreed ethical protocol, to maintain the anonymity
informants ranged from firms with five branches to of individuals and organizations, identifying details (such as,
multinational organizations with many thousands of outlets. names) have been changed.
Outlet size varied from branches with as few as 12 employees
to outlets with hundreds of members of staff.
5. Findings
In the current study, the interviews largely focused on the
asking of open-ended questions which allow respondents to Interviews with frontline, customer-contact employees and
describe their experiences, actions and motivations. This managers suggested that their attitudes and behaviors were
approach is argued to generate rich and real data whilst heavily affected by customer misbehavior. All of the
capturing “true” depictions of events and feelings from the customer-contact staff involved in the study stated that
informants’ perspective (Stauss and Weinlich, 1997). misbehavior by customers was a routine, unremitting,
Typically, interviews lasted between 45 and 60 minutes everyday experience. Indeed, consistent with the contentions

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of Fullerton and Punj (2004), seven frontline employees physiological terms. For example two employee talk of the
argued that customer misbehavior was so usual that non- effect of customer misbehavior on them:
deviant customer behaviors were atypical and rare. Although You know they’re lying, you know that trying to get something for nothing; a
the managers interviewed commonly experienced less fast and easy buck. But, we’re paid to stand there like a smiling robot while
some jerk yells at you. Your heart is beating faster than a train, your blood
customer-contact, they also universally argued that customer pressure is rocketing sky-high but you stand there, hour after hour. It’s all
misbehavior affected both them personally and their work. In stress, all pressure (customer service worker, 11 years experience in
this regard, this study confirms earlier studies that claim that retailing).
customer misbehavior is pervasive and profoundly impactful The stress can be too much. You can really feel your heart rate racing. I
(Fullerton and Punj, 1993; Reynolds and Harris, 2006; Fisk mean, this is real stress – physical, felt stress – not just a bit of “oh, I’ve too
et al., 2010). much work to do”. Real, tangible stress, that’s all down to some damn guy
pushing his weight around – trying to be the “big man”, the “top dog”!
The findings of our study are presented to two main (customer service worker, 4 years experience in retailing).
sections. First, the impacts and challenges that customer
misbehavior raises for both frontline employees and managers Such stress was believed by most of the employees to be
are discussed. Second, we discuss the coping strategies that detrimental to their physical and emotional health. Indeed,
managers employed to minimize or reduce the impacts of many employees argued that misbehavior by customers
regular customer misbehavior. eroded their emotional strength and negatively affected not
only their mood during such episodes but also their
5.1 Customer misbehavior temperament afterward. One employee discusses the affect
Data analysis revealed that customer misbehavior raised a of an incident on themselves, her team, and her family:
number of challenges and a range of consequences for Last week this woman complained to John (the store manager) about the way
frontline employees and managers. To guide our discussion, I had spoken her. I saw the letter – it was total fiction – complete and utter
garbage. What she wanted was “compensation” – free money. Stuff like that
these are presented in summary form in Figure 1. gets you down, gets everyone down, and really weighs on you and your team.
You don’t mind if they’re (the customers) fair but they’re not – for them it’s
5.1.1 Customer misbehavior and frontline employees dollars in the hand. They (the customers) ddon’t think about how these
Figure 1 depicts three main effects of customer misbehavior things affect us, they don’t care if it’s true, they don’t care if we worry about
it, if it goes on our records, if it stops us sleeping at night [. . .] to them it’s
on customer-contact employees; physiological, cognitive, and just money, money, money (customer service worker, 6 years experience in
attitudinal. These impacts merit further discussion. retailing).
First, customer-contact employees universally claimed that
deliberate customer misbehavior was a considerable cause of Figure 1 also presents customer misbehavior as affecting the
stress in their working lives which many described in emotional state of customer-contact employees. Such was the

Figure 1 Customer misbehavior: impacts, challenges, and management strategies

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prevalence of such affects that employees considered commitment to remain in post and/or with their employing
emotional distress caused by customer behavior to be organization was severely limited. For example:
entirely normal and an everyday occurrence that was part of Do I want this job with these customers for ever? No way. Not this job –
their working days. Two employees comment: people are just too unpleasant for words. Any other job will do (customer
service worker, 3 years experience in retailing).
I don’t care what anyone says – nobody can just shrug-off what some
customers will do, what they say. You get upset. You feel down. It is always I’ve already told them (the management), I’ll do any job off the shop floor
personal (customer service worker, 8 years experience in retailing). but I’m not staying here to be abused everyday (customer service worker, 2
years experience in retailing).
The physical work isn’t hard. Tiring sometimes but not hard labor or
anything! But you do get to feel that, well, emotionally it can be tough here –
everyone gets distressed at some point – everyone has a trigger that hurts Interestingly, nearly three-quarters of the frontline employees
them (customer service worker, 7 years experience in retailing). interviewed blamed both the customer and the organization
for the behavior of customers. For instance:
Emotionally, employees felt that customer behavior was a key Yes, the customers can be total idiots but you can’t blame them alone. If
source of frustration, anger, guilt, irritation, anxiety, sadness management do nothing to stop it, why stop? I blame the managers here as
and even depression. As such, employees’ emotional response much as the customers (customer service worker, 6 years experience in
retailing).
to episodes of customer misbehavior were monotonous
negative. In all of the interviews, not one employee found
While these views of the organization may not be entirely fair
customer misbehavior to affect their emotional state in a
(see later), such opinions were common.
position way.
The second employee attitudinal predisposition affected by
Third Figure 1 depicts customer misbehavior as linked to
customer behavior appeared to be negative reciprocal norms.
employee work-related cognitions. Unsurprisingly, given the
Based on the earlier work of Gouldner (1960), Eisenberger
perceived stress such behaviors are thought to cause;
et al. (2004, p. 788) define a negative norm of reciprocity as
employees cited repeated customer misbehavior as a source
comprising “a unitary set of beliefs favoring retribution as the
of motivation and job satisfaction erosion. More experienced correct and proper way to respond to unfavorable treatment.”
(and arguably, more cynical) customer-contact employees Although norms are relatively stable, evidence emerged that
claimed that exposure to perpetual misbehaving customers, longer-serving frontline employees tended to hold negative
reduced their trust in customer honesty and ethical behavior, reciprocal norms much more strongly than less-experienced
and acted as a significant counterpoint to management or long serving employees. For example, the opinions of a
exhortations to maximize service quality. For example: long serving and a newly-appointed employee markedly
After a while you get cynical about all that “the customer is king” crud. You
contrast:
can’t tell me that customers are anything other than lying, cheating SOBs! It
doesn’t matter what management spout – you can’t trust customers to do Long experience has taught me to treat customers as they treat me. They
anything other than yank your chain (customer service worker, 10 years mess with me, I’ll get them back – like the Good Book says – “an eye for an
experience in retailing). eye” (customer service worker, 16 years experience in retailing).

You ever seen “house” (a popular television show)? House says “everybody I know some of the older guys react it but just ’cos customers are rude,
lies”. He right – in our case it just should be “every customer lies, cheats, doesn’t mean I should respond the same way [. . .] even when the managers
and is darn rude about it too” (customer service worker, 8 years experience aren’t looking (Customer Service Worker, three months experience in
in retailing). retailing].

While many customer-contact employees claimed to like their This finding appears to suggest that the attitudes of customer-
job, without exception, they stated that customer-contact with contact employees are affected by long-term exposure to
misbehaving customers was the worst element of their role customer behaviors.
and constituted a key source of job dissatisfaction. One 5.1.5 Customer misbehavior and management challenges
employee stated: Figure 1 also depicts a number of management challenges
You get so many of them doing what you call misbehaving [. . .] (snorts) [. . .] arising from customer misbehavior. Data analysis reveals that
I call it plain rude. This job would be great without them (the customers) but
they’re so many that somebody normal, like me, is rare. It’s by far the worst the four main management challenges are conflicting
part of the job – some days it feels like the only part (customer service pressures, recruitment and retention, counseling and
worker, 5 years experience in retailing). motivation, and time expenditure. These are discussed in
turn below.
More experienced employees were more fatalistic regarding First, managers were keenly aware that persistent customer
such effects. However, recently hired employees were misbehavior placed them under conflicting pressures.
shocked, not only by the level of customer misbehavior, but Frontline employees, frequently vociferously, complained of
also the impact such episodes had on their personal and group deviant, boorish, and unscrupulous customer behaviors while
satisfaction. For instance: senior management guidelines, often enshrined in induction,
I’d always thought that most people, most customers, were okay. A day here recruitment, and training procedures, extolled the merits (and
cured me of that! I’m amazed just how horrible some customers are – so
mean, so sneaky. They (the customers) do not see the impact they have. It
indeed, enforced) customer orientation and high service
turns a good day into a bad one – a good job into a misery (customer service quality standards. These dual pressures generated strain and
worker, three months experience in retailing). tensions for managers. Two explain:
On the one hand we push our variation on “the customer is always right” but
Linked to impacts on employee cognitions, were effects on in the back of your mind you’re thinking “No, their not – they’re fraudsters,
employee attitudinal predispositions. Two main issues clearly con-artists, and a pain in the butt!” It’s not quite a simple as that but that’s
how you feel sometimes (manager, six years experience in retailing).
emerged. First were the links to employee affective
commitment (see Meyer et al., 1993). Predictably, given the Well, there’s the company line – you know – it’s right, that’s how things
should be! However, the reality is not so ideal, not so black and white. The
stress, de-motivation, and dissatisfaction linked to customer way Head Office thinks about these things is just not real – it’s not the same.
misbehavior, many front-line employees argued that their It’s the ideal versus the real, real world. And the real world, and real

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customers are not very nice sometimes, however much you want them to be! Interestingly, many of the less experienced managers noted
(manager, nine years experience in retailing).
that this counseling role was something that they had not
expected but had been passed on by more experienced
Similarly, HR Managers recognized the conflicting pressures managers. One observed:
of customer orientation to misbehaving customers with their
I think that when you start the job, you’ve got so much theory and strategy in
professional duty of care to their employees. For example: your head that you miss the nitty gritty stuff. A lot of the things we do, we
I’ve got sixteen-seventeen year olds on the shop floor – the same age as my learn on the job – the guy that trained me here, spent a lot of his day
daughters. Would I want my kids exposed to some of the things that showing me that talking to people was way more effective than “grand
customers say and do? No way! We’ve a duty to protect them from that sort strategies”. If you’ve spent two hours listening to people trying to return
of thing. It’s a balance between get the staff out there that we need to run the obviously used and broken goods and lying through their teeth, talking about
business and making sure that our people don’t get hurt in the process it helps! (manager, one years experience in retailing).
(manager, 16 years experience in retailing).
However, analysis of data indicated an element of gender bias
In particular, managers expressed concerns regarding the in informal counseling. Typically, male managers were
employment of part-time (often weekend-only) staff who were involved in less counseling activity. Indeed, in branches with
often very young. Indeed, three managers argued that such male managers, informal counseling roles were most
was the pervasiveness of customer misbehavior in their outlet, commonly undertaken by the predominately female HR
that potentially vulnerable employees should not be employed assistants (who were typically part-time, middle-aged
and exposed to such behavior (in part on moral grounds but females). Nevertheless, each outlet had at least one person
also because of fear of ensuing legal action for lack of care). who took it upon themselves to “talk through” episodes of
Managers also stated that the existence of customer customer misbehavior, often with the formal approval of store
misbehavior raised challenges during recruitment and management:
retention of customer-contact employees. Two mangers Joan [the HR Assistant] is our “agony aunt”. At the end of a bad day, she’ll
pick you up, feed you chocolate, and set you right! Everyone talks to her. I
discuss their recruitment concerns: tell all the new staff to talk to Joan (manager, 12 years experience in
If we did personality profiles for these jobs, they’d definitely be a type that retailing).
fits. Some types just will not put up with it – cann’t take it. Others who’re
quieter but, well, tougher, can (manager, ten years experience in retailing).
Finally, all the interviewed managers mentioned the amount
Some people don’t have the spunk for it. It takes a certain kind of strength to of time they spent dealing with customer misbehavior. Often
put up with somebody lying to you face and just smiling and saying “sorry”. managers undertook roles as duty/store managers on a rotated
You can see that during interviews. Nice, good people – just the wrong sort
for the job (manager, 16 years experience in retailing). basis. In such positions, these managers were directly involved
at the customer interface and frequently noted the time
In this regard, most managers argued that their interview dedicated to customer misbehavior:
process sought out employees with the social skills and Sometimes an entire shift is sorting out the fallout. One incident with an
abusive customer can last for hours. You’ve got to placate the customer while
character traits best able to cope with misbehaving not enraging your staff, do the paperwork, counsel upset staff, re-arrange
consumers. Nevertheless, nearly three-quarters of those shifts [. . .] it knock any plans you’ve had right out. You spend the rest of the
managers interviewed claimed that, in their experience, a day trying to get things back on track (manager, 17 years experience in
retailing).
key source of employee turnover was either individual
episodes of extreme customer misbehavior or turnover
Similarly, managers argued that many of their activities were
triggered by incessant and unremitting consumer abuse. either directly or indirectly related to the extent of customer
One noted: misbehavior. One manager claimed:
Some of them get ground down by the day-to-day, constant hassle and
It’s in the back of your mind for so much of what we do. Whether it’s
trouble. Others, well, something sets them off – a really, really, really bad
recruiting, induction, training, morale – whatever. You just got to keep it in
customer, one insult too many and that’s it. They can’t take any more – it mind. In terms of time – I’d say it’s difficult to say because it just one of
doesn’t matter what we do (manager, six years experience in retailing). those factors you need to think about. You certainly can’t ignore it!
(manager, six years experience in retailing).
In this sense, managers observed that the poor behavior of
customers was a central concern in both their recruitment In summary, analysis of interview data strongly demonstrated
approaches and their retention strategies (see later). that managers were faced with a range of challenges arising
Another challenge arising from customer misbehavior both directly and indirectly from customer misbehavior.
centers on an increased need for counseling and motivating Varying from conflicting pressures to recruitment procedures,
staff. Many of the managers interviewed stated that one of such challenges placed significant demands on the time of
their key roles was in the informal counseling of employees to managers.
improve individual and collective morale. For example:
In terms of morale abusive customers are a big problem. I make it part of my 5.2 Customer misbehavior: management strategies and
day to talk to as many people as I can. You know – ask them “how are
things?”, “is everyone okay?”, “what’s the news?”. That way, you keep in
tactics
touch and you get to pick them up a bit – cheer them up, keep them “on Having explored the impact of customer misbehavior on
song”. Nothing formal – just talking things through can make a big frontline employees and the challenges it raises for managers,
difference (manager, 16 years experience in retailing). the remainder of this paper focuses on the strategies and
I’d say a lot of what I do is counseling of a sort. A problem shared is halved. tactics adopted by management to minimize such impacts and
If they can get it off their chest then they’ll feel better, work harder. Simple challenges. During data collection, evidence emerged of six
stuff raises morale – improves their motivation. Showing that you care about
them, make their job a little less rough [. . .] it makes it easier for them to
main ways in which managers attempted to reduce or to
shrug off a bad day, a bad customer (manager, 12 years experience in alleviate harmful customer misbehavior (see Figure 1). These
retailing). six strategies and tactics are discussed in turn below.

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First, as suggested earlier, managers attempted to counter systems to reflect a more “realistic” (albeit unpleasant) stance.
the impact of customer misbehavior through employing Two managers comment:
employees with personalities and attitudinal characteristics Here we’ve added on to the company induction procedures. We need it – the
best suited to exposure to, sometimes, unpleasant, rude, and company line is a bit too idealistic – we needed to temper that with the
reality for us in this neighborhood. Here things aren’t “ideal” and we need to
deceitful customers. All of the managers interviewed accepted manage the expectations of new staff. The customer may well be “King” but
that certain types of employees were best suited to customer- nobody said that kings are nice! (manager, 16 years experience in retailing).
contact work and consequently were highly-rated and I would’t stay that we’re different in our training just a bit more balanced. If
regarded during employment interviews. Two managers we’re training up on customer service we add in a few scenarios about the
comment: customer being wrong or rude or shouting or something (manager, eight
years experience in retailing).
Most of the customer-contact staff fall into a certain type. It’s really pre-
selection – the one’s that can cope stay and the one’s who can’t leave. The
problem for us are the ones who leave and try and join us. If they can’t cope During induction sessions and customer service training,
somewhere else, there’s no way on earth that they can cope here – at least on managers adopted a range of different techniques, designed to
the shop floor – off the floor it’s a different matter (manager, seven years
experience in retailing).
improve employees’ interaction with misbehaving customers.
Approaches included role play, footage or recordings of actual
Getting staff of the right type is better for all concerned. Better for the
customers, surface emotional labor, and the provision and
employee, better for us in that we hold on to them, better for the company in
that they’re robust enough to fend off some of the jerks that try to rip us off, discussion of statements designed to control the exchange
and even better for customers who get handled better (manager, 22 years with the customer.
experience in retailing). In most of the organizations studied, informal guidelines
existing regarding unacceptable customer behavior. Formal
In this sense, the managers interviewed argued that judicious guidelines were comparative rare. Moreover, such tolerance
selection of appropriately tempered and suitably disposed levels varied considerably (even within organizations). A
customer-contact employees, reduced the impact of customer manager comments about her experience:
misbehavior both on the employee themselves but also on the I was shocked when I came here. In my old store – any aggression and that
broader organization. was it – out. Here, there were customers throwing things and nothing being
Two customer-contact employee characteristics were done! For me, “no way”, cross the line and that’s it – our people don’t have
to put up with that! (manager, 17 years experience in retailing).
particularly valued; (especially, verbal) social skills, and
public self-confidence. Good social skills were deemed
In most organizations, tolerance was gauged via language
advantageous in contributing to a customer orientation but
(such as, use of expletives) or via aggressiveness. Employee
also beneficial when dealing with often discourteous (and
responses to violations of such levels ranged from verbal
sometimes, dishonest) complaints. One manager explains:
warnings, to the escalation of the issue to managers, to (in one
Working with the public you need a good set of social skills – you need to be
able to communicate well. Some applicants look great on paper but when organization) the contacting of the onsite security staff.
you interview them, their social skills are poor – they can’t talk to people The third strategy adopted by managers to counter the
without sounding false or ummm, well sycophantic. When the customer is effects of customer misbehavior center on altered employee
“playing up” and “yanking your chain”, you’ve got to be able to talk to them
(manager, six years experience in retailing).
remuneration. Most of the frontline, customer-contact
employees were paid on an hourly rate. Many managers
Public self-confidence was also highly valued by prospective increased this rate for roles which involved extensive or
employers. Public self-confidence refers to the extent to which prolonged exposure to customer misbehavior, such as, roles
employees’ have a disposition that focuses on how their involving customer complaints or goods returning. In part,
actions are perceived by others (Buss, 1980; Marquis and such enhanced remuneration reflected market realities. A
Filiatrault, 2002). Managers argued that employees with high manager explains:
There are, there have to be, different rates for different roles. For example,
public self-confidence had the psychological “strength” to we pay our customer service staff more than the fillers (shelf stackers), more
cope with misbehaving customers without succumbing than the checkout operators. It’s a matter of role stress – they get so much
(unnecessarily) to their unfounded complaints or claims. grief from customers that we have to pay them more or they won’t do it –
they’d all swop jobs if the pay were the same! (manager, five years experience
For example: in retailing).
They’ve got to be spunky in their attitude. Happy to talk up – not be over-
ridden by a customer who just wants to shout them down. A bit of backbone
goes a long way! (manager, two years experience in retailing). In larger organizations with less flexible remuneration rates
and (arguably) more sophisticated procedures, managers
While managers acknowledged that not all the customer- altered shift patterns to reward those employees exposed to
contact employees they hired had highly developed social customer misbehavior. Such alterations to shifts and hours
skills and high public self-confidence, they universally agreed worked included allocating employees overtime and holiday
that such employees were the targets of the recruitment and shifts (both with added pay and sometimes additional leave
retention strategies. entitlements) as well as allowing employees who worked in
Second, managers had altered their induction and training particular roles during especially different shifts (such as
procedures and systems to account for customer misbehavior. Saturday afternoons) to choose other shifts which were
In larger organizations, customer misbehavior was particularly sought after. For example:
acknowledged in some formal induction and training We have quite rigid rates of pay that we have no control over. So, I reward
people by giving them the shifts they want or overtime if they want it – some
procedures (although, typically, the focus was on placating want to work holidays. It’s kinda a form of indirect reward (Manager,
customer “misunderstandings”). However, in smaller twenty-two years experience in retailing].
organizations, customer misbehavior was neglected in
formal procedures. Consequently, managers closer to the In addition to manipulating employee financial remuneration
customer interface had altered their induction and training as a form of compensation for customer misbehavior,

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Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt Volume 27 · Number 4 · 2013 · 281 –293

managers also recognized the important of non-financial servicescapes in an effort both to minimize occurrences of
remuneration. Indeed, many of the managers interviewed customer misbehavior and to reduce the potentially damaging
used praise and stressed improved promotion prospects affects of such episodes. One manager describes her
during interactions with employees post customer organization’s policy regarding the reduction of customer
misbehavior episodes. rage incidents at customer service/returns desks:
Particularly in larger organizations, managers sensitively When we were re-furb’ed (a store refurbishment), made the customer service
designed work teams to minimize the impact of customer desk wider. It makes more of a barrier you see? That and the reinforced glass
door. They (the staff) can’t be got, at you see? Apparently they’re doing this
misbehavior. Partly, out a duty of care to (potentially) everywhere. I guess they’re scared of being sued if a customer turns nasty!
vulnerable employees, managers were notably meticulous in (manager, six years experience in retailing).
their design of teams for both existing staff but also during
recruitment of new staff (see earlier). Two managers outline Similarly, a number of managers referred to (often, store-
their approaches: level) regulations regarding staff uniform designed to reduce
The team is very important. Different mixes work differently. All young men the impact of physical attacks on staff. While changes to
is a bad mix. Too much horseplay – too little work! Too much testosterone layout and uniforms were comparatively rare, the use of highly
to deal with awkward customers! We think very carefully about the mix of visible surveillance (either video-based or via security
employees in each team. I talk through all team changes with the team
leaders and experiment with different mixes to see what works (manager, 11 personnel) were commonly used, in part, to reduce
years experience in retailing). customer misbehavior. The rationale for such changes is
explained by a store manager:
Although team designs varied from context-to-context, many Much of our surveillance is, by definition, “covert” but we use highly visible
managers believed that customer misbehavior was minimized cameras for trouble “hot spots”. In essence, customers are much less likely to
do something stupid if they know that we’re recording their every move!
by the presence of particular types of employees. In particular, (manager, 12 years experience in retailing).
middle-aged female employees were frequently viewed as
diplomatic, good communicators, and fair; all skills viewed as Although, managers argued that such changes were widely
advantageous when placating misbehaving or unfairly believed to reduce the likelihood of the more extreme forms
complaining customers. For instance: customer misbehavior, many frontline staff claimed that while
It’s a stereotype but certain types are much better with difficult customers. “visible” forms of surveillance reduced the severity of such
Not only do they handle them better but I’d say some types put people off events; the frequency of misbehavior was unaltered.
trying. Middle-aged, mums with a cynical eye are difficult to fool. I guess
most folks“ll stop themselves kicking off in from of someone that looks like
their Mom! [manager, 17 years experience in retailing). 6. Conclusions and implications
Indeed, consistent with Harris (2008), 40 percent of The first contribution of the study centers on the data-
managers claimed that successful instances of fraudulent grounded insights gained into the pervasiveness of the impact
returning fell by as much as fifty percent (and as little as ten of customer misbehavior. Although previous studies have
percent) when returns desk were staffed by certain employees documented a range of (often extreme) acts of customer
(often, but not exclusively, middle-aged, long-serving, female misbehavior and their impact on frontline employees, the
employees). effects and challenges for managerial staff have been largely
The fifth tactic employed by managers, to reduce the neglected. In this sense, customer misbehavior has often been
impact of customer misbehavior, centered on counseling disregarded as the abnormal, aberrant acts of atypical
frontline, customer-contact managers and staff. Such consumers that merely affect the small number of unlucky
counseling was both formal and informal in nature. For or unfortunate frontline employees. In contrast, our study
example: finds that customer misbehavior has a profound and pervasive
Informal chats with people are probably more common. I guess it’s
impact on both frontline employees and managers. Indeed,
counseling but it’s really good man-management, umm, people- some of those interviewed argued that non-deviant customers
management. Some customer can really get to you and we need to help; were atypical rather than the norm while all of the managers
lift them back up – get them on-side again (manager, 16 years experience in included in the study felt that customer misbehavior affected
retailing).
both them personally and their work. Thus, these findings
Formal counseling is rarer but equally important. We need to help people strongly endorse the view that disregarding customer
talk these things through. If we don’t, they’ll leave and we’ll have lost a good
employee that we can ill-afford to lose. Just talking things through over a
misbehavior as simply an occasional tactical issue for certain
half-hour can make a real difference to how people think about things employees is both unwise and naı̈ve. Conversely, poorly
(manager, seven years experience in retailing). behaving customers are sufficiently endemic that the
consequences of their behavior are both direct and indirect
Moreover, recipients of counseling included both employees and therefore must be considered as a management issue that
and managers exposed to customer misbehavior. Data requires strategic and tactical attention.
analysis suggests that such counseling was more common While previous studies have generated interesting and
amongst less experienced employees and for all staff exposed valuable insights into the consequences of customer
to particularly stressful instances of customer misbehavior. misbehavior, their initial focus (understandably) has been
Although empirical evidence is somewhat limited, on “extreme” or “severe” acts. However, our research
consistent with Reynolds and Harris (2006), both recipients suggests that, although extreme acts are destructive and
of counseling and the HR managers themselves all believed harmful to victims, more common are comparatively minor,
that talking about customer misbehavior with colleagues and yet everyday incidents that erode the morale, job
reduced the negative affects of such episodes. satisfaction, and self-esteem of organizational personnel. In
Finally, data analysis suggested that some managers at both this regard, although severely misbehaving customers have a
store and support center levels, strategically altered store profound effect on certain employees; the affected victims are

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Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt Volume 27 · Number 4 · 2013 · 281 –293

relatively easily identified and the consequences (less easily) The findings of the current study identify a need for the
managed. However, “lower grade”, less shocking inclusion of the impacts, strategies, and tactics relating to
“misdemeanors” by customers are less documented but customer misbehavior into management frameworks. That is,
more frequent; accruing more victims and rendering our findings reveal that head office strategies frequently
management reactions more difficult. Whether employees neither acknowledge nor prescribe means of dealing with
are exposed to severe acts or corrosive customer customer misbehavior, thus requiring branch managers to
“misdemeanors”, our study finds a range of physiological, improvise and submit informal strategies and coping tactics.
cognitive, and attitudinal effects that negatively impact on Rather, in acknowledging the “dark-side” of customer
personnel. These effects strongly undermine effective human behavior, organizational frameworks should be developed
resource management through eroding affective commitment, accordingly. In this sense, organizational dynamics should not
motivation, and emotional health while promoting stress and be strategized from a solely positive perspective. Rather, in
negative reciprocal norms. acknowledging and incorporating an understanding of
This study also contributes grounded evidence of the range
customer and employee misbehavior, firms’ management
of management strategies and tactics adopted to minimize or
frameworks will reflect modern-day business environments.
dissipate the impact of customer misbehavior. To date,
Consequently, both academic theory and practitioner
scholarly attention to such issues has been extremely limited
strategies should adapt and reflect the contemporary
and more often restricted to indirect observations derived
business environment.
from studies of managing workplace employee deviance
In addition to improving manager’s awareness and
(Kidwell and Martin, 2005; Greenberg, 2010). This
inattention contrasts vividly with the practice uncovered in responsiveness to customer misbehavior, branch
our study that details six management strategies employed to management should consider the implications of customer
counter or reduce the effects of customer misbehavior. In this misbehavior in their organization. We recommend that
sense, scholarly attention seems significantly behind practitioners undertake a misbehavior audit that explores
contemporary management practice. Moreover, many of the not only the extent of customer misbehavior but also the
documented strategies were informal practices adopted by mechanisms, systems, and procedures the organization has for
branch management in an attempt to pragmatize the idealized identifying, recording, and attempting to minimize the effects
prescriptions of senior management. In this sense, top of dysfunctional customer behavior. This audit often reveals
management appears somewhat divorced from the harsh numerous but non-universal, informal strategies and tactics,
realities of branch practice. Interestingly, practitioners appear many of which are effective at preventing customer
to have utilized both reactive and proactive strategies. Post- misdemeanors or reacting to instances of severe customer
event informal and formal counseling reacts to incidents of acts. The process of collating such grounded procedures is
customer deviance while proactive strategies such as selective often illuminating for senior management whose position
recruitment and work-team design proactively attempt to often obscures a clear view of the unpleasant customer
minimize dysfunctional customer behavior. While the focus of interface. However, the formalization and dissemination of
our study has been on elucidating management strategies the most effective and efficient strategies and tactics often
(rather than directly on the effectiveness of such approaches), proves especially useful for branch-level managers, all of
data analysis strongly supports the view that the managers whom are aware of the difficulties but frequently need
adopting these strategies continue to do so, as they see such direction in customer misbehavior management. While an
strategies as an effective and efficient means of reducing the organizational-wide improved recognition of customer
impact of customer misbehavior. misbehavior may improve morale and assist managers in
The findings of the current study also highlight the improving affective commitment and job satisfaction, the
significant strain that episodes of customer misbehavior pose formalization of misbehavior-sensitive recruitment, induction,
for organizations. That is, although our focus was to explore
and training procedures are likely to contribute to
the managerial strategies employed to manage customer
misbehavior reduction (or, at least, a reduction in the harm
misdemeanors, our findings reveal a number of direct and
caused). Nevertheless, is seems unrealistic to assume that
indirect costs associated with dealing misbehaving customers.
customer behavior can be entirely eliminated; merely, to some
The study findings indicate that customer misbehavior
extent, managed.
represents a considerable financial burden for firms ranging
As with all studies, our research findings and implications
from the direct costs associated with clearing up broken and
destroyed firm property and servicescape artifacts, to the are limited by the research design and methods we employed.
indirect financial costs linked with loss of time and resources. Two limitations suggest potentially fruitful avenues for future
Moreover, findings which indicate the adoption of reciprocal study. First, our focus was on the retail sector. Future
norms by employees suggest significant costs for the long- research is needed to explore the extent to which our findings
term profitability of organizations through undermining and implications can be generalized to other contexts. While it
customer satisfaction and retention. The study findings also seems likely that the impacts of customer misbehavior are
show that organizational personnel also incur costs similar in differing contexts, context idiosyncrasies are likely
individually through increased levels of stress, job to evolve distinct tactical and strategic responses. Second, to
dissatisfaction, and reduced levels of morale. Given the improve the external validity of our findings, a future survey-
reported pervasiveness of customer misbehavior, collectively based approach with a longitudinal design is needed that
the identified costs suggest that misbehaving customers are could evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and tactics as well
detrimental to both the day-to-day functioning of as exploring the causal links between customer misbehavior
organizations and their ultimate bottom line. frequency, severity and its consequences.

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Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt Volume 27 · Number 4 · 2013 · 281 –293

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Gettman, H.J. and Gelfand, M.J. (2007), “When the Mills, M.K. (1981), “Deviance and dissatisfaction: an
customer shouldn’t be king: antecedents and exploration study”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 8,
consequences of sexual harassment by clients and pp. 682-686.

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Neuman, J.H. and Keashly, L. (2010), “Means, motive, About the authors
opportunity, and aggressive workplace behavior”, in
Greenberg, J. (Ed.), Insidious Workplace Behavior, Dr Lloyd C. Harris is a Head of the Marketing Group and
Professor of Marketing at Warwick Business School. His main
Routledge, New York, NY.
Patterson, P.G., McColl-Kennedy, J., Smith, A.K. and Lu, Z. research interests include the marketing-organizational
behavior interface, market orientation, dysfunctional
(2010), “Customer rage: triggers, tipping points, and take-
behavior during consumption, e-loyalty and organizational
outs”, California Management Review, Vol. 52 No. 1,
culture. His work has been published in the Journal of
pp. 6-28.
Retailing, Journal of Services Research, Journal of the Academy of
Reynolds, K.L. and Harris, L.C. (2006), “Deviant customer
Marketing Science, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of
behaviour: an exploration of front line employee tactics”,
Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, and Long
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 14 No. 2,
Range Planning. Lloyd C. Harris is the corresponding author
pp. 95-111.
and can be contacted at: Lloyd.Harris@wbs.ac.uk
Reynolds, K.L. and Harris, L.C. (2009), “Dysfunctional
Dr Kate Daunt (née Reynolds) is a Senior Lecturer in
customer behavior severity: an empirical examination”,
Strategic Marketing at Cardiff Business School. Her main
Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85 No. 3, pp. 321-355. research interests include: customer complaining dynamics,
Robinson, S.L. and O’Leary-Kelly, A.M. (1998), “Monkey
dysfunctional customer behaviors, dysfunctional behavior at
see, monkey do: the influence of work groups on the work, and servicescapes. Previously, her work has appeared in
antisocial behavior of employees”, Academy of Management the Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Research and the
Journal, Vol. 41 No. 6, pp. 658-672. Journal of Services Marketing.
Rosenbaum, M.S., Kuntze, R. and Woodridge, B.R. (2010),
“Understanding unethical retail disposition practice and
restraint from the consumer perspective”, Psychology and Executive summary and implications for
Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 29-52. managers and executives
Stauss, B. and Weinlich, B. (1997), “Process-oriented
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
measurement of service quality: applying the sequential
a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a
incident technique”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in
No. 1, pp. 33-55.
toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the
Strauss, A.L. and Corbin, J. (1990), Basics of Qualitative
research undertaken and its results to get the full benefits of the
Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques, Sage,
material present.
Newbury Park, NJ.
Thau, S., Bennett, R.J., Mitchell, M.S. and Marrs, M.B.
Whoever came up with that corporate cliché “The Customer
(2009), “How management style moderates the relationship is King” has a lot to answer for. It has been attributed to
between abusive supervision and workplace deviance: an marketing pioneer John Wanamaker (the same guy who said
uncertainty management theory perspective”, half the money he spent on advertising was wasted – the
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, trouble was he didn’t know which half) but, witty quotes
Vol. 108 No. 1, pp. 79-92. apart, some kings were pretty awful people. And so are some
Thomlinson, E.C. and Greenberg, J. (2010), “Discouraging customers – including those who go into a store with that
employee theft by managing social norms and promoting “customer is king” attitude and treat front-line employees
organizational justice”, in Kidwell, R.E. Jr and Martin, despicably.
C.L. (Eds), Managing Organizational Deviance, Sage, The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, which
Thousand Oaks, CA. represents British employees in those sectors, reported that a
Tonglet, M. (2002), “Consumer misbehaviour: an worker is verbally abused, threatened with violence, or
exploratory study of shoplifting”, Journal of Consumer physically attacked every minute of the working day. In the
Behaviour, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 336-354. US an investigation at call-centers found workers there being
Turner, B.A. (1981), “Some practical aspects of qualitative exposed to, on average, 10 incidents of customer aggression a
data analysis: one way of organizing the cognitive processes day. Attacks on and threats to staff are intolerable but they are
associated with the generation of grounded theory”, Quality not the only ways that customers reveal their dark side.
and Quantity, Vol. 15, pp. 225-247. Inflating insurance claims is common. So too is buying an
Tuzovic, S. (2010), “Frequent (flier) frustration and the dark item – possibly clothing – and taking it back for a refund after
side of word-of-web: exploring online dysfunctional it has been used. Then there is vandalism and, of course,
behavior in online feedback forums”, Journal of Services theft.
Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 446-457. Strategies for minimizing the impact of customer
Union of Shop, Distributive, and Allied Workers (2010), misbehavior include deliberately choosing front-line staff
“Freedom from fear survey report”, Union of Shop, who are thought to have the self-confidence and disposition to
Distributive, and Allied Workers, November. diffuse difficult or potentially dangerous situations. So too is
Wirtz, J. and McColl-Kennedy, J.R. (2010), “Opportunistic extra remuneration for staff who come into contact with
customer claiming during service recovery”, Journal of the errant customers. It follows therefore that bad behavior from
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 654-675. customers affects the employee on the receiving end, the
Yagil, D. (2008), “When the customer is wrong: a review of manager and the management strategy.
research on aggression and sexual harassment in service In their study “Managing customer misbehavior: challenges
encounters”, Aggression and Violent Behavior, Vol. 13, and strategies” Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt note that
pp. 141-152. customer-contact employees universally claimed that

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Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt Volume 27 · Number 4 · 2013 · 281 –293

deliberate customer misbehavior was a considerable cause of Although extreme acts are destructive and harmful to
stress in their working lives which many described in victims, more common are comparatively minor, and yet
psychological terms. Such stress was believed by most everyday, incidents that erode the morale, job satisfaction,
employees to be detrimental to their physical and emotional and self-esteem of organizational personnel. These “lower
health. Indeed, many said customer misbehavior eroded their grade” and perhaps “less shocking” misdemeanors by
emotional strength and negatively affected not only their customers are less documented but more frequent, accruing
mood during such episodes but also their temperament more victims and rendering management reactions more
afterwards. difficult. Whether employees are exposed to severe acts or
Managers have hired employees with personalities and corrosive customer misbehavior, the study found a range of
attitudinal characteristics best suited to exposure to physiological, cognitive, and attitudinal effects that negatively
unpleasant, rude, and deceitful customers. They have also impact on personnel. These strongly undermine effective
altered their induction and training methods to account for human resource management through eroding affective
customer misbehavior. In larger organizations, customer commitment, motivation, and emotional health while
misbehavior was acknowledged in some formal induction promoting stress and negative reciprocal norms.
and training procedures (although, typically, the focus was on Customer misbehavior represents a considerable financial
placating customer “misunderstandings”). However, in burden for firms ranging from the direct costs associated with
clearing up broken and destroyed firm and servicescape
smaller organizations, customer misbehavior was neglected
artifacts, to the indirect financial costs linked with loss of time
in formal procedures. Consequently, managers closer to the
and resources. Personnel also incur costs individually through
customer interface had altered their induction and training
increased levels of stress, job dissatisfaction, and reduced
systems to reflect a more “realistic” (albeit unpleasant) stance.
levels of morale. Given the reported pervasiveness of
Another strategy centers on remuneration – i.e. extra pay for
customer misbehavior, collectively the identified costs
roles which involve extensive or prolonged exposure to suggest that misbehaving customers are detrimental to both
customer misbehavior (“returns” or “complaints” counters the day-to-day functioning of organizations and their ultimate
for example). bottom line.
The study finds that customer misbehavior has a profound There is a need for the inclusion of the impacts, strategies,
and pervasive impact on both front-line employees and and tactics relating to customer misbehavior into
managers. Indeed, some of those interviewed argued that management frameworks. Head office strategies frequently
non-deviant customers were atypical rather than the norm neither acknowledge nor prescribe means of dealing with
while all of the managers included in the study felt that customers. The “dark side” of customers should be
customer misbehavior affected both them personally and their recognized in such strategies. By acknowledging and
work. This endorses the view that disregarding customer incorporating an understanding of customer and employee
misbehavior as simply an occasional tactical issue for certain misbehavior, firms” management frameworks will reflect
employees is both unwise and naı̈ve. Conversely, poorly modern-day business environments.
behaving customers are sufficiently endemic that the
consequences of their behavior are both direct and indirect (A précis of the article “Managing customer misbehavior:
and therefore must be considered as a management issue that challenges and strategies”. Supplied by Marketing Consultants
requires strategic and tactical attention. for Emerald.)

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