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Akkawanitcha Et Al - 2015
Akkawanitcha Et Al - 2015
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Saranya Kantabutra
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Abstract
Purpose – This research aims to examine the cognitive appraisals of frontline employees (FLEs) when dealing with aggressive customers and the
impact on their well-being, as well as several moderator effects, in a collectivist, Eastern culture.
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Design/methodology/approach – A critical incident technique reveals the cognitive appraisal of FLEs who had recently experienced customer
aggression. Data were collected through qualitative, in-depth interviews with 35 FLEs in customer-facing roles in Thailand.
Findings – The FLEs perceived threats to self-esteem, physical well-being, goal completion at work, fairness or equity and sense of control when
dealing with customer aggression. These cognitive appraisals affected their psychological well-being in the form of negative affectivity, anxiety,
depression and stress. Importantly, factors that moderate (exacerbate or weaken) the impact of customer aggression on cognitive appraisal, and
cognitive appraisal on psychological well-being were revealed, including “customer is always right” philosophy, social status, public versus private
context and social support.
Practical implications – Organisations should pay more attention to FLEs’ psychological well-being and how they interpret and deal with customers’
misbehaviour and aggression. The research identifies factors that moderate the impact of customer aggression on psychological well-being.
Originality/value – This is the first empirical paper that has examined how FLEs cope with customer aggression in a collectivist, south-east Asian
context where social norms calibrate FLEs’ responses to customer aggression. It is also the first research that adopts a contingency approach to
understanding how FLEs cope with customer aggression – i.e. when faced with customer aggression, under what contingency conditions do FLEs
cognitive appraisals have a stronger or weaker impact on their psychological well-being?
Keywords Services, Frontline employees, Cognitive appraisals, Collectivist culture, Customer aggression, Psychological well-being
Paper type Research paper
Introduction 2012; Harris and Daunt, 2013). For example, when JetBlue
flight attendant Steven Slater responded to an argument with
Research, in recent times, has focused on employees as
a rude passenger by leaping out the emergency chute, shouting
responsible for triggering customer dissatisfaction, anger and
“That’s it. I’ve had it” (Leach, 2010), it attracted widespread
even rage. Frontline services employees (FLEs) thus are
attention around the world, even prompting an re-creation on
portrayed as perpetrators, with customers as the victims
YouTube. In Jakarta, Indonesia, passengers frustrated with
(Bougie et al., 2003; McColl-Kennedy et al., 2009;
the service provided by a budget airline went so far as to smash
Surachartkuntonkum et al., 2013). Yet, the very people that a
its offices at the Soekarno-Hatta airport (Febrina, 2009). In
service organisation seeks to serve are increasingly the
Australia, the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU,
perpetrators of aggressive, deviant behaviours that lead to
2012) is taking customer aggression very seriously, noting that
employee stress and burnout, especially among FLEs who face
“official statistics revealed 5,900 reports of aggressive
customers every day, need to achieve ever-increasing sales and
incidents towards Centre link, Medicare and Child Support
service targets and must reconcile the demands of supervisors
Agency workers in the 2011-2012 financial year – up 400 on
and customers (Ben-Zur and Yagil, 2005; Chan and Wan,
the year before”.
Customer aggression also can damage the organisation in
various ways (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2010). Experiences
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm
The authors would like to thank the Office of Higher Education
Commission (Thailand) for supporting the scholarship in studying Ph.D.
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Cognitive appraisals and well-being Journal of Services Marketing
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
with aggressive customers have various negative effects on 3 we undertake the study in a highly collectivist Asian
FLEs, including burnout, damaged psychological well-being, culture where social norms and values have an impact on
feelings of dehumanisation, diminished on-the-job the outcome of stressful service encounters.
performance and greater turnover intentions (Grandey et al.,
2004; Harris and Reynolds, 2003; Karatepe et al., 2009). The
harm is also cumulative, such that it can generate long-term, Conceptual development
emotionally oriented problems. That is, service encounters in Customer aggression and FLEs’ cognitive appraisal
which FLEs are turned into victims of psychological and/or The considerable literature to date uses a range of terms to
physical aggression can inflict serious damage (Dallimore describe customer aggression, such as customer misbehaviour
et al., 2007; Reynolds and Harris, 2006). Furthermore, in (Huang et al., 2010), customer deviance (Reynolds and
service organisations, FLEs are the pivotal contact point Harris, 2006), problem customers (Bitner et al., 1994; Poddar
between the organisation and its customers and the public face and Madupalli, 2012), unfriendly customers (Walsh, 2010),
of the firm or brand. As the organisation’s marketing-oriented unfair customers (Berry and Seiders, 2008), angry customers
boundary spanners, they must represent the firm effectively in (Dallimore et al., 2007), customer rage (Surachartkuntonkum
interactions with customers (Bitner et al., 1990) because they et al., 2013) and dysfunctional customer behaviour (Harris
have critical impacts on perceptions of service quality (Brady and Reynolds, 2003; Fisk et al., 2010). Such customer
et al., 2012). Therefore, the physical and psychological behaviours might include verbal abuse, such as raised voices,
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well-being of FLEs during and after face-to-face interactions sarcasm, screaming, intimidation, yelling and swearing;
with customers should be a primary concern for managers. physical threats, such as slamming down fists, shoving or
Rather than focusing on employees as instigators of slamming down a phone; and non-verbal signals, including
aggression, we adopt a different perspective and focus on angry facial expressions, staring and other body language
situations where customers are the instigators who make (Grove et al., 2004; Huang et al., 2010). In response to such
service encounters stressful for employees. Accordingly, we actions, FLEs likely undergo a cognitive appraisal process
address personal well-being, an important research priority where they evaluate the significance of the events (threats) for
area in service science research (Ostrom et al., 2010). their own personal well-being (Lazarus, 1993), values,
Moreover, we undertake the study in a south-east Asian personal beliefs, psychological needs or goals.
collectivist culture (Thailand) where social norms and values The theory of stress and coping (Lazarus and Folkman,
impact the way FLEs respond to such aggression. The 1984) provides insights into how FLEs appraise and cope with
theoretical foundations for this study are Hofstede’s (1980) situations involving customer aggression, which induces
cultural values, and the theory of stress and coping (Lazarus negative emotions. During an appraisal of a situation, a person
and Folkman, 1984), which posits that, in stressful situations, evaluates whether a particular (stressful) encounter is relevant
people appraise whether the situation is beneficial or harmful to his or her well-being and, if so, if it is likely to be harmful or
to their well-being, then initiate an emotional response and beneficial in relation to both their values (e.g. sense of fairness,
coping behaviours. Our focus is the primary cognitive self-esteem) and their physical well-being. A cognitive
appraisals FLEs exhibit, automatically and subconsciously, appraisal refers to the process of categorizing an encounter,
when they face a stressful situation (i.e. aggressive customer) with respect to its significance to well-being (Lazarus and
that threatens their well-being, values or psychological needs Folkman, 1984). Lazarus (1991) also proposes that the
(Lazarus, 1991; Patterson et al., 2009; Schneider and Bowen, appraisal stage offers a cognitive mediator of stress reactions.
1999). By explicating how FLEs deal with customer Furthermore, the cognitive appraisal of an encounter affects
aggression in a face-to-face situation, then interpreting the the person’s emotional experience. For example, if FLEs
stressful encounters, this research contributes to scholarly interpret customer aggression as significant for their well-
literature on employee well-being and can also aid service being, they are likely to anticipate violations of their
organisations in delineating individual, organisational and self-esteem, threats to their physical safety or barriers to their
situational factors that exacerbate or attenuate psychological completion of work goals (Schneider and Bowen, 1999;
damage that FLEs suffer. Extant research that has examined Surachartkuntonkum et al., 2013). In examining consumers’
incidents of customer aggression and FLEs’ cognitive cognitive appraisals of stressful service failures, Patterson et al.
appraisal and psychological effects is sparse (Rafaeli et al., (2009) and Schneider and Bowen (1995) found threats to
2012). Hence, we seek a deeper understanding of how FLEs fairness, threats to self-esteem, threats to self or loved ones
appraise customer aggression, as well as how the nature of and need for control, as the most prominent appraisals. With
cognitive appraisal influences the psychological well-being of this in mind, it seems logical to assume that when viewed from
employees. the other side of the service encounter, employees would
The contribution of this study is threefold: similarly appraise threats to fairness, self-esteem, the security
1 we tease out a range of contingency factors that moderate of self or loved ones, and control. Therefore, we propose:
the customer aggression – cognitive appraisal and
cognitive appraisal – FLE psychological well-being P1. Customer aggression leads FLEs to develop cognitive
associations; appraisals of various threats, including those to
2 we examine the cognitive appraisals of stressful service self-esteem, physical well-being, need for control and to
encounters from a FLE perspective; and their sense of fairness.
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Cognitive appraisals and well-being Journal of Services Marketing
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
Cognitive appraisals and psychological well-being power distance orientation (e.g. China, Thailand, Vietnam
Not only does the cognitive appraisal of an event influence and Indonesia) assume that “superiors” and “subordinates”
psychological well-being, in general, but perceived job stress are on different social levels (Triandis, 1995). These cultures
also likely mediates the association between work demands also tend to assume the persistence of existing power
and health outcomes (Mark and Smith, 2008). Therefore, structures between upper and lower classes. For example, in
FLEs faced with customer aggression that they perceive as Thailand, people expect and indeed accept inequality as a
threatening are engaged in a stress-inducing encounter, which social norm. Consequently, people of influence and power are
can lead to negative health outcomes. For example, call centre seen as superior and have power over others in society (Pimpa,
operators experience customer verbal aggression an average of 2012). Managerial rhetoric in these cultures also implies that
ten times per day and perceive this verbal aggression as the customer is “sovereign”, and FLEs are expected to do
stressful and threatening (Grandey et al., 2004). These everything they can to satisfy customers. This power
perceived threats in turn have been shown to impact FLEs’ imbalance encourages high social status (customers) to
emotional exhaustion and absenteeism rates. In an appraisal mistreat lower status (FLEs) persons (Rafaeli et al., 2012).
setting, Lazarus (1993) refers to psychological stress as a Therefore, aggression from a customer with perceived higher
reaction to threats. We consider FLEs’ cognitive appraisals as status should appear more threatening to FLEs than a lower
key mechanisms for mediating the effect of customer status customer, and is therefore, likely to exacerbate the link
aggression on psychological well-being and predict: between customer aggression and cognitive appraisal. Thus,
we propose:
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Cognitive appraisals and well-being Journal of Services Marketing
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
insights into phenomena of interest in service marketing and (Rosenberg, 1965). In our study, many FLEs claimed that
management (Chung-Herrera et al., 2004; Fisk et al., 2010; customers were disrespectful to them during the service
Grace, 2007). The CIT consists of procedures for collecting encounter and that such disrespect induced a sense of
direct observations of human behaviour (Flanagan, 1954). dehumanization. Threats to employees’ self-esteem were the
Bitner et al. (1990) cite, as one form of critical incident, the most frequently mentioned cognitive appraisal. In one
specific interaction between a customer and employee that is example, when a customer dissatisfied by the unmarked
especially satisfying or dissatisfying. That is, only particularly price of vegetables, threw them down in front of the employee,
memorable service incidents are classified as critical. the grocery shop assistant (female, 30 years) stated:
Specifically, we asked participants to describe a memorable, I helped her to check the price of the vegetables three times [. . .] She was
recent experience (within the previous six months) they had upset and threw the parsley down in front of me [. . .] I thought, I am a
dealing with an aggressive customer. The questions prompted human being. I served her very well, why did she have to do this to me? [. . .]
She didn’t respect me as a human. She didn’t save my face.
them to describe situations in detail, such as “Please tell us the
story about this experience when you faced an aggressive This comment introduces the concept of “face”, which is
fundamentally important in Eastern cultures and which,
customer” “Tell us what happened”, “What were you
although difficult to define, refers generally to a sense of
thinking?” “How did you feel?” “What did you do?” and
honour or reputation (Ubonsakul, 2009). In Eastern cultures,
“Why did you behave that way?”
a loss of face can have disastrous personal consequences and
must be avoided at all costs. In Thai culture, saving face is
Analytical procedure keeping one’s self-respect, social standing and dignity intact so
We halted the data collection at the point of theoretical Thais do not like to appear publicly foolish (Pan et al., 2013).
saturation, when no new insights emerged (Strauss and For example, when parents knew that their child failed an
Corbin, 1998). The interviews were recorded and transcribed. exam and the topic was discussed among other parents, they
Our method was partially deductive, in that some collected may experience a loss of face. Tactics for coping with a loss of
data (cognitive appraisals in particular) were classified face and restoring face in turn are central to restoring
according to a priori research frameworks (Patterson et al., self-esteem (Triandis, 1995). In many Asian countries, saving
2009; Schneider and Bowen, 1995), while other themes (in face is even a dominant force in shaping effective interpersonal
particular the moderator variables) emerged from the CIT encounters and actions, so the incident with the parsley
interviews. We began with annotated transcripts, and then two (described above) likely would have devastating effects on an
researchers classified the data into categories on the basis of Eastern shop assistant’s self-esteem.
categories from prior cognitive appraisal and customer
aggression literature (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Reynolds Figure 1 Cognitive appraisal of frontline employee
and Harris, 2006; Schneider and Bowen, 1995). Next, we Contingency factors Contingency factors
identified various themes and sub-themes. Through another
review of the transcripts, we coded all data and applied the
·· Social status
Public-private
· ‘Customer is always right’
philosophy
findings, the themes and data coding were revised by another Aggressive customer Cognitive appraisal Psychological well-
researcher, and the specific themes that emerged were verified behaviour being
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Similarly, a department store salesperson (female, 27 years), When he pointed at me, I thought why did he have to pick on me? Why did
he get angry at me? It was his fault. He didn’t make a reservation with me.
in dealing with a foreign customer, recalled: I was just the one who looked after people checking in.
He swore at me, saying I was stupid and retarded. It made me feel very bad
Threats to work goals
[. . .] He should talk more politely to me than this. He didn’t respect me. I
am a human like him. If he was a salesperson and was scolded by a Some employees sense that they will not be able to achieve an
customer, how would he feel? important goal in their jobs. During the appraisal process,
Beyond face, some employees’ self-esteem was damaged when FLEs consider their personal stake in the event and its threat
they felt regarded as unimportant, that is, just a lowly paid to their work goals (Bagozzi et al., 1999). If their work goals
employee. A customer service officer in a retail bank might be hindered, they likely develop specific emotional
recounted (female, 29 years): reactions to the situation (Stewart, 2005). For example, an
employee at a children’s entertainment centre (male, 23)
When I met her, I greeted her with a “Wai” but she didn’t respond back. reported:
Her face was not friendly. She looked at me from head to foot. She spoke
very loudly and even bellowed at me. It made me feel like I was her The parents wanted their kids to play in the balloon house. The time was
employee. 8.30 p.m. It was closed already. But they still insisted to do so. I didn’t allow
them to get in because there were no staffs to take care of their kids. I
Threats to physical well-being followed the company policy. A mom pointed at me and bluffed that they
FLEs frequently experience physical threats from customers would inform my boss [. . .] If my boss gets a complaint, my salary will be
subtracted. I would not be the best employee [. . .] I was very angry.
(Bishop et al., 2005). These threats to the feelings of security
and safety cause stress and precede coping behaviour, as An FLE (female, 38 years) similarly intended to perform well
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illustrated by a department store public relations employee by helping other customers but was impeded by a customer:
(female, 26 years) who recounted the following experience: She is a university teacher. She stared at me with anger when I served other
customers. I don’t want customers to wait for hours. She wanted to be the
Two customers (a mom and her daughter) came to the public relations first in the queue. She then complained to the manager [. . .] I was
department. The mom asked me to give her money back. She claimed that frightened because if this customer complains to my headquarter, my
she had bought sausages 4 days before that were rancid [. . .] I made a call achievement of my KPI and our branch KPI will go down.
to the fresh food department. The staff member in that department asked
me how the sausages were. I said that they were normal and did not smell Threats to control
that bad. The daughter heard what I said and became very angry and Finally, people tend to perform better when they can make
shouted. She asked me if I thought it was rancid or not, then she shoved the decisions freely. Without a sense of control, they experience a
sausage into my mouth and said to me “eat it.” I was very frightened and I
couldn’t control myself. I pushed her hand out of the way and the sausage sense of helplessness and may engage in maladaptive
went flying into her face unexpectedly. This made her get even angrier. behaviours (Bowen and Johnston, 1999). When a customer
In this instance, the customer’s behaviour crossed from verbal has more power or control relative to the employee, the FLE
expressions of anger to overt aggression and a direct physical cannot control the situation. An FLE (female, 28 years) in a
threat to the employee. Another FLE, a senior cashier (female, telecommunications company noted her experience of
helplessness in dealing with a customer:
30 years) in a department store, described:
I thought that I would let him swear at me until he felt satisfied. I didn’t
A customer came to buy shampoo because she saw it in a brochure that react to him. Even if I did reply, I would be wrong as I am the service
stated, “buy one get one free”. She took two 375 ml bottles of shampoo and provider [. . .] I thought I won’t even ask him. I had to say an apology even
went to the cashier to pay for them. The receipt showed that she was though it was not my fault [. . .] I felt powerless.
charged for two bottles. She asked why it was like this. I asked a staff to
check the price in the relevant department. After a minute he came back and When faced with an extremely aggressive customer whom they
said that the promotional items were actually the smaller bottles of could not control, several respondents believed the best
shampoo. The customer got angry and showed the brochure to me and
claimed that the volume of shampoo stated on brochure could not be seen
response was to remain passive. As a dental clinic receptionist
clearly. Then, she threw the two big bottles of shampoo at me which made (female, 23 years) described:
me frightened.
When she scolded me, I was angry. It wasn’t my fault. I don’t know why she
Threats to fairness had to be like this. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t know how to respond to her.
I just said to her “yes [. . .] yes [. . .] yes.” I thought that it was useless to
A feeling of injustice or of being cheated or treated unfairly explain anything to her.
may arise because customers seek to take advantage of others,
This analysis of critical indents thus reveals the cognitive
regardless of common decency, reasonableness, or respect for appraisals of FLEs when dealing with aggressive customers,
others’ rights (Berry and Seiders, 2008). Such customer which can be categorised into themes that reflect various types
behaviours are problematic for FLEs, including the employee of threats: to self-esteem, to physical well-being, to work goals,
(male, 30 years) who explained why he felt treated unfairly: to fairness and to control. Collectively, these findings support
A customer asked me to give him a new mobile phone, claiming that his one Research P1.
was scratched on the screen. He spoke very loudly [. . .] I had already
carefully checked the phone when I gave it to the customer [. . .] When I saw
the scratches on the screen, I didn’t think that it was caused by our Consequences of cognitive appraisals
department. I wondered if he had done it himself but tried to claim the Interactions with others (customers and coworkers) at work
warranty to get a new one. When I questioned him he got very angry. I felt can have psychological consequences (Sloan, 2012). Lazarus
he was really trying to cheat me.
(1993) suggests that psychological distress is a reaction to
Employees also must put more effort into managing their various kinds of threats. Some employees can deal well with
emotions in interpersonal transactions (Rupp et al., 2008), aggressive customers during particular incidents, but constant
particularly if they confront customers seeking to cheat them encounters with unpleasant events in the workplace can be
or the organisation. One interviewee, a cashier (female, 23 both fatiguing and distressing. When FLEs experience
years) in a hotel, stated: repeated violations of their self-esteem, physical well-being,
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Cognitive appraisals and well-being Journal of Services Marketing
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
sense of justice and fairness or work goals, they likely exhibit a restaurant who reported her anxiety when she was abused by
poor psychological well-being, which may make it more a customer:
difficult for them to perform their work tasks. Our findings He pointed at me and swore loudly. He then tried to throw a glass of alcohol
revealed that the psychological consequences that employees at me. I walked away. I was scared. I was afraid that he might attack me
experienced after dealing with aggressive customers included [. . .] I was worried. I was afraid that he would come again and would
misbehave in the same way to me again. I was anxious. I was unhappy when
negative feelings, stress, anxiety and even depression. This is I worked. I was scared to see this kind of customer again.
illustrated as follows.
Situations appraised as threatening predicted a greater level of
Negative affect depression (Gall and Evans, 1987). Depressed workers
Not surprisingly, the experience of FLEs being forced to deal generally perform poorly because they are distracted by the
with deviant and aggressive customers has been shown in past negative incidents and frustrated in their work. As a banker
studies to induce negative emotions (Harris and Daunt, (female, 29 years) reported in response to an angry, high
2013). The interviewees for this study consistently described society customer:
feelings of anger, fear, embarrassment and annoyance during She bellowed very loudly at me. It seemed there was a black dot in my heart.
and following their encounters with aggressive customers. For I had failed in my work when this customer blamed me. I thought a lot. She
didn’t respect me as I am human [. . .] On that day, I could not do anything
example, a salesperson (female, 20 years) in a specialty retail more. On the next day, it was still on my mind. I thought of her face when
store revealed her embarrassment and fear when scolded by a I ate, even when I slept. As I worked, I thought about this incident. It was
like an accumulative tension [. . .] I still remember it until this day.
foreign customer:
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Cognitive appraisals and well-being Journal of Services Marketing
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
implicitly encourages hi-so customers to misbehave when problems with this customer if I followed the company’s policy [. . .] Yes,
customer is the king. But my face was feeling hot and it made me unhappy
dealing with a perceived lo-so FLE. Our interviews clearly
at work for the whole day. I lost my confidence.
indicated that when an aggressive customer was categorised
(by a FLE) as hi-so, the FLE felt their self-worth more In some companies in Thailand, FLEs are well indoctrinated
threatened and incompetent performing his/her task. To with this philosophy and so succumb to customer wishes, even
illustrate, a bank teller (female, 29 years) was scolded by a while being abused. Following an incident in which a retail
hi-so customer due to a service failure: employee (female, 26 years) was sworn at and physically
intimidated, she stated:
This customer was of course a hi-so person. I noticed her possessions: a
Louis Vuitton bag, diamond ring, branded shoes [. . .] She had more power. When we have a meeting, my boss always says that the customer is always
I could not avoid her. I was not sure that I could solve this problem [. . .] It right. Even when customers behave badly to us, we have to put a smile on
seemed like I was her employee and I felt unimportant. I prepared myself for our faces. We cannot be moody. If the company knew that we were
the fact that if I made a mistake with her, I would be faced with a problem. (unhappy), we would be fired, as it means we don’t respect our customers.
This hi-so–lo-so perspective also may dominate customer Customers are the ones who keep us in a job. If we don’t please the
customers, then they won’t come and get service from us.
contact employees’ considerations during the service
encounter. For example, a salesperson (female, 27 years) in a Some FLEs, however, are not infused with a “customer is
telecommunication company confirmed this consideration always right” philosophy. As an employee (female, 26) on the
when faced with a lo-so customer: front line of a communication company described:
She was simple, not hi-so [. . .] If a hi-so customer was to do this to me, I I don’t agree with customer is always right policy [. . .] This customer did
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would be courteous more than this. If hi-so people have problems, they will not complete the service cancellation. She came here and shouted at me. I
complain to headquarters. They have power [. . .] If we face a complaining explained to her, but she still made an outcry. She didn’t respect me. I
hi-so customer, we cannot do anything. printed out the document and let her check it [. . .] It was annoying and
boring.
Besides the hi-so perspective, the findings also illustrate the
impact of aggressive behaviour by a low status or lo-so Hence the impact of cognitive appraisal on FLEs well-being
customer on FLEs. For example, a cashier in retail store will be stronger or weaker depending on the extent of FLEs
(female, 30 years) described her mood: adhering to a “customer is always right” philosophy. Thus,
I don’t think she was hi-so [. . .] [. . .] She yelled at me and made a
these examples all provide support for P3b.
complaint to the company [. . .] She did not listen to me. I felt that I was not
important [. . .] I perceived that she was in low society. She wore a simple Post hoc results
dress (again implying customer was lo-so) [. . .] After it ended, I felt a bit
better about myself. Although not hypothesised, our interviews revealed two
The above quotes suggest the nature of the association additional contingency factors: the context, whether public or
between customer aggression and the consequences of such private, which moderates the relationship between customer
behaviours depend on whether FLEs perceive the aggression and cognitive appraisal, and the level of social
misbehaving customer as hi-so or lo-so. Thus, collectively, our support which weakens the linkage between cognitive appraisal
findings support P3a. and psychological well-being.
Public or private context
Moderators of the link between cognitive appraisal A characteristic of FLEs’ work is that their behaviour (and that
and psychological well-being of customers) is often in full view of other employees and
The customer is always right philosophy customers. Thus, in some situations, FLEs are threatened or
Many companies in south-east Asia, seek to retain customers
abused by aggressive customers in front of others – employees
by acquiescing to their every need and demand even when
and/or customers. The degree of the public exposure can
those demands are unreasonable, assuming they are always
produce varying effects of embarrassment and a serious loss of
right, implying that employees must passively accept
face for employees (Grace, 2007). That is a public context
unreasonable customer demands and even aggression during
strengthens the association between customer aggression and
the service encounter (Bishop et al., 2005; Gettman and
Gelfand, 2007). Employees are expected to suppress their true the cognitive appraisal. For incidents that occur in public,
feelings, which leave them feeling powerless in the face of FLEs experienced more embarrassment, which exacerbated
demands and aggression. It is a “Customer is King” mentality, the impact of customer aggression on cognitive appraisal
which, in most developed economies, was abandoned by the (threats). A receptionist (female, 38 years) in a hospital
majority of companies a decade ago. This policy approach described how she felt due to mistreatment by a customer in
conveys an unequal power balance between FLEs and the the presence of other customers:
customer (Karatepe et al., 2009) and limits FLEs from He yelled at me, scolded me with rude words. It was very loud [. . .] I was
responding in their preferred ways (Bishop and Hoel, 2008; very embarrassed because everyone around was looking at me. I saw some
Hughes and Tadic, 1998). To illustrate, a 30-year-old female customers laugh, it seemed like they were watching the circus. This made
me feel very bad (threat to self esteem, loss of face).
supermarket employee believed she had to accept the
organisation’s policy and could not express her genuine Another FLE (female, 27 years) in a communication company
emotions during a negative incident. This situation depleted was serving a customer enquiring about an iPad. When the
her emotional resources and exacerbated her feelings of stress: customer suddenly began yelling at her:
I got my training from the company where I am an employee. I was taught She bellowed at me in spite of her misunderstanding. I did not know why
that I have to do anything that makes the customer feel satisfied. During this she swore at me like this. Everyone in the shop looked at me. She
incident, my face was sullen. Although I was very angry I had to keep it in demonstrated her power [. . .] I felt that I was losing self-respect so much
my mind [. . .] I was under the impression that I should not have any (threat to self esteem).
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Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha et al. Volume 29 · Number 4 · 2015 · 268 –279
However when the incident happened in private, FLEs showing how FLEs interpret customer aggression as “threats”
cognitive appraisal is less (negative) impacted. As a hospital or violations, relevant to their well-being. This is the first
employee (male, 39) in a private hospital reported: paper that uses the stress and coping theory to explain FLEs
A foreigner was x-rayed in the last two days and he got the result on CD.
psychological well-being in the face of customer aggression.
The next day, he came again and asked for the film. He was so fierce and The analysis highlights five cognitive appraisal categories –
spoke very loudly. I could not manage this situation. I was frightened. I took threats to self-esteem, physical well-being, work goals, fairness
him to PACS room as outside there were many customers. I explained how
to use the CD and also the advantage of it [. . .] I felt relieved and more perceptions and control – that negatively impact FLEs’
confident in working as other people did not then see what happened (a well-being when confronted with customer aggression. The
diminished threat to self-esteem and goals at work). interview data reveal that following their cognitive appraisal
Social support processes, FLEs experience negative psychological well-being,
Social support refers to the consideration, respect or assistance including negative affect, anxiety, depression and stress. Thus,
received from others, which creates a sense of being cared for, the work demands associated with having to deal with
respected, valued and part of the social group (Sarafino, customer aggression on a regular basis is appraised by
1997). Social support can be emotional (e.g. sympathy), employees as a threat to fundamental human needs
affirmation (e.g. supportive opinions) or simply advice. (Schneider and Bowen, 1999), harmful and evocative of some
Support from coworkers and supervisors likely have the most psychological distress.
influence on an employee’s well-being (Ng and Sorensen, Importantly, this study also revealed a range of contingency
2008). Supportive coworkers not only help employees deal factors that moderate (both positively and negatively) the
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with abusive and aggressive customers (Wu and Hu, 2009) impact of customer aggression on the threat appraisal and the
but also should lead to a weaker effect of negative cognitive cognitive appraisal on FLEs’ psychological well-being. First,
appraisals on the FLEs’ psychological well-being. For when dealing with aggressive, hi-so customers, FLEs use more
example, an FLE in a pharmacy (female, 31 years) reported cognitive resources, acquiesce to their demands to avoid
that a customer threw aspirin at her and scolded her angrily punishment by managers and feel increasingly unimportant
because the price of the product had increased 3 Thai Baht than when dealing with lo-so customers. Second, a public
(10 cents). She was very worried about her safety. After the context causes FLEs shame and embarrassment and may lead
incident, she was able to vent to her feelings by telling the story to a loss of face and self-esteem (Triandis, 1995), which, for
to her colleagues, after which: Eastern cultures such as Thailand, is disastrous in terms of
personal consequences. Face refers to the positive social value
I was less angry and felt less stressed because I told my colleagues about the
incident [. . .] I felt better because they were able to sympathise with me and
a person effectively claims for themselves and the desired
supported me in this incident. image an individual presents to others for confirmation in
FLEs often need psychological support from various people social interaction. Recent research has shown that loss of face
around them, including managers and colleagues but also by Asian consumers in service encounters is associated with
members of their family. One FLE (female, 25 years) reported less forgiveness, increased motivation to retaliate and reduced
that she refused to allow a small child to play in a particular desire to maintain a damaged relationship (Hui and Bond,
play area of the shopping mall because she was concerned 2009). Third, where a “customer is always right” mantra
about the child’s safety. The mother became angry, spoke to prevails, employees have no alternative but to follow
her harshly and then complained in writing. The employee organisational policies and rules, suppress their true feelings
perceived substantial damage to her self-esteem, leaving her and try to appease even the most aggressive customer. This
emotionally exhausted, worried and stressed. However, the factor inflates the self-worth of customers, resulting in the
social support she received from coworkers and family helped belief that they deserve special treatment and even have the
minimise the damage to her psychological well-being: right to mistreat employees thus exacerbating the damage to
FLEs well-being. Fourth, social support from coworkers is
My boss asked what happened, so I told him the whole story. He said I did essential; support from supervisors and family is a secondary
a good job [. . .] I also told to my colleague, she asked me to forget about it
and let it be [. . .] When I went back home I told this story to my mom and source of psychological catharsis. This finding confirms
grandma. I was worried. I asked them whether I was wrong or not. They said previous studies that have indicated that social support can
that I was not wrong. I did the right thing [. . .] all this made me feel a little
better.
modify employees’ feelings and reduce the stress resulting
from aggression (Schat and Kelloway, 2003).
In summary, our systematic analysis of the interview data
demonstrated that social status and public (versus private)
context can strengthen the negative impact of customer Managerial implications
aggression on cognitive appraisal. At the same time, the The findings of this study suggested that FLEs appraised
psychological well-being of FLEs can be either aggravated or customer aggression as “threats” to one or more of their basic
ameliorated by the presence or absence of social support, psychological needs. And the cognitive appraisal of such
whereas a “customer is always right” policy can intensify the incidents generates a negative impact on FLEs psychological
damage to the FLE’s psychological well-being. well-being. Service organizational policies therefore need to
focus on the FLEs cognitive appraisal. It is not possible for
managers to eliminate all customer misbehaviour. However,
Discussion the occupational health psychology literature suggests that
From a theoretical perspective, the findings in an Eastern intervention can change the employee’s appraisal of a stressful
collectivist culture context support the generalization of the situation (Richardson and Rothstein, 2008). Thus, to
theory of stress and coping (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) by diminish negative psychological well-being of FLEs, managers
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should use a cognitive management intervention program. from such a supporting team. However, this strategy would be
Such programs educate FLEs on how to manage stressful beneficial to both parties (customer and FLE). Finally, our
situations and respond in a way that minimises any findings indicate that social support should be systematically
psychological impact. For example, FLEs are trained to used to FLEs to minimize their stress after an incident in
understand the role of their thoughts, the customer’s point of which they felt threatened and anxious. In a customer
view (taking the customer’s perspective). If an individual can aggression context, Schat and Kelloway (2003) suggested that
empathize with the other party (customer), they are more coworker support is the best strategy to attenuate the
likely to view unfair behaviour less personally (Rupp et al., accompanying stress. Organisations thus should look for ways
2008). FLEs may replace negative affect with positive whereby social support can be developed to help fulfil
thoughts. Then, FLEs can alter their thoughts and exploit employees’ socio-emotional needs and reduce negative
appropriate coping options. consequences. For example, managers could train FLEs how
Our study found four situational factors (i.e. “customer is to give support to fellow employees in overcoming critical
always right” philosophy, social status, public context and indents when dealing with abusive customers.
social support) that can aggravate or attenuate the impact of
customer aggression on the psychological well-being of FLEs. Limitations and further research directions
High power distance cultures are typically Asian developing This paper is not without its limitations. First, this study has
countries such as China, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam examined the cognitive appraisals of FLEs working in a wide
(Hofstede, 1984; Triandis, 1995) where unequal wealth and variety of service contexts (e.g. retail, hospital, hospitality,
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influence freely exists today. The unequal balance of power telecommunications), so the characteristics of the service work
and influence in many service encounters supports the in each setting differ somewhat. For example, in a retail role,
organizational generated philosophy of “customer is always FLEs are mostly passive, whereas receptionists in a
right” (Yagil, 2008). The persistence of such a maxim shapes health-care service setting are more proactive and possess
the expectation of FLEs to satisfy customers at any cost, but at greater product knowledge to satisfy clients. Further research
the cost of damaging FLEs psychological well-being. Service should consider the experience of FLEs in distinct, specific
firms might well therefore reconsider whether such a policy contexts (e.g. professional services), to gain deeper
should be discontinued. Next, managers working in Asian understanding and inferences for that specific industry.
economies or with a global customer base need to understand Second, the study sample restricts the generalisation of our
the concept of “face” (a dimension of self-esteem) is endemic results. Thailand is an Eastern, collectivist country whose
in almost all aspects of Asian life. Face is viewed as public and cultural values vary from those that predominate in Western
depends on, amongst other factors, attitudes and behaviour of contexts, particularly attitudes towards service work. The
others with whom one has interpersonal contact. prominent imbalance of power in service transactions can
Consequently, face can be easily threatened through social promote customer aggression (Yagil, 2008). For greater
interaction (Pan, 2013) and so managers need to realize that a external validity, further research should apply the methods of
concern for preserving face is pervasive in most service this study to Western contexts. Furthermore, should a
transactions. This is indicative of the fact that different values comparative study between cultures be undertaken, then this
such as social status, display rules and face concept are norms could prove to be a rich source of investigation.
strictly adhered in Eastern cultures. In situations where an Third, our qualitative findings, though insightful, are
employee is being subject to a loss of face during a service subject to the limitations of qualitative research. The
encounter, supervisors need to quickly intervene and, if need robustness of our findings might be explored with a
be continue the interaction in private away from the eyes of quantitative research design that calibrates, for example, the
other employees and customers to at least preserve some face relative impact of each cognitive appraisal on FLEs’
for the FLE. psychological well-being. A quantitative design might be able
to specify the extent to which the moderating constructs affect
Derived from these findings, FLEs often perform their tasks
the association between customer aggression–appraisal and
under pressure (i.e. organizational display rules, incident
cognitive appraisal and well-being.
happened in public, the organization has a “customer is always
right” culture and so on) and, consequently, affects their
psychological well-being. Thus, to respond to our findings, a References
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Siriwut Buranapin is an Associate Professor and Dean of
About the authors
Faculty of Business Administration at Chiang Mai
Chuanchuen Akkawanitcha is a PhD candidate in Faculty University, Thailand. His research interests are social
of Business Administration at Chiang Mai University, entrepreneurship, sustainable leadership and philosophy of
Thailand. Her research interests are service management and sufficiency economy.
cross cultural management.
Saranya Kantabutra, PhD, is a Lecturer of Faculty of
Paul Patterson is a Professor in the School of Marketing at Business Administration at Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His Her research interests are human resource management and
research, teaching and consulting interests revolve around wellness tourism.
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