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Render good for evil? The relationship between customer mistreatment and customer-oriented citizenship behavior

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  • Ni, Dan
  • Liu, Xin
  • Zheng, Xiaoming

Abstract

This research examines when and how employees might (or might not) engage in customer-oriented citizenship behavior after experiencing customer mistreatment. Drawing upon attribution theory and social exchange theory, we propose that customer mistreatment is more positively related to employee guilt when employees have a higher (rather than a lower) level of self-attribution, and is less negatively related to employee forgiveness toward customers when employees have a lower (rather than a higher) level of self-attribution. In turn, increased employee guilt is associated with more customer-oriented citizenship behavior, whereas decreased employee forgiveness toward customers is associated with less customer-oriented citizenship behavior. Empirical data collected from 151 service employees in China, using a survey design (Study 1), and from 393 Western workers, using an experimental design (Study 2), support our hypotheses. Our work contributes to the customer mistreatment literature and has implications for service practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Ni, Dan & Liu, Xin & Zheng, Xiaoming, 2024. "Render good for evil? The relationship between customer mistreatment and customer-oriented citizenship behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0148296323007087
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114349
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Long-Zeng Wu & Haina Zhang & Randy Chiu & Ho Kwan & Xiaogang He, 2014. "Hostile Attribution Bias and Negative Reciprocity Beliefs Exacerbate Incivility’s Effects on Interpersonal Deviance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 189-199, March.
    2. Thompson, Bryant & Simkins, Travis J, 2017. "Self-oriented forgiveness and other-oriented forgiveness: Shaping high-quality exchange relationships," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 741-765, September.
    3. Vanessa K. Bohns & Francis J. Flynn, 2013. "Guilt by Design: Structuring Organizations to Elicit Guilt as an Affective Reaction to Failure," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1157-1173, August.
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