Abstract
This study advances current knowledge by examining how employee deviance and customer participation during a single employee–customer exchange generate favourable customer responses. This work bridges the employee deviance stream with the service encounter literature and illustrates the importance of equity theory in deviant service exchanges between customers and employees. Moreover, results add to the ongoing debate on service nepotism by canvassing the consequences from the customer’s active participation in deviant exchanges which appears to enhance customer perceptions of the exchange. A 3 × 2 between-subjects experimental design was adopted which manipulates three types of pro-customer deviance along with customer’s participation (or not) to the exchange. The dependent variables capture three types of perceived customer justice (cognitive outcomes) and customer’s affective state (affective outcome). Findings illustrate that customers approve employees’ deviance for their own benefit while also indicate favourable outcomes from deviant exchanges with employees such as higher perceived justice and a more positive affective state. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and research directions that emerge from this study.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 319-338 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Service Industries Journal |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 7-8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Jun 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords
- customer citizenship behaviour
- customer justice
- Customer participation
- employee deviance
- experimental design
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Strategy and Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation