From bad to worse: customer mistreatment and service sabotage across encounters

Abstract

Purpose Customer mistreatment is a significant issue in both practical and academic contexts, especially in the service industry. Drawing on the stressor–emotion model, this study aims to use a sequential two-encounter field design to test the lagged effects of customer mistreatment on service sabotage at Time 1 and Time 2. The study also explores the moderating effects of personal controls (i.e. conscientiousness and emotional stability) and situational control (empowerment) on the above relationships. Design/methodology/approach The analytical sample consisted of 190 frontline employees matched with 380 customer evaluations across two consecutive service encounters. Data were gathered in multiple stages: frontline employees first completed questionnaires on demographics and personal traits, and then, immediately after service encounters. This procedure was repeated for a subsequent service encounter with a second customer to capture multiple interactions for each employee. Findings The findings indicate that emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between customer mistreatment and service sabotage at both Time 1 and Time 2. Furthermore, empowerment weakens the positive relationship between customer mistreatment and emotional exhaustion, whereas conscientiousness and emotional stability attenuate the indirect effect of customer mistreatment on service sabotage through emotional exhaustion. Practical implications The findings underscore the importance of safeguarding frontline employees from the detrimental effects of customer mistreatment. Hospitality managers should foster employee empowerment and provide adequate organizational support to help employees cope with demanding customer interactions. At the same time, managers should recognize conscientiousness and emotional stability as valuable personal resources that may buffer the effects of emotional exhaustion and reduce the risk of subsequent service sabotage. By integrating these organizational and individual-level approaches, hospitality organizations can mitigate the adverse spillover of customer mistreatment across successive service encounters and, ultimately, preserve service quality. Originality/value This study advances understanding of boundary conditions by simultaneously examining individual traits and an organizational factor. The findings reveal that conscientiousness and emotional stability significantly buffer the indirect effects of mistreatment through emotional exhaustion, whereas empowerment primarily mitigates the direct impact of mistreatment on exhaustion but does not alter the exhaustion–sabotage pathway. By integrating temporal dynamics, emotional processes and multilevel moderators, this research provides a more comprehensive and realistic account of how customer mistreatment unfolds in frontline service contexts.