Abstract

The aim of the article. The aim of this study is to identify and explore the situational factors, which lead customers to misbehave in service settings. This study is designed to develop a better understanding of different drivers of misbehaviours from situational factors’ perspective and examines the relationship of past misbehaviour and future misbehaviour intentions. The results of the analysis. In this study, the conceptual model is outlined. This model comprises five hypotheses between theses constructs: loyalty intentions, severity of misbehaviour, perceived opportunity, perceived risk, past customer misbehaviour and future misbehaviour intentions. Using survey responses from 384 customers of Iranian chain stores, the empirical results offer the support for the forwarded research hypothesis. Structural equation modelling is used to examine these associations. The data suggest that situational factors have impacts on the customer misbehaviour. The results show that the relationships between loyalty intentions, severity of misbehaviour, perceived risk and past misbehaviours are statistically significant. In addition to above hypothesis, the results provide support for the positive association between past customer misbehaviour and future misbehaviour intentions. However, the relationship between perceived opportunity and past misbehaviour is not statistically supported. Thus, utilizing the structural equation modelling to analyze the survey data indicates strong support for 4 of the 5 hypothesized associations. The research findings have the range of key implications for both academia and industry by focusing on the factors associated with both past and future customer misbehaviour. The results of this study outline the point that service manager should be cautious about the episodes of customer misbehaviour and its severity as the mechanism to control or manage the frequency of future occurrences. The findings also highlight the importance of customers to chain stores (by supporting the link of customer loyalty intentions and past misbehavior). In addition, it might be beneficial to train front employees to act peacefully and respectfully toward customers. Conclusions and directions of further researches. The novelty point of this study is to illuminate the impact of situational factors on misbehaviours for the first time based on the background of Iranian culture. As the matter of fact that customer misbehaviour is prevalent in the Iranian chain stores, identifying the related antecedents especially from situation side is on the great center of attention.

Keywords: consumer, misbehaviour, situational factor, service settings, perceived risk

JEL Classification: L81, M31, O31.

Cite as: Akbari, M., Abdolvand M. & Ghaffari, F. (2016). The impacts of situational factors on consumer misbehaviour in service outlets (on the example of Iranian chain stores). Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 48-56. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2016.1-04

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References

1. Fullerton, R.A., & Punj, G.N. (2004). Repercussions of promoting an ideology of consumption: consumer misbehaviour. Journal of Business Research, 57 (11), 1239-1249 [in English].
2. Harris, L.C., & Reynolds, K.L. (2003). The consequences of dysfunctional customer behavior. Journal of Service Research, 6(2), 144-161 [in English].
3. Daunt, K.L., & Harris, L.C. (2006). Deviant customer behaviour: an exploration of frontline employee tactics. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 14, 95-111 [in English].
4. Echeverri, P., Salomonsson, N., Åberg, A. (2012). Dealing with customer misbehaviour: Employees’ tactics, practical judgment and implicit knowledge. Marketing Theory, 12(4), 427-449 [in English].
5. Fullerton, R.A., & Punj, G. (1997). What is consumer misbehaviour? Advances  in  Consumer Research, 24, 336-339 [in English].
6. Krasnovsky, T., & Lane, R.C. (1998). Shoplifting: A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3(3), 219-235 [in English].
7. Cox, A.D., Cox, D., Anderson, R.D., & Moschis, G.P. (1993), Social influences on adolescent shoplifting – theory, evidence, and implications for the retail industry, Journal of Retailing, 69(2), 234-246 [in English].
8. McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Patterson, P.G., Smith, A.K., & Brady, M.K. (2009). Customer rage episodes: emotions, expressions and behaviors. Journal of Retailing, 85(2), 222-237  [in English].
9. Daunt, K.L., & Harris, L.C. (2011). Customers acting badly: evidence from the hospitality industry. Journal of Business Research, 64, 1034-1042 [in English].
10. Funches, V., Markley, M., & Davis, L. (2009). Reprisal, retribution and requital: investigating customer retaliation. Journal of Business Research, 62, 231-238 [in English].
11. Fisk, R., Grove, S., Harris, L.C., Keeffe, D., Daunt, K.L., Russell-Bennett, R., & Wirtz, J. (2010). Customers behaving badly: a state of the art review, research agenda and implications for practitioners. Journal of Services Marketing, 24, 417-429 [in English].
12. Fullerton, R.A., & Punj, G. (1993). Choosing to misbehave: a structural model of aberrant consumer behavior. Advances in Consumer Research, 20, 570-574 [in English].
13. Gre´goire, Y., & Fisher, R.J. (2008). Customer betrayal and retaliation: when your best customers become  your  worst enemies. Journal of the Academy of  Marketing Science, 36, 247-261 [in English].
14. Huefner, J.C., & Hunt, H.K. (2000). Consumer retaliation as a response to dissatisfaction. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 13, 61-82 [in English].
15. Rose, R.L., & Neidermeyer, M. (1999). From rudeness to road rage: the antecedents and consequences of consumer aggression. Advances in Consumer Research, 26, 12-17 [in English].
16. Daunt, K.L., & Harris, L.C. (2012). Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: an empirical study. Journal of Services Marketing, 26(4), 293-308 [in English].
17. Wirtz, J., & McColl-Kennedy, J.R.. (2010). Opportunistic customer claiming during service recovery. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(5), 654-675 [in English].
18. Lovelock, C. (2001). Services marketing: people, technology, strategy. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ [in English].
19. Daunt, K.L., & Harris, L.C. (2011). Customers acting badly: evidence from the hospitality industry. Journal of Business Research, 64, 1034-1042 [in English].
20. Moore, R.H. (1984). Shoplifting in Middle America: patterns and motivational correlates. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 28(1), 53-64 [in English].
21. Tonglet, M. (2002). Consumer misbehavior: an exploratory study of shoplifting. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 4, 336-354 [in English].
22. Babin, B.J., & Griffin, M. (1995). A closer look at the influence of age on consumer ethics. Advertising Consumer Research Journal, 22, 668-673 [in English]. 
23. King, T., & Dennis, C. (2006). Unethical consumers: deshopping behavior using qualitative analysis of theory of planned behavior and accompanied (de)shopping. Qualitative Market Research Journal, 9(3), 282-296 [in English].
24. Daunt, K.L., & Harris, L.C. (2009). Dysfunctional customer behavior deverity: an empirical examination. Journal of Retailing, 85, 321-335 [in English].
25. Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L., & Parasuraman, A. (1996). The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 60, 31-46 [in English].
26. Anderson, J., & Gerbing, D. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach. Psychology Bulletin, 103(3), 411-423 [in English].