Necessary evil: a strategy to manage dysfunctional customer behavior

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and when used by employees influences witnessing customers’ willingness to spread positive word of mouth (WOM). Design/methodology/approach This research used a qualitative method to develop a typology of necessary evil using two pilot studies and an experimental study to test the theoretical model. Findings The results show that the necessary evil used by employees to manage dysfunctional customers positively influences witnessing customers’ perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice and their subsequent deontic justice perceptions, resulting in their willingness to spread positive WOM. Moreover, the positive influence of necessary evil on witnessing customers’ responses is strengthened when dysfunctional customer behavior (DCB) targets another customer as opposed to an employee. Practical implications This research offers service providers a better understanding of how to manage DCBs. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by introducing necessary evil to the service literature, proposing a new typology of employee response strategies to DCB based on necessary evil and examining how necessary evil drives positive customer responses. Additionally, it is among the first to examine the relationship between deontic justice and traditional justice mechanisms.

Influence of an individual’s unethical behaviour on peers’ vicarious learning in organisations: the role of moral anger

Purpose Because unethical behaviour pervades in organisations, how to inhibit the interpersonal influence of unethical behaviour has become increasingly important. This study aims to integrate the deontic justice theory and affective events theory to examine the relationship between an individual’s unethical behaviour and his or her peers’ vicarious learning by highlighting the mediating effect of peers’ moral anger and the moderating effect of task interdependence on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected in two waves from 254 employees of a large manufacturing company in the People’s Republic of China. Findings The hypothesised moderated mediation model was supported. Specifically, as expected, peers’ moral anger mediated the negative relationship between an individual’s unethical behaviour and peers’ vicarious learning. Task interdependence moderated the direct relationship between the individual’s unethical behaviour and his or her peers’ moral anger and the indirect relationship between an individual’s unethical behaviour and his or her peers’ vicarious learning via the peers’ moral anger such that these relationships were stronger when the level of task interdependence was higher. Originality/value This study argues that the deontic justice theory is a supplement for the social learning theory in explaining the interpersonal influence of unethical behaviour. Drawing on the deontic justice theory, this study demonstrates that an individual’s unethical behaviours are unlikely to be rewarded or accepted, and by integrating the theories of deontic justice and affective events, offers a rationale for the emotional mechanism that underlies the interpersonal influence of unethical behaviour.

LUKA YANG TERABAIKAN: KAJIAN TENTANG PENGARUH HOSTILE SEXISM DAN KEMARAHAN MORAL TERHADAP MITOS PEMERKOSAAN

Kekerasan seksual terjadi dalam bentuk pelecehan seksual, pemerkosaan, pornografi, dan inses. Banyak korban kekerasan seksual adalah perempuan. Perempuan sebagai korban sering disalahkan karena dianggap lemah, tidak berdaya, dan tidak secerdas laki-laki. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui tingkat budaya pemerkosaan, seksisme yang bermusuhan, dan kemarahan moral. Untuk mengetahui pengaruh seksisme yang bermusuhan dan kemarahan moral terhadap budaya pemerkosaan. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dan teknik pengambilan sampel probabilitas dengan 260 mahasiswa dari fakultas psikologi, ekonomi, tarbiyah dan pengajaran, syariah, sains dan teknologi, dan humaniora. Penelitian ini menggunakan Skala IllinoisRape Myth Acceptance Scaleuntuk mengukur mitos pemerkosaan, The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory untuk hostile sexism, dan Deontic Justice Scale untuk mengukurkemarahan moral. Hasil uji hipotesis menunjukkan ada pengaruh hostile sexism terhadap kepercayaan budaya pemerkosaan, namun kemarahan moral tidak berpengaruh dengan kepercayaan pada budaya pemerkosaan.

Unethical leader behavior and employee performance: a deontic justice perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of deontic justice in the relationship between unethical leader behavior and employee performance, and whether leader–member exchange (LMX) moderates the effect. Design/methodology/approach A two-time-point questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 225 employees of nine firms in China at two points in time separated by approximately three weeks. Findings The hypothesized moderated mediation model used in this study was supported. Deontic justice mediates the negative relationship between unethical leader behavior and employee performance, and higher LMX tends to strengthen this indirect relationship. Originality/value Previous scholars mainly focused on the cognitive and conscious thought process to explain employees’ reactions to unethical leader behavior, and largely ignored the research on the nonconscious thought process. Drawing on deontic justice theory, this study extends the previous research on the nonconscious system of moral decision-making processing by introducing employee deontic justice as a mediator in the relationship between unethical leader behavior and employee performance and further exploring LMX as a boundary condition of this indirect relationship.

Sustainable consumption

Purpose While there has been a great deal of research to distinguish the factors that promote the adoption of sustainable consumption, however there has been a very little attention given to the contribution of justice, coping appraisal, and psychological distance. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential role of deontic justice, protection motivation, and construal level theories to elucidate the green purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 471 participants in a laboratory experiment. Then, structural equation modeling was carried out to analyze the data. Findings Protection motivation theory is valuable to apply specifically since it introduces the concept of coping appraisal. The findings demonstrate that deontic justice theory (DJT) is a suitable framework that can be employed to shed more light on sustainable consumption. The study shows that consumer can conceptualize a green product at different levels of concreteness or abstraction. Originality/value This study is a pioneering effort to look at sustainable consumption within the context of DJT. It departs from the more traditional research by repositioning moral obligation as the primary driver of green purchase intention and by elucidating when green purchase intention is elevated in investigating the moderating role of mindset.

A Customer Scorned

This research examines the implications of manager reprimands of frontline employees following a service failure incident. Drawing upon social exchange theory and looking at both customer and employee reactions, three studies find that customers are more satisfied with failed service encounters when they are aware the employee was reprimanded. This effect is on par with other types of service recoveries, mediated by deontic justice perceptions and moderated by the customer’s just-world beliefs, such that high believers are more satisfied than low believers when they are told about an employee’s reprimand. Direct observation of the reprimand acts as a key boundary condition whereby customers become dissatisfied when they are present during the reprimand. Furthermore, we find that customer perceptions of frontline reprimands are tied to reprimand privacy, whereas employee perceptions are tied to reprimand civility. This research is the first to simultaneously examine the effects of workplace reprimands on customer and frontline employee satisfaction. For managers, our findings illuminate the usefulness of communicating employee reprimands to customers, thus representing a low-cost alternative to other types of recovery efforts.