Customer abuse to service workers: an analysis of its social creation within the service economy

Marek Korczynski and Claire Evans
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Marek Korczynski: University of Nottingham, UK
Claire Evans: Cardiff University, UK

Work, Employment & Society, 2013, vol. 27, issue 5, 768-784

Abstract: Evidence from a range of sources suggests that customer abuse to service workers is a significant phenomenon. This article argues that a large part of customer abuse is endogenously created within the fabric of the service economy. Thirty book-length ethnographies were coded for relevant data and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was undertaken. The findings show that frequent customer abuse is associated with a configuration of the promotion of customer sovereignty (at organizational, sectoral and national levels), the weak position of labour, the higher social status position of customers vis-Ã -vis workers and the structuring of service interactions as encounters.

Keywords: aggression; consumer rage; customer abuse; customer deviant behaviour; customer misbehaviour; customer sovereignty; fsQCA; interactive service work; service work; workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:27:y:2013:i:5:p:768-784

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