 Approacher be-wear? Increasing shopper approach intentions through employee apparelChristian Barney, Carol L. Esmark Jones and Adam Farmer Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 108, issue C, 401-416 Abstract: Employee-customer interactions have been shown to influence perceptions of service quality, but what encourages customers to approach an employee has yet to be explored. As technology is increasingly integrated into service and retail environments and employee presence is decreasing, much of the responsibility for initiating service encounters has shifted from employees to customers. However, many customers are reluctant to approach employees. This manuscript examines the process through which a customer decides whether to approach an employee. Apparel is among the most noticeable cues customers' use to evaluate employees, thus, signaling theory is used to examine employee apparel's effect on consumers' approach intentions. Additionally, embarrassment is shown to moderate the approach decision process. Three studies, including a 360° video experiment and a behavioral lab study, are used to assess the relationship between apparel and approach decisions. These findings provide evidence that expertise-signaling apparel may be more effective at increasing approach intentions. Keywords: Customer approach; Signaling theory; Role theory; Embarrassment; Employee apparel (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:108:y:2020:i:c:p:401-416 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.061 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.