The effect of stress on customer perception of the frontline employee: an experimental study

Marie-Christin Papen (), Thomas Niemand, Florian U. Siems and Sascha Kraus ()
Additional contact information
Marie-Christin Papen: Technical University Dresden
Thomas Niemand: Clausthal University of Technology, Institute of Management and Economics
Florian U. Siems: Technical University Dresden
Sascha Kraus: University of Liechtenstein, Institute for Entrepreneurship

Review of Managerial Science, 2019, vol. 13, issue 4, No 4, 725-747

Abstract: Abstract This article examines positive effects of customer stress drawn upon the theory of excitation transfer. Contrary to previous marketing and management literature, the present study focuses on positive outcomes of stress based on a study by Dutton and Aron (J Pers Soc Psychol 30(4):510–517, 1974), who found increasing interpersonal attraction in stressful situations in a private context. The present study examines whether these findings can be applied to a service context and how interpersonal liking affects customer’s employee perception and customer-related responses. An experimental laboratory study (N = 104), including a service-employee interaction and a psychological stress induction (Social Evaluative Cold-Water Pressure Test [SECPT]), was conducted. Results indicate a positive effect of stress on relationship quality constructs (relationship trust, commitment, satisfaction, and relationship investment) and partially on behavioral constructs, fully mediated by the customer’s interpersonal liking of the service employee. The present research contributes to marketing and management literature in two ways: it highlights (a) the importance of context and emotion for the perception of the employee, and (b) the relevance of interpersonal liking of the service employee for the long-term customer relationship.

Keywords: Stress; Relationship quality; Excitation transfer; Interpersonal liking; Service marketing; Employee perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M12 M31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-017-0258-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:13:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s11846-017-0258-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/business/journal/11846

DOI: 10.1007/s11846-017-0258-8

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Managerial Science is currently edited by R. Ewert and W. Kürsten

More articles in Review of Managerial Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().