Understanding the drivers of customer aggression

Overview

Recent work has identified outcomes of sustained customer aggression, however an opportunity lies in identifying the drivers of the specific dimensions of customer aggression. (See Mortimer, G., Wang, S., & Andrade, M. L. O. (2023). Measuring customer aggression: Scale development and validation. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 73, 103348.)

Future research may also assess the extent to which each customer aggression type individually affects the different attitudinal and behavioural outcomes tested herein. Both expressive aggression forms may be stronger drivers of negative outcomes, whereas inexpressive aggression forms may have milder effects as they are more tolerated. Notions of aggression, as well as its frequency and form, may vary according to customers’ cultural backgrounds (Kawabata et al., 2016). Moreover, perceptions of what constitutes aggression may differ between cultures.

A natural progression of this work is the exploration of more complex predictive models through the incorporation of mediating and/or moderating variables. For instance, specific groups may be more likely to encounter customer aggression (i.e., younger, female, migrant workers, or vulnerable groups). Factors that trigger prejudice against these groups could serve as moderating variables. The effects of aggression may vary if the customer is considered an ingroup versus an outgroup member (Pedersen et al., 2008).

Research activities

This project will involve qualitative and quantitative research, and experiments.

Outcomes

The project seeks to identify causes of customer aggression in order to inform industry.

Skills and experience

Students must meet the necessary benchmarks for entry into a MPhil or PhD.

Keywords

• retail
• customer aggression
• service

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.