An Empirical Study of the Causes, Symptoms and Organisational Responses to Customer Rage

Abstract

Customer Rage Behaviour (CRB) has started receiving enormous attention from both, academicians and practitioners in recent years (Surachartkumtonkun, McColl-Kennedy, and Patterson 2014; Greer 2015). The prevailing competitive environment is forcing organisations to take CRB incidents seriously. All the three stages of CRB - before the CRB incident, during the CRB incident, and after the CRB incident - have to be managed properly. Organisations can gain competitive advantage by effectively managing CRB incidents. Effective management of CRB incidents helps organisations gain extraordinary profits, by retaining existing customers. Effective management of CRB incidents can be considered a unique differentiating strategy for an organisation to gain competitive advantage. Though CRB and related issues can be a little complex to handle, organisations cannot afford to overlook them in the current fiercely competitive scenario. Doing so can hurt the organisation and its employees socially, psychologically, and financially. It affects all the stakeholders (like front-end employees, organisation, customer and even other customers). These impacts are both short and long term (Surachartkumtonkun et al., 2014). McColl-Kennedy, Patterson, Smith, and Brady (2009) have done extensive study on CRB incidents. They concluded that these incidents occur due to Customer Rage Emotions (CRE). CRE have been classified as Rancorous Rage Emotions, and Retaliatory Rage Emotions. Customers who are inclined towards ‘Rancorous Rage Emotions’ tend to be vocal. They try to use their voice as a weapon to intimidate front-end employees. On the other hand, customers who tend to react aggressively by physically hurting front-end employees and/or by damaging the organisation’s property are said to be displaying what is known as ‘Retaliatory Rage Emotions’. Both types of customer adopt different ways to express their aggression. McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009) have suggested five types of Customer Rage Expressions (CRX) - verbal, physical, constructive, displaced, and non-verbal - using which, angry customers exhibit their rage. Because different customers experience different types of rage, they express their rage through different Customer Rage Expressions (CRX). Then, CRX culminate in different types of Customer Rage Behaviours (CRB), such as exit, revenge, and spreading negative word of mouth (WOM). McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009) have proposed an indirect relationship between CRE, CRX, and CRB. According to them, CRX works as a mediating variable between CRE and CRB.After analysing such CRB incidents closely, the researcher came across incidents, which were not in keeping with the pattern suggested by McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009). Some angry customers did not display CRX. Instead, they directly sprung to action, by indulging in CRB. Hence, this research proposes the existence of a direct relation between CRE and CRB. Earlier researches have suggested eight organisational responses, which include redressal, apology, facilitation, timeliness, recovery voice, explanation, attentiveness, and effort towards handling service failure incidents (Davidow 2003; Awasthi and Rawani 2013). Every construct is meaningful in its own way, but due to the complex nature of the model, only explanation has been taken as moderator on the relationship of CRX and CRB. After studying past researches, a few hypotheses were formed. The researcher borrowed scales from earlier studies by McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009); and Davidow (2003). Survey method was used for data collection in the current study. Only those respondents were chosen who had faced a CRB incident within the last six months. The respondents were requested to recall CRB incident while filling the questionnaire. Their responses were captured on ‘seven-point Likert scale’. Responses were collected by physically approaching respondents from Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. Responses from other places of India were collected via email. Respondents were identified initially through convenience sampling; later, additional respondents were found through the network of initial contacts. Data analysis was carried out by using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique. SPSS 20 and AMOS version 22 were used for data analysis. The findings of this research confirm that customers with Rancorous Rage Emotions tend to directly exhibit all forms of CRB, i.e. exit, revenge, and spreading negative WOM. Customers with Rancorous Rage Emotions are more likely to show exit behaviour and negative WOM. They also tend to take revenge directly, without displaying CRX. Not only is this very dangerous, it is also very difficult to manage customers who directly spring to action without showing any symptoms or expressions related to rage. They do not give enough time to employees and managers of the organisation to respond. These outcomes are contrary to the findings of research of McColl-Kennedy et al. (2009), wherein they have suggested that angry customers first exhibit CRX and then get into CRB. As per the outcome of this research, customers with Retaliatory Rage Emotions do not exhibit any of the CRB directly. Their CRE tend to get reflected into CRB through the mediation of CRX. These findings are in line with the research outcomes of McColl- Kennedy et al. (2009). When customers are given a suitable explanation regarding the reasons for service failure, and customers are also given enough opportunity to express their views, they show substantial reduction in exit behaviour. This means that the moderating effect of explanation by the company’s front-end employees/manager and subsequent venting out of the aggressive feelings through verbal expression by an angry customer, has a substantial impact on reducing exit behaviour. In other words, they are less likely to show exit behaviour. Explanation by the front-end employees also reduces revenge and negative WOM behaviour. However, results are not significant. Hence, further research needs to be conducted to prove this relationship. These findings can be helpful to both research scholars and working professionals. Front-end employees and managers are expected to identify and attend to customers who are displaying CRB promptly, in order to minimize damage to the organisation. Timely identification and appropriate handling could also prevent the occurrence of such incidents in future. Organisations are expected to prepare front-end employees by training and orienting them to tackle such customers. They are also expected to work out strategies, so that such events can be prevented from recurring. This study gives readers an insight into the concept of Customer Rage Behaviour (CRB), and its peripheral issues. It is aimed at helping readers understand the impact of effective management of Customer Rage Behaviour (CRB) incidents on customers, front-end employees, and organisations.