Dominique A. Keeffe

Customers behaving badly: a state of the art review, research agenda and implications for practitioners

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight important issues in the study of dysfunctional customer behavior and to provide a research agenda to inspire, guide, and enthuse. Through a critical evaluation of existing research, the aim is to highlight key issues and to present potentially worthy avenues for future study. Design/methodology/approach – In reviewing recent and past advances in the study of customers behaving badly, an overview of existing research into customers behaving badly and addressing issues of terminology and definition is provided. Thereafter, three perspectives that provide the most opportunity and insight in studying the darker side of service dynamics are outlined. This leads to a review of some of the research design and methodological problems and issues that are faced when rigorously studying these issues. Subsequently, the paper devotes a section to the provocative idea that while dysfunctional customer behavior has many negative influences on customers, employees, and service firms, there are actually some positive functions of customers behaving badly. Findings – A research agenda is provided that is believed to identify and discuss a range of projects that comprises not only insightful theoretical contributions but is also practically relevant. Originality/value – The paper identifies a range of issues about which managers should be aware and proactively manage.

Virtual consumption: using player types to explore virtual consumer behavior

As virtual economies begin to interact more with real world economies, it is important to consider the in-game activities that players engage in, which create and transfer game currency. Specifically, we examine products and services that players offer to each other within MMORPGs. We use Bartles taxonomy of player types to illustrate the different behavioral approaches players have in consuming these products and services. We introduce the term virtual consumption to describe these in-game exchanges and highlight the need for further research into this phenomenon.

Chapter 6 The Intentional Use of Service Recovery Strategies to Influence Consumer Emotion, Cognition and Behavior

Service recovery strategies have been identified as a critical factor in the success of service organizations. This study develops a conceptual framework to investigate how specific service recovery strategies influence the emotional, cognitive and negative behavioral responses of consumers, as well as how emotion and cognition influence negative behavior. Understanding the impact of specific service recovery strategies will allow service providers to more deliberately and intentionally engage in strategies that result in positive organizational outcomes. This study was conducted using a 2×2 between-subjects quasi-experimental design. The results suggest that service recovery has a significant impact on emotion, cognition and negative behavior. Similarly, satisfaction, negative emotion and positive emotion all influence negative behavior but distributive justice has no effect.