PurposeThe 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/approachIn 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.FindingsA 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/valueThe paper identifies a range of issues about which managers should be aware and proactively manage.

Patient engagement has gained increasing prominence within academic literatures and policy discourse. With limited developments in practice, most extant academic contributions are conceptual, with initiatives in the National Health Service (NHS) concentrating at macro-rather than at micro-level. This may be one reason why the issue of 'value co-creation' has received limited attention within academic discussions of patient engagement or policy pronouncements. Drawing on emerging ideas in the services marketing and public management literatures, this article offers the first elucidation of the importance of studying 'value co-creation' as a basis for further empirical analysis of patient engagement in micro-level encounters.

Purpose -In this study the authors aim to explore the impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and managers and to elucidate the management tactics and strategies that managers employ in an attempt to minimize the impact of customer misbehavior on the workplace. Design/methodology/approach -Following a discussion of the research design and methodology employed, the findings of 88 in-depth interviews are presented. Findings -These data suggest that customer misbehavior impacts on frontline employees, managers, and managerial strategies. Three main effects of customer misbehavior on customer-contact employees are uncovered: physiological, cognitive, and attitudinal. These are connected with four main management challenges: conflicting pressures, recruitment and retention, counseling and motivation, and time expenditure. Finally, data analysis finds evidence of six main ways in which managers attempted to reduce or to alleviate harmful customer misbehavior: selective recruitment, changes to training and induction procedures, enhanced rewards, work-team design, increase counseling, and alterations to the servicescape. Practical implications -The authors recommend that practitioners undertake a misbehavior audit that explores not only the extent of customer misbehavior but also the mechanisms, systems, and procedures the organization has for identifying, recording, and attempting to minimize the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior. Originality/value -This study contributes insights into how customer-contact personnel and managers are both affected and cope with customer misbehavior. These insights are helpful for service managers faced with customer misbehavior and academicians interested in how employees respond to contemporary customers.

Purpose This research employs value co-destruction as a theoretical lens to investigate the antecedents of consumer showrooming behavior. Drawing on relevant literature, a research model specifying showrooming dynamics from the consumer's perspective is conceptualized and empirically tested. Methodology Utilizing survey data from 275 consumers, structural equation modelling is employed to assess a research model including thirteen hypotheses. Findings The study findings reveal that showrooming behavior is complex and comprises differing degrees of accumulative value co-destruction and value co-creation behavior across online and offline channels. Specifically, consumer characteristics, channel characteristics and product characteristics are shown to be associated with in-store value taking and online value co-destruction and co-creation. Originality and Value Scholarly insights into the antecedents of consumer showrooming are rare. In responding to calls for research, this paper represents the first empirical investigation of consumer showrooming behavior utilizing the lens of value co-destruction. The study adds to academic understanding of the showrooming phenomena and demonstrates that co-destructive and co-creative behaviors can occur in a simultaneous, concurrent and iterative fashion. Focusing on practice, the findings reveal opportunities for experience-led shopping environments.

Article (Accepted Version) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Boukis, Achilleas, Koritos, Christos, Daunt, Kate L and Papastathopoulos, Avraam (2019) Effects of customer incivility on frontline employees and the moderating role of supervisor leadership style. Tourism Management, 77. pp. 1-14.

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Purpose -This paper aims to examine the associations between individual factors (personality and demographic variables) and contextual factors (servicescape and situation-specific variables), and the motives that drive episodes of dysfunctional customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach -Self-report data were collected from a survey of bar, hotel, and restaurant customers (n ¼ 380). Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were utilized to analyze the data. Findings -Analysis of the data revealed three clusters of motives labelled: financial egotists, money grabbers, and ego revengers. Statistically significant differences were revealed across the personality, servicescape, and situation specific variables for each motive. However, no differences were found concerning demographic variables. Research limitations/implications -This research emphasizes the primacy of three customer behavior motivations. Future research might investigate the motives for dysfunctional customer behavior across different organizational contexts and the dynamics between such motivations. Practical implications -The findings of the study indicate that service managers can proactively control and manipulate servicescape and situationspecific variables that relate to customer misbehavior motives. Originality/value -No existing scholarly research has developed a data-grounded understanding of the motivations of dysfunctional customer behaviors. Moreover, to date, no study has explored the associations between customer's motives to misbehave and personality, situation specific, servicescape, and demographic variables.

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