See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil: a study of defensive organizational behavior towards customer complaints

Abstract

Despite substantial benefits of an effective complaint management for companies, there is ample evidence that many firms do not handle customer complaints appropriately. This paper aims at providing a theoretical explanation for this surprising phenomenon. Drawing on psychological and organizational theory, the authors introduce the concept of defensive organizational behavior towards customer complaints as well as provide a rich conceptualization and operationalization of this phenomenon. Moreover, in an empirical study, they systematically analyze how defensive organizational behavior towards customer complaints is driven by organizational antecedents and, based on a dyadic data set, how it affects customer post-complaint reactions.

Engaged customers as job resources or demands for frontline employees?

“…(Mills et al, 1983). Moreover, frontline employees have more time to engage in social interactions with customers who collaborate with them, which is likely to further increase the effectiveness of frontline employees (Homburg and Furst, 2007;Yi et al, 2011). Frontline employees might even build a relationship with customers who cooperate with them, which enables them to satisfy their social needs and consequently increases job engagement among frontline employees (Chan et al, 2010).…”

The trade-off of servicing empowerment on employees’ service performance: examining the underlying motivation and workload mechanisms

“…According to agency theory, employees may act in their own interests, at the expense of the organization, by venting their negative feelings or treating complaining customers rudely (Heide and John 1992). Ultimately, these actions are counterproductive to the formal goals of the organization (Homburg and Fürst 2007).…”

“…In this case, there is no assurance that top management hears about the complaints, unless frontline employees report them upward (Luria et al 2009). Employees often are averse to forwarding complaints to top management, fearing unfavorable consequences (Homburg and Fürst 2007).…”

“…If there is goal congruence between the principal and agent, this shared culture eliminates potential agency problems (White 1985). Furthermore, complaint research suggests that a customer-oriented corporate culture supports effective complaint management (e.g., Homburg and Fürst 2007).…”

Analysing the preferred characteristics of frontline employees dealing with customer complaints

“…Many companies still do not pay sufficient attention to handling complaints effectively (Homburg and Fürst, 2007). Moreover, research by authors such as Andreassen (2001) and Tax and Brown (1998) indicates that the majority of complaining customers are dissatisfied with the company's complaint handling efforts.…”