Societal factors can shape how companies best respond after customers misbehave

From rule breaking and theft to verbal abuse and foul language, one customer’s behavior can negatively affect another customer’s experience. How hospitality businesses can best respond to instances of customer misbehavior can depend on the strictness of societal norms, according to a new study from researchers in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management.

The study, published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, found that customers who observe misbehavior in countries with strict societal norms—or specific expectations for how people should act in public—respond better to an apology, while customers who observe misbehavior in nations with looser societal norms respond better to acknowledgements or appreciations of their patience.

Anna Mattila, Marriott Professor of Lodging Management at Penn State; Barbara Atanga, assistant professor of marketing at Johnson C. Smith University who earned her doctorate in hospitality management at Penn State this year; and Lavi Peng, current Penn State doctoral candidate, led this research.

“When customers observe other customers misbehaving, it affects their satisfaction,” Mattila said. “They become unhappy with their experience. This can be costly to businesses, as these customers may never come back. We wanted to identify a way that businesses could satisfy customers who observe these unfortunate instances.”

The researchers conducted two studies to find the effect of apologies and appreciation on customers who observe misbehavior. To survey participants with both distinct strict and loose societal norms, the research team recruited participants from the United States, a country with loose norms, and India, a country with strict norms.

Each study recruited participants via Amazon Mechanical Turk, and participants were randomly assigned to either an apology or appreciation condition.

The first study surveyed 187 people—97 from the United States and 90 from India—and used a hypothetical scenario in which participants were asked to imagine checking in at a front desk while observing two guests in an argument.

The second study surveyed 202 people—101 from the United States and 101 from India—and used a hypothetical situation in which participants were asked to imagine dining in a restaurant while nearby customers were being disruptive.

In both studies, an apology resulted in higher recovery satisfaction among observing customers with strict societal norms, whereas showing appreciation led to enhanced recovery satisfaction among observing customers with loose societal norms.

“Businesses may see the terms ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ as interchangeable,” Atanga said. “However, these terms serve distinct purposes. ‘Sorry’ explicitly says this is wrong whereas ‘thank you’ is more subtle and implicit. Businesses should understand the strictness or looseness context of their customer base to use these two strategies effectively.”

In a third study, the researchers tested if violations of perceived norms drive the impact of recovery strategy on satisfaction among observing customers. This study surveyed 180 participants—95 from the United States and 85 from India—via Amazon Mechanical Turk.

Participants were randomly assigned to either an apology or appreciation condition in a hypothetical scenario where they observed two other patrons arguing because one of them jumped the queue.

The researchers found that acknowledging customer misbehavior had a mediating effect on the observing customer’s recovery for participants with loose norms but not for participants with strict norms.

“People with strict norms may appreciate an apology, but this may not be enough to reduce the impact of the norm violation,” Peng said. “This could be why the mediating effect was not found for those with stricter norms.”

The researchers said effective ways businesses can address the negative implications of customer misbehavior is to practice service recovery techniques. For example, apologies—even generalized ones like “sorry for the inconvenience”—or by purposely showing appreciation like thanking customers for their patience can help other customers’ satisfaction with the business when they observe customer misbehavior.

“Saying ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you’ is a cheap, easy way for businesses to conduct service recovery,” Atanga said. “This is also a cost-effective strategy, as saying ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you’ does not have a monetary cost attached to it.”

The researchers also said businesses should train their employees in how to properly handle situations where customer misbehavior may occur. Employees should learn to listen and remain calm in these situations before evaluating how best to act, and to do so strategically.

In addition, brands operating across different nations should adjust and adapt their recovery strategies as opposed to having a single, universal service recovery protocol, according to the researchers.

“Businesses can get so wrapped up by customers who are misbehaving that they forget about the customers who witness the norm violation,” Peng said. “Even if observing customers don’t actively speak out, they still may have noted the inconvenience in their heads.”