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Age as double‐edged sword among victims of customer mistreatment: A self‐esteem threat perspective.
- Source :
- Human Resource Management; May/Jun2019, Vol. 58 Issue 3, p285-299, 15p
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Service workers are expected to maintain high‐quality service delivery despite customer mistreatment—the poor‐quality treatment of service workers by customers—which can be demeaning and threatening to self‐esteem. Although service work is increasingly delivered by middle‐aged and older workers, very little is known about how employees across the age range navigate abuse from customers on the job. Does advancing age help or hinder service performance in reaction to customer mistreatment? Drawing on strength and vulnerability integration theory, we proposed that age paradoxically both helps and hinders performance after customer mistreatment, albeit at different stages. We tested our proposed model in a two‐sample field investigation of service workers and their supervisors using a time‐lagged, dyadic design. Results showed that age heightens the experience of self‐esteem threat but, nevertheless, dampens reactions to self‐esteem threat, leading to divergent effects on performance at different stages. Implications for age and service work, as well as aging and the sense of self, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- AGE distribution
AGING
BLUE collar workers
CUSTOMER satisfaction
CONSUMER attitudes
EMPLOYEE attitudes
FOCUS groups
HOTELS
LABOR supply
MATHEMATICAL models
QUESTIONNAIRES
REGRESSION analysis
RESEARCH funding
RESTAURANTS
SELF-perception
SOCIAL workers
SUPERVISION of employees
SURVEYS
VICTIM psychology
WHITE collar workers
THEORY
JOB performance
DATA analysis software
SOCIAL worker attitudes
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00904848
- Volume :
- 58
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Human Resource Management
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 135775407
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21949