The Effects of Customer Anger
Arik Cheshin
Rellie Derfler
Dorit Efrat
Ella Glickson
Anat Rafaeli
Amir Erez
Technion
Sharon Lubasch
Israel Institute
Ella Miron-Spector
of Technology
Shy Ravid
Ravit Rozillio
Slides and Papers Available at http://Anat.Rafaeli.net Orit Schwartz
1
“30% of British Workers
experience encounters with
bullies on at least a weekly
basis”
“27% of workers in a
representative sample … in
Michigan … experienced
mistreatment by someone in
the workplace.”
Professor Anat Rafaeli - Technion, ISRAEL http://Anat.Rafaeli.Net
2
Implicit Assumption:
Displaying Anger to CSR’s Gets Them to
Do More for us …
But is this true?
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3
Effects of Customer Anger on
Employee Rewards
Organizational
Policy
Role
Instructions
(IV*)
Customer
Complaint
Customer
Reward
(IV**)
(DV)
Time
Dependent Variable
Independent Variables
Reward (discount, compensation)
Organizational policy (service / profit)
Anger intensity (High / 4Low)
Employees Reward Customer Anger
1000
900
800
600
500
371.74
400
300
200
133.54
100
0
Lower Anger Intensity
Higher Anger Intensity
Reward
700
Customer Service Policy Rewards
Customer Anger
800
700
600
355.85
400
300
222.31
200
Cost Policy: "It is very important
for us to keep company
Cost-oriented policy
profitability"
Service Policy: "It is very
important for us to keep
Service-oriented
policy
customers
satisfied"
100
0
Reward
500
What Happens to the Employees Who
Encounter the Anger
Displayed by Customers?
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7
Emotions Are Tasks that Require Resources
Beal and Weiss et al
(2005)
Weiss and
Cropanzano (1996) Episodic Process Model
of Affective Influence
Affective Events
Theory
8
Social Psychology
Findings about
Individual
Emotion Effects
Bad Emotions Can
Deplete Resources
Gross, Richards
(1999, 2005)
Baumeister (1998)
Cookies or Radishes?
Active self is a limited
resource
Concealing bad
feelings requires
resources
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9
General Argument:
Emotions are Social Influence
Agents
Hareli, S. & Rafaeli, A. (2008)
Research in
Organizational Behavior
Available
Research is
about
Effects of Own
Emotions!
Customer
Hostile
Emotions

Employee’s
Resource Depletion
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11
Customer Contact Center
Customer
request
Employee
Task:
Handling
details.
Multiple
folders
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12
Customers Convey Anger/Rudeness
Polite Customer
My home phone number
changed. Need to update it
please. My number is 037526654. Thank you very
much, George Ashley.
Angry – Rude Customer
It’s such a nightmare to reach
you! Your service is just
horrible. Update my home
phone to 03-7526654. George
Ashley
Hi please note my request to
move me to the weekend deal.
My password is "Friends".
Thank you, Josh.
I am sick and tired of your
lousy service. Move me to the
weekend deal. Password is
"Friends". Josh.
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13
Data
Undergraduate Students
Training
(15 minutes; rules, tools).
Practice
(6 minutes; no pay).
Real Work
15 minutes; up to 40 customers.
pay for correct work.
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14
Task Performance
% requests handled
correctly
N
M
SD
Angry
Requests
34
0.46
0.10
Affect Free
Requests
35
0.57
0.12
t = -2.05, p < .05
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15
Employee Fatigue after Customer Anger
Reported exhaustion
(1-7 scale)
N
M
SD
Angry
Requests
34
3.52
1.18
Affect Free
Requests
35
2.77
1.13
t = 2.71, p < .01
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16
Another Test …
• Auditory anger  Recall of details
Anger or Arousal?
Performance with Angry and Overly Positive
Customer Statement:
Angry: “Can you fix my account? I can’t believe
your service is so slow and lousy!
Neutral: “Please fix my account. There is an extra
charge that need to be fixed”
Overly Positive: Please fix my account. Your
service is always so amazing and superb!”
Could it be Arousal?
Performance success rate
(cumulative average)
Performance with Angry and Overly Enthusiastic
86.33%
90.00%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Anger – Neutral: p < .001
Anger – Positive: p < .01
40%
33.00%
Anger
Neutral
Enthusiasm
What Have We Learned?
Some One
Displays
Anger
Focal Person
Fatigue
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Performance of
Work Tasks
20
Anger of Different Customers?
e.g., VIP vs. Regular Customers?
Simulation:
Some tasks are more important …valued more
($1.00 vs. 25 cents)
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21
Others’ Anger Hurts Ability to Prioritize
0.75
0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55 Accurate
Performance
0.5
(%)
0.45
1.00$
0.25$
0.4
0.35
Affect-free
Requests
Hostile
Requests
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0.3
22
Anger and Cognitive Processing?
Memory?
Weaker after others’ anger?
Recovery?
Longer after others’ anger?
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23
Method
Employees Read Transcripts of Hostile /
Non-Hostile Customers.
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24
Others’ Hostility
Hostile
Affect-Free
Customer:
I am having reception problems with my phone.
Employee:
Perhaps you have a problem when you are in an area with no
reception?
Customer
It happens all the time! I need to
know your problems? I am in all
sorts of areas. Your phones are
bad quality; your technicians are
lousy. Every time a new problem
pops up?
Customer
I don’t know but I think it
happens all the time. I am in all
sorts of areas. There should not
be such reception problems. It
seems to be anywhere I happen
to be.
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25
Measures: Recall of Details
When did the person previously call?
Last week.
Two weeks ago.
Three weeks ago
Four Weeks ago
What was the name of the caller?
Eric .
George
Dan
Sam.
What hour of service was caller promised?
09:00 – 10:00 10:00 – 11:00
11:00 – 12:00
12:00 – 13:00
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26
Number of Angry Others Influences
Ability to Recall
Mean Number of items
recalled (1-9)
N
M
SD
0 angry calls
36
6.00
1.17
1 angry call
36
5.56
1.40
2 angry calls
36
4.44
1.44
3 angry calls
36
4.14
1.29
(F(3,140)=15.94, p<.000)
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27
Recovery of
Depleted
Employees ?
Please wait. I need to recover.
I am temporarily depleted from
the previous customer
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© Rafaeli 2009
28
... Need to Press Enter ...
(A Test of Relief Time)
...Relief Time in Between Requests ...
Idle Time
)average in seconds(
60
45
30
15
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9 10 11
Customer Request Number
Enthusiasm
Neutral
Anger
Help!
How Long Does
Effect of
Customer Anger
Last?
Effects on Problems
Not Related to
Customer ?
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31
Resource Depletion Suggests Weaker
Performance on Subsequent Tasks
Performing Unrelated
Task
After Another Person’s
Hostility
• Ten (10) Raven’s matrices;
• 8 minutes;
• After encounter with anger
Others’ Anger Depletes Focal Person of
Resources for Subsequent Task
Mean Number of items
Solved (1-8)
N
M
SD
Anger
Condition
20
4.7
1.65
Neutral
Condition
21
5.8
1.53
t = -2.22, p < .05
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33
Effects on A Different Task?
Creative Thinking Tasks:
Solution to Creative Task
Accurate Performance
 Angry
 Non-Angry
0.75
0.67
Creative Task
P= 0.0001
N=36
What Have We Learned?
Performance of
Unrelated
Tasks
Some One
Displays
Anger
Focal Person
Fatigue and
Resources
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Performance of
Work Tasks
37
A Note …
Powerful effects with very benign anger!
This must mean … VERY
powerful effects with strong
anger
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38
How Do We Manage all of This?
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39
Turnover / Carryover Issues
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40
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