Measuring customer aggression: Scale development and validation

Abstract

Despite increasing levels of customer aggression being identified within the retail and services sector, no comprehensive tool has been developed to measure such behaviour, thus limiting empirical examinations of this phenomenon. Five studies were undertaken, comprising a student survey, a Delphi-style expert panel review and three retail worker surveys. The results identify a four-factor, 19-item Customer Aggression scale. The nomological validity of the scale was established by demonstrating the impact of customer aggression on employee emotional exhaustion, job stress, organisational deviance and intention to leave. This research contributes a parsimonious, reliable and valid scale to measure such behaviours, facilitating further scientific inquiry.