Internal Audit and Review of the Negative Customer Behavior

Abstract

Negative customer behavior is a relatively new research field of marketing and management studies, and it is also a new perspective of service management in recent years. But diverse appellation and definition hinder its further development. This paper cardings and summarizes the research findings about many negative customer behaviors both in China and abroad. On the basis of clarifying the term evolution, we analyzed the cause of negative customer behavior from customer characteristics, marketing agency and consumer scenarios, and illustrated the negative effects both on employees’ job performance and on other customers. We found that demographic characteristics, personality traits and situational awareness had important effects on negative customer behavior. Negative customer behavior not only brought pressure, emotional exhaustion, service failure, high absenteeism and turnover intention for employees, but also decreased the other customers’ repurchase intention and satisfaction by emotional contagion. We made a forecast and expectation of the future research and pointed out that we should make further research according to China’s service industry.