A comparison of Asians', Hispanics', and Whites' restaurant tipping

Asians and Hispanics are perceived by many restaurant servers as poor tippers. This study tests the validity of those perceptions using data from a large restaurant chain's online customer satisfaction survey. Findings partially support servers' perceptions—Hispanics but not Asians tipped less on average than Whites after controlling for bill size, the customer's own ratings of service quality, and other variables. Discussion centers around the differences between these findings and those of a previous study and on the practical implications of the findings for restaurant managers.     

Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping: A Replication and Extension

This study examined the effects of server race, customer race, and their interaction on restaurant tips while statistically controlling for customers' perceptions of service quality and other variables. The findings indicate that consumers of both races discriminated against Black service providers by tipping them less than White service providers. Furthermore, this server race effect on tipping was moderated by perceived service quality and dining party size. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Particularly noteworthy is the possibility that the server race effect on tipping represents an adverse impact against Black servers that makes the use of tipping to compensate employees a violation of employment discrimination law in the United States.     

Employee theft in the restaurant trade: Forms of ripping off by waiters at work

The variety of part‐time theft techniques used by waiters in the restaurant trade is examined using a self‐report methodology. Using twelve hypothetical cases of ripping off in restaurants, three potential theft targets are assessed: the restaurant, customers of the restaurant, and co‐workers. Predictions about the frequency of involvement of these theft activities are tested using a sample of waiters in four “prime rib” restaurants. Hypotheses dealing with working conditions and the ability to neutralize moral controls against theft are presented to explain which waiters will be involved in employee theft. The theoretical implications of “amateur trading” and pecuniary‐based theft are developed in order to show the critical role that theft activities play in the work setting of the restaurant. The findings have implications for the “controlled larceny” solution to the problem of employee theft suggested by some observers.     

A Comparison of Modalities in Modeling

Organizational display rules (e.g., “service with a smile”) have had mixed relationships with employee emotional labor—either in the form of “bad faith” surface acting (suppressing or faking expressions) or “good faith” deep acting (modifying inner feelings). We draw on the motivational perspective of emotional labor to argue that individual differences in customer orientation will directly and indirectly relate to these acting strategies in response to display rules. With a survey of more than 500 working adults in customer contact positions, and controlling for affective disposition, we find that customer orientation directly increases “good faith” acting while it moderates the relationship of display rules with “bad faith” acting.     

Is “service with a smile” enough? Authenticity of positive displays during service encounters

Service providers use impression management strategies to engender satisfaction and repeat business in customers. Managing emotional expressions is one strategy to meet those goals. We extended research on the “Duchenne Smile” to see if authenticity of employee expressions influenced the impressions formed of the employee’s friendliness and the overall satisfaction with the encounter. Furthermore, we took two other factors into account—task performance and busyness—to examine the conditions under which authenticity would have the greatest impact. In Study 1, we obtained reactions to videotaped simulations that manipulated authenticity of positive displays and task performance during a hotel check-in encounter. ANCOVA results supported that authenticity of the service provider enhanced perceptions of friendliness, but only influenced customer satisfaction when tasks were performed well. In Study 2, hierarchical linear modeling with reactions from 255 customers of 64 restaurant servers showed that perceived display authenticity enhanced the perceived friendliness of the employee when the store was slow, but less so when it was busy. Display authenticity had a direct effect on customer satisfaction, regardless of task performance (which was generally high) and busyness. We conclude that display authenticity is an extra-role behavior for service encounters with an additive effect on encounter satisfaction only when other factors are at optimal levels. We suggest implications for display rule policies and service training.     

The Role of Perceived Demographic Dissimilarity and Interaction in Customer‐Service Satisfaction1

The purpose of the current study was to examine the influence of perceived demographic dissimilarity and interaction on customer‐service satisfaction. Data were collected from 301 spectators at a professional men's tennis tournament. Results indicate that perceived demographic dissimilarity was negatively associated with customer service satisfaction. Further, this relationship was moderated by the amount of interaction between the employee and customer, such that the negative relationship was strongest when interaction was high. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical implications related to relational demography and practical implications in terms of the “business case” for diversity.     

Wholistic Theology as a Conceptual Foundation for Services for the Oldest Old

SUMMARY

Social service agencies are focusing more and more on the “old-old.” Some organizations have secular missions that address multiple domains (i.e., physiological, economic, social, etc.). Other agencies, developed by the religious community, designate spirituality as a domain to be addressed in serving the “old-old.” This paper examines interfaces between secular social service organizations and those persons (whether staff, board or religious leaders) who attempt to provide a wholistic perspective for service provision to the “old-old.”     

Preintervention analysis and improvement of customer greeting in a restaurant

We examined customer greeting by employees at one location of a sandwich restaurant chain. First, a preintervention analysis was conducted to determine the conditions under which greeting a customer within 3 s of his or her entry into the restaurant did and did not occur. Results suggested that an appropriate customer greeting was most likely to occur when a door chime was used to indicate that a customer had entered the store and when the store manager was present behind the service counter. Next, a performance improvement intervention, which consisted of the combination of the use of a door chime and manager presence, was evaluated. Results showed that during baseline, a mean of 6% of customers were greeted; during intervention a mean of 63% of customers were greeted. The addition of manager-delivered verbal and graphic group feedback resulted in 100% of customers being greeted across two consecutive sessions.     

Prévention des risques psychosociaux au sein d’établissements publics d’enseignement agricole : quand le diagnostic organisationnel participe d’une amélioration de la qualité de vie au travail

The aim of this article is to show that a diagnosis of psychosocial risks based on a mixed and participative methodology contributes to improving the quality of life at work. It is based on a “Quality of life at work” approach set up within a public educational institution for agricultural studies. The quantitative part includes the Job Content Questionnaire by Karasek, Siegrist's Effort/Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Negative Acts Questionnaire (revised) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale from Zigmond and Snaith. The qualitative part is based on focus group discussions. Results have brought to light the groups of employees which are most exposed to risks, especially those in the “school life” sector. They also show that lack of recognition, support and communication are problems experienced by all the staff members of the school. In order to enhance employees’ quality of life within the working environment, a multitude of co-constructed “tailor-made” ways and means of improvement have been suggested. The study shows how the selected methodology contributes to the quality of the diagnosis.     

顾客授权行为对员工职业成长的影响：自我决定理论视角

聚焦于顾客授权行为这一概念, 以自我决定理论为基础, 分别引入基于组织的自尊作为中介变量和职业中心性作为调节变量, 探讨了顾客授权行为对一线服务员工职业成长的影响机制和作用边界。通过一项三阶段的时间滞后研究设计, 获取了245份有效样本, 结果显示: (1)顾客授权行为对员工职业成长具有显著的正向影响; (2)基于组织的自尊在顾客授权行为与员工职业成长之间起着部分中介作用; (3)职业中心性对顾客授权行为与基于组织的自尊的作用关系具有正向调节作用: 当员工职业中心性水平较高时, 顾客授权行为对基于组织的自尊的正向影响更强; (4)职业中心性进一步调节顾客授权行为通过基于组织的自尊对职业成长的间接影响: 当员工职业中心性水平较高时, 顾客授权行为通过基于组织的自尊对职业成长的正向效应会增强。     

Is service climate strength beneficial or detrimental for service quality delivery?

This study examines whether climate strength has a direct, moderating, or curvilinear effect in the relationship between service climate and customer service quality perceptions. To this end, we carried out cross-sectional and lagged empirical studies in the Spanish hospitality sector. Our cross-sectional results confirmed that high climate strength in managerial practices fosters a positive impact of managerial practices on customer service quality evaluations. However, other results related to customer orientation of services question the idea that service climate strength is always a precursor of service quality. High climate strength in customer orientation enhanced the negative relationship between customer orientation and functional service quality in a cross-sectional study, and between customer orientation and relational service quality in a lagged study. In addition, an examination of curvilinear effects of climate strength revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between climate strength in customer orientation and relational service quality over time. The article concludes with a discussion of these results.     

Using behavioral economics to optimize safer undergraduate late-night transportation

Many universities sponsor student-oriented transit services that could reduce alcohol-induced risks but only if services adequately anticipate and adapt to student needs. Human choice data offer an optimal foundation for planning and executing late-night transit services. In this simulated choice experiment, respondents opted to either (a) wait an escalating delay for a free university-sponsored “safe” option, (b) pay an escalating fee for an on-demand rideshare service, or (c) pick a free, immediately available “unsafe” option (e.g., ride with an alcohol-impaired driver). Behavioral-economic nonlinear models of averaged-choice data describe preference across arrangements. Best-fit metrics indicate adequate sensitivity to contextual factors (i.e., wait time, preceding late-night activity). At short delays, students preferred the free transit option. As delays extend beyond 30 min, most students preferred competing alternatives. These data depict a policy-relevant delay threshold to better safeguard undergraduate student safety.     

Understanding and Improving the Effectiveness of After-School Practice

The question driving research on after‐school programs is shifting from “do programs make a difference,” to “why are some programs effective while others are not?” This article draws on the work in this volume and related studies to suggest that there is an emerging consensus on the importance of staff‐youth interactions as a determinant of program effectiveness. The commentary recommends that future research should continue to focus on understanding and improving program practices at the point‐of‐service. In doing so, two lines of inquiry seem promising. The first involves linking measures of changes in staff‐youth interactions to changes in developmental outcomes. The second is to examine how policies or other interventions intended to improve program effectiveness affect the practices of line staff.     

A new scale for the assessment of the quality of hospitality services

In the last 20 years the services sector has experienced a highly significant growth, being currently one of the most important economic sectors in our country. Inside the touristic sector, a strong competence has being experienced among the lodging and restoration establishments. In a scenario characterized by competitiveness, the bet for quality represents a difficult competitive advantage to surpass (García-Buedes, 2001). The objective of this study is to carry out an approach to the evaluation of the perceived quality of the restaurants. As a result of bibliographic revision, and also a first approach of a qualitative nature, we started from a scale of 31 items that included 5 dimensions: access, personal, service, product and installations. The results obtained applying the questionnaire to more than 2400 clients of 180 establishments of Santiago de Compostela and region, by means of structured interviews, confirmed that not all these dimensions had the same importance as predictors of customer satisfaction. Specifically, the product emerges as the most important dimension. Likewise, the elimination of the dimension service and a more exhaustive selection of the items, based on psychometric criteria, has permitted to define a brief scale, consisting of only 15 items, which makes it very attractive as a management tool. The final scale proposed to evaluate the perceived quality in the restaurant sector includes four fundamental and non-independent dimensions. These are, ordered by importance: product, personal, installations and access.     

D’un restaurant traditionnel à la mise en œuvre d’un restaurant « libéré » : impacts sur les métiers et le collectif de travail

The restaurant sector questions through the tensions and difficulties it encounters in order to retain employees. In order to cope with this, some managers are mobilizing managerial innovation. This action research exposes the effects on the trades and the work group of a reorganization of a traditional restaurant into a “freedom-form” company. Based on co-construction between researchers, employees and owners, and the use of qualitative methods (interviews, observations), the research presents the levers for more innovation and “happiness at work”. The study shows that the predispositions of the company and the attachment of employees to it were the essential motivating engine for imagining a new work organization.     

Is the Customer Always Right? The Potential for Racial Bias in Customer Evaluations of Employee Performance

With the encouragement of marketing scholars, many companies are tying employee incentives to customer ratings of satisfaction, service quality, or employee performance. One potential drawback to these practices is that customers' evaluations of employees—and, therefore, any associated rewards—may be biased by employee race. This possibility was examined in a restaurant setting. We found that customers rated the promptness and attentiveness of same race servers more favorably than different race servers, but there were no differences for assessments of server friendliness or appearance. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Not just apologizing: The impact of complaint handling on sustained participation behavior in live-streaming shopping

In a live-streaming shopping community, the quality of complaint handling may significantly influence relationship recovery between the consumer and retailer (or streamer) following service failures. Despite the significant progress made in previous works, there are still research gaps in the study of customer complaint handling and customers' post-behavior. Therefore, this study introduced the important variable “swift-guanxi” (SG) to explore the relationship between complaint handling and the sustained participation of customers. Data were collected through both online and offline methods. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the relevant hypotheses. The results from assessing these data indicate that the factors of conversational human voice (CHV), reply length (RL) and perceived justice (PJ) all exert a significant influence on SG, which in turn affects the sustained participation behavior (SPB) of customers. In addition, complaint publicization (CP) has a negative impact on this behavior.     

Incidental environmental anchors

Three studies examined whether potential anchor values that are incidentally present in the environment can affect a person's numerical estimates. In Study 1, estimates of an athlete's performance were influenced by the number on his jersey. In Study 2, estimates of the proportion of sales in the domestic market were influenced by a product's model number. In Study 3, participants' estimates of how much they would spend at a restaurant were influenced by whether the restaurant was named “Studio 17” or “Studio 97.” These effects were not qualified by participants' expertise in the relevant domain (Study 1) or by their ability to subsequently recall the anchor value (Study 3). These findings document the existence of a new form of “basic anchoring” and suggest that not all basic anchoring effects are as fragile as the existing anchoring literature suggests. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Health-related Quality of Life, Marital Satisfaction, and Social Support in Medical Staff in Iran

Quality of life is a subjective and multidimensional concept that includes all aspects of an individual’s life. Many investigations indicate that marital satisfaction is an important determinant of quality of life and social support affects both marital satisfaction and quality of life. Since medical staff face job stressors in their everyday life, in the present cross-sectional study, the relationships between quality of life, marital satisfaction, and social support in medical staff in Tehran were analyzed. Data collection was performed in 653 medical staff using socio-demographic questions, the SF-36 questionnaire, the ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Inventory, and the Social Support Questionnaire. The results revealed that men reported significantly higher quality of life and marital satisfaction than women, but there was no gender difference in social support. The quality of life and marital satisfaction domains were found to be differentially correlated among male and female participants. All domains of marital satisfaction were found to be significantly associated with the “vitality” and “mental health” domains among females and “physical functioning” domain in the male. Also, social support was associated with almost all quality of life domains in both sexes. The multiple regression analyses indicated that all the study variables combined with socio-demographic factors can explain between 12 % and 28 % of the variance in quality of life domains. Therefore, focusing on these factors could be an effective approach to improve quality of life in medical staff as a group with a stressful job.     

Feeling bad and doing good: The effect of customer mistreatment on service employee's daily display of helping behaviors

Mistreatment by customers is a common occurrence for many frontline service employees. Although some evidence suggests that employees engage in dysfunctional workplace behaviors as a result of mistreatment, others studies have suggested that employees may cope with such negative experiences by helping others. Drawing on negative state relief theory, we conducted 2 studies to test these relationships and examine whether service employees cope with negative emotions arising from such daily customer mistreatment by engaging in helping others. In Study 1, daily surveys from 70 restaurant employees showed that daily customer mistreatment predicted the experience of negative moods the next morning, which, in turn, led to higher levels of coworker helping the next day. In Study 2, daily surveys from 54 retail employees showed that daily customer mistreatment led to higher customer helping the next day, but only when customer orientation was high. Our results further show that helping behavior was associated with elevated positive affective experiences and that the proposed relationships differ depending on whether customer mistreatment is measured at a daily or a cumulative perspective. Specifically, cumulative customer mistreatment over time decreased general helping. These findings are discussed in relation to employees' coping strategies towards acute and cumulative mistreatment.