How Third Party Observers Respond to Overheard Service Failures: Implications for Frontline Service Employees and the Firm

Frontline service employees and unhappy customers have generally been the main focus of the service failures research. It is established that service failures are difficult to prevent and are costly to a firm. Therefore, effective service recoveries have been proposed such as apology or compensation. The recent research extended the service failures literature by focusing on a broader audience during service failures: third party observers in the servicescape. The current work investigates the degree to which overhearing another customer’s interaction with a service employee following a service failure will impact third party observers’ evaluations of the service employees and the businesses in general. Our general hypothesis is that third party observers will likely to punish the service employee and the establishment after witnessing a failed recovery toward another customer. We test our hypotheses across three studies with experimental designs. In Study 1, 524 undergraduate business students imagined that they were enjoying their meal at a restaurant and they overhear an interaction between the server and another customer at an adjacent table. Participants read one of the nine scenarios that manipulate customer complaint (low, high, high-repeat) and server’s response (positive, neutral, negative) and then participants indicated likelihood to tip the server, percentage of tip they would give the server, and desire for revenge toward the server. The results show that participants were less likely to tip the server and give a lower percentage of tip when the server’s response to the complaining customer was negative. We also found that desire for revenge increases when the server responds negatively, which is the cause for the subsequent outcomes. Study 2 tested responses of third party observers toward the server and the restaurant. In Study 2, in addition to the measures used in Study 1, 423 undergraduate business students indicated their likelihood to return and recommend the restaurant, and their attitude toward the restaurant as a potential underlying mechanism. The results replicated the results of Study 1 in terms of tipping and desire for revenge toward the server. Study 2 also showed that participants were less likely to return and recommend the restaurant when the server’s response was negative. The underlying mechanism for this effect is unfavorable attitude toward the restaurant as a function of server’s negative response to the complaining customer. Study 3 tested management intervention as a solution to the third party punishment toward the establishment. In addition to the manipulations of customer complaint (low, high) and server’s response (negative, neutral), we manipulated management intervention in which a manager apologized from the complaining customer (vs. no management intervention). We recruited 398 participants from Amazon MTurk and they read one of the eight scenarios. The measures were identical to those in Study 2. While replicating nearly all of our findings in previous studies, the results showed that when a manager intervenes and apologizes from the complaining customer, third party observers are no longer likely to punish the restaurant but they still punish the server. Results offer theoretical and practical insights to researchers and service providers. Theoretically, the present results strongly suggest that third party punishment occurs during overheard service failures, and that there is a clear negativity bias operating, with observers weighing negative information more heavily than positive information. Though not directly addressed, it is also likely that responsibility attributions and role expectations play a pivotal role in driving the observed results. It is possible that third party observers attribute the service failure to the server (or at least the firm) and hold default expectations that servers should address the problem and not respond in a negative manner. First practical implication is that service employees should avoid responding negatively to a customer complaint regardless of the severity of the complaint or they will face third party punishment. Second, the punishment will be directed not only toward the service employees but also toward the establishment. Thus, utilizing each punishment during employee training is likely to improve employee motivation to avoid failing to recover a service failure. Third, results indicate that service employees do not get rewarded for responding positive to a customer complaint, as there is no difference between neutral and positive server response. This suggests that service employees do not need to try extra hard to please the customers. Finally, third experiment showed management apology as a way to make up for the server’s negative response and nullify third party punishment toward the establishment (but not toward the server)

Why and when witnessing uncivil behavior leads observers to punish frontline employees and leave the firm

The present studies examined observer responses to failed recoveries following a service failure in a restaurant setting. Study 1 demonstrated that, relative to a neutral response, a negative server response increased desire for revenge and negative firm attitudes, which reduce tipping and return intentions, but revealed no benefits of a positive server response. Study 2 highlighted the full buffering effect of management apology on firm-related outcomes (attitudes, return intentions) which did not extend to employee-related outcomes (desire for revenge, tipping). Study 2 also supported a structural model in which negative server responses generate perceived deontic injustice, which predicts desire for revenge and firm attitudes, which in turn predict tipping and return intentions. By including outcomes more directly reflecting “revenge seeking” (tipping), and testing the most comprehensive structural model to date, the present work contributes to a fuller understanding of how customers respond to observed service failures

Interview with Martha Bigelow

Martha Bigelow is a Professor in Second Language Education at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She has been engaged in community-engaged and school-based research with East African youth for more than ten years on the intersections of literacies, language learning, schooling and (racial, religious, gender) identities. She has published numerous journal articles and two books related to her work with adolescent Somali refugees in the United States: Literacy and Second Language Oracy (2009, Oxford University Press) with Elaine Tarone and Kit Hansen and Mogadishu on the Mississippi: Language, racialized identity and education in a new land (2010, Wiley Blackwell). She is the co-editor with Johanna Ennser-Kananen for the Routledge handbook of educational linguistics (2015) and she is currently working on a book with Doris Warriner entitled Relationships, reciprocity and research with minoritized communities: Methodological meta-reflections on power and equity (Multilingual Matters)

Interview with Andrea Révész

Andrea Révész is a senior lecturer in applied linguistics and TESOL at Institute of Education, University College London. Her research interests lie in the areas of second language acquisition (SLA) and second language instruction. In particular, she has conducted research on the roles of tasks, implicit/explicit learning and teaching, and individual differences in instructed second language development

Teaching and Learning English through Songs: A Literature Review

This literature review presents a report on research studies exploring the benefits of music at the cognitive, linguistic, and pedagogical levels. Ten studies that deal with the effects of music for young learners carried out in various contexts and countries were included in this account. Increasing motivation, gaining vocabulary and grammar understanding, and recalling information are the main recurrent themes mentioned as a result of implementing pedagogical interventions using songs, and, in some cases stories. To conclude some ideas for further research were briefly considered

Perceiving Identity through Accent Lenses: A Case Study of a Chinese English Speaker’s Perceptions of Her Pronunciation and Perceived Social Identity

Despite globalization making English a lingua franca, little is known how accent relates to learners’ identity. In this case study, I focus on a second language (L2) English user’s perspective. Specifically, I examine a Chinese speaker’s of English perceptions of the relationship between identity and pronunciation (accent). Drawing on Norton’s (2000) notion of identity, I applied a 6-point Likert scale questionnaire and conducted an in-depth semistructured interview. My findings indicate that accent and identity are closely linked, but my participant was not willing to sacrifice intelligible speech to identify with the American society. For this participant, speaking comprehensibly was more important than developing a new L2 identity. I delineate possible pedagogical implication and suggestions for future research

Textbook Review- Anders Gedacht: Text and context in the German-speaking world

Anders Gedacht is an intermediate high/advanced level German textbook, appropriate most likely for 3rd or 4th-year students in a 4-year undergraduate German program. This textbook is content-based, written entirely in the target language with an accompanying workbook with supplemental exercises and activities, some of which are tasks. This book seeks to integrate aspects of German, Austrian, and Swiss culture through the use of culturally authentic materials such as stories, works of art, poetry, and film. This textbook offers additional exercises and materials through an online portal. The online component offers the opportunity for a hybrid curriculum as well as flipping the classroom

The Implementation of ISLA in MALL Technology: An Investigation into the Potential Effectiveness of Duolingo

Following the increased implementation of mobile learning across the globe, specifically in the area of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL; Burston, 2015; Duman et al., 2015), the current paper provides an evaluation of the highly popular MALL application Duolingo. Specifically, this evaluation targets how effectively instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) research and theory has been implemented by Duolingo programmers. While current frameworks for the evaluation of MALL technology (e.g., Reinders & Pegrum, 2015) place a significant focus on the learning affordances available, less emphasis has been placed on the implementation of ISLA theory. As such, Chapelle’s (2001) evaluation framework, originally developed for computer-assisted language learning programs, is revisited due to its basis in ISLA theory. Six criteria thus serve as the basis of this evaluation: Language Learning Potential, Meaning Focus, Authenticity, Learner Fit, Positive Impact, and Practicality. While certain benefits of Duolingo as a language learning tool are discussed, overall the evaluation indicates that the benefit of Duolingo is more likely as a learning support app than as the sole tool for autonomous learning

Insidious Onset Multifocal Chest Wall and Spinal Abscess Caused by Previous Candidemia: A Case Report

Abscess formation due to Candida albicans infection is extremely rare. Radiological diagnosis of an atypical abscess at an uncommon site is challenging. In this study, we present a case of insidious onset multifocal chest wall and spinal abscess after candidemia in a young woman in the intensive care unit due to postpartum bleeding