Embarrassed customers: the dark side of receiving help from others

• Published in: International journal of service industry management Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 788 - 806
• Main Authors: Kim, Seo Young, Yi, Youjae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley Emerald Publishing Limited 21.08.2017; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Altruism; Behavior; Brand loyalty; Consumer behavior; Customer satisfaction; Customer services; Employees; Hypotheses; Hypothesis testing; Influence; Management; Motivation; Self esteem; Service industries; Studies; Customer engagement behaviours (CEB); Altruistic motivation; Customer-to-customer interactions (CCI); Inter-customer helping; Customer satisfaction; Embarrassment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that customer engagement behavior may not always be a positive experience for customers. Specifically, the paper examines the effect of sources of help (employee vs customer) on customer satisfaction, and the underlying mechanism behind such an eff...