Purpose

The customer retail experience is frequently interrupted by disturbances such as ringing phones and other people. Employees must be able to respond to retail disturbances effectively to ensure that customers have a satisfactory experience in the retailer. Using Affective Events Theory as a framework, the purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model for understanding how retail disturbances affect customers outcomes and how retail employee response mitigates the negative impact of retail disturbances.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested using a pre-study of retail managers and consumers, a survey study and four experimental studies.

Findings

Retail disturbances reduce interactional justice and customer positive emotions. Customers pay attention to how employees address retail disturbances, even when they are not directly involved.

Research limitations/implications

The research experiments focus on sound-based disturbances. Other stimuli (e.g. olfactory or visual) should be examined in more detail.

Practical implications

Employees can mitigate the negative effects of retail disturbances on customers with a positive response to the disturbance and to customers. Employee responses influence customers currently receiving service and nearby shoppers.

Social implications

The findings demonstrate the deleterious effect of solicitation calls on small retailers and provide recommendations for reducing solicitation calls.

Originality/value

This research shows that retail disturbances reduce customer outcomes, employee response becomes part of the disturbance event, and that it is possible for employees to address a group of nearby customers indirectly through unintentional observation.

中文翻译：

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零售风波：员工应如何应对？

目的

客户的零售体验经常被诸如电话铃响和其他人之类的干扰所打断。员工必须能够有效应对零售干扰，以确保客户在零售商处获得满意的体验。使用情感事件理论作为框架，本文的目的是开发和测试一个模型，以了解零售干扰如何影响客户结果以及零售员工的反应如何减轻零售干扰的负面影响。

设计/方法/方法

该模型通过对零售经理和消费者的预研究、调查研究和四项实验研究进行了测试。

发现

零售干扰减少了互动公正和客户的积极情绪。客户会关注员工如何解决零售问题，即使他们没有直接参与。

研究限制/影响

研究实验侧重于基于声音的干扰。其他刺激（如嗅觉或视觉）应更详细地检查。

实际影响

员工可以通过对干扰和客户的积极响应来减轻零售干扰对客户的负面影响。员工的反应会影响当前接受服务的客户和附近的购物者。

社会影响

调查结果证明了招揽电话对小型零售商的有害影响，并提供了减少招揽电话的建议。

原创性/价值

这项研究表明，零售干扰会降低客户结果，员工的反应成为干扰事件的一部分，并且员工有可能通过无意的观察间接地向附近的一组客户致意。