This field study examined how customer-employee interactions are affected by the congruency between an employee's gender and the perceived gender image of the consumption context in one of the most gender equal cultures in the world (Scandinavia). Mystery shoppers had a service encounter with an employee across a set of physical commercial settings that were classified according to their gender image. The mystery shoppers noted the gender of the employee, provided employee evaluations, and indicated word-of-mouth (WOM) ratings. Shoppers who had a gender congruent service encounter (e.g., a female employee in a “feminine” consumption context) reported more favorable employee evaluations and WOM ratings than shoppers who had a gender incongruent service encounter (e.g., a female employee in a “masculine” consumption context), with the impact of gender congruency on WOM ratings mediated by employee evaluations, particularly with respect to competence inferences. These findings highlight the ethical dilemma of a positive gender congruency effect, as it can generate superior consumer responses but also risks resulting in gender occupational segregation.

这项实地研究考察了员工的性别与世界上性别最平等的文化之一（斯堪的纳维亚）中消费环境的感知性别形象之间的一致性如何影响客户与员工的互动。神秘顾客在一组根据其性别形象分类的实体商业环境中与一名员工进行了一次服务接触。神秘顾客注意到员工的性别，提供员工评价，并指出口碑 (WOM) 评级。经历过性别一致服务遭遇的购物者（例如，“女性化”消费环境中的女性员工）比经历过性别不一致服务遭遇的购物者（例如“男性化”消费环境中的女性员工）报告的员工评价和口碑评分更高消费环境），性别一致性对员工评价介导的口碑评级的影响，特别是在能力推断方面。这些发现突出了积极的性别一致性效应的道德困境，因为它可以产生更好的消费者反应，但也有导致性别职业隔离的风险。