The Consequences of Dysfunctional Customer Behavior

Christopher Lovelock (1994) coined the term jaycustomers to refer to dysfunctional customers who deliberately or unintentionally disrupt service in a manner that negatively affects the organization or other customers. However, to date, no study has explicitly focused on the consequences of such dysfunctional customer behavior. The aim of this article is to advance understanding of the effects of dysfunctional customer actions through concentrating on exploring and describing the consequences of such behavior for those involved in service encounters. In this regard, this study is designed both to respond to recent calls for further research into these issues and to fill this gap in extant knowledge. A review of the literature regarding dysfunctional customer behavior finds limited attention devoted to the effects of such behavior. To explore the nature and dynamics of dysfunctional customer behavior, field research was conducted and extant theory evaluated leading to the development of a propositional inventory and a framework of the effects of such behavior. Briefly, dysfunctional customer behavior was found to have consequences for customer-contact employees, customers, and organizations.