Why do customers mistreat service employees? The roles of environmental noise, customer depletion, and restorative servicescapes

Purpose Customer mistreatment refers to customers' low-quality interpersonal treatment and unreasonable demands directed toward service employees. This study examines how environmental noise contributes to customer mistreatment of service employees. It further investigates whether restorative servicescapes mitigate this detrimental effect. Design/methodology/approach This research included three studies, each employing a distinct research design to empirically test the proposed model. Data were collected through field observations of 261 customer–employee interactions (Study 1), a field survey of 201 customer–employee encounters (Study 2), and retrospective experiences method from 356 customers (Study 3). Findings Across the three studies, the findings consistently show that: (1) noise from other customers indirectly increases customer mistreatment via customer ego depletion, and (2) restorative servicescapes mitigate this indirect effect. Originality/value Integrating the environmental psychology theories, this study finds that restorative servicescapes moderate the indirect effect of environmental noise on customer mistreatment. Incorporating this contextual moderator into the customer mistreatment literature not only clarifies its theoretical boundary conditions but also offers practical implications for service organizations.