Study: Retail Workers Struggling With Deviant Customers

Labor shortages and fiscal pressure have forced new responsibilities on retail workers, many of whom become indifferent or leave because they lack the training or desire to police problem customers, according to researchers at Florida Atlantic University and three other schools.

Their study, published in the Journal of Service Research , also reveals that shoplifting is the most prevalent customer deviant behavior (CDB) and the one that impacts workers the most. Additionally, they found more than a quarter of respondents don't even know their employers' policies for guarding the store.

“Front-line employees [FLE] are being asked to do too much, policing the misbehavior and confronting shoplifters, often without extra money or training,” said Melanie Lorenz, Ph.D., an associate professor of marketing in FAU’s College of Business. “As a result, they're leaving or throwing up their hands and using the old phrase, 'Not my circus, not my monkeys,' and that really has a negative impact on companies and the retailing industry as a whole.”

The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic served to exacerbate CDB, which takes a devastating financial toll on American retailers and its FLE, racking up losses of 2 to 3 percent of sales and more than $60 billion annually, even before considering the indirect cost of turnover. This further stresses brick-and-mortar U.S. retail, which was already undergoing massive changes brought about by a customer shift to Amazon.com and other online merchants.

Lorenz, Patrick B. Fennell, Ph.D., of Salisbury University; Kristina K. Lindsey Hall, Ph.D., of Louisiana State University; and James “Mick” Andzulis, Ph.D., of Ohio University, conducted a series of in-depth interviews, three experiments and a survey to get a clearer understanding of the effects of CDB and associated guardianship policies on workers.

Aside from shoplifting, the study identified incivility, aggression, fraud and inadvertence as the other major types of CDB that service employees most often encounter and are asked to endure or counteract.

Results show that guardianship, or mandatory policing, often produces strong negative emotions in employees, leading to perceptions of unfairness and increased turnover. Differences in those perceptions and behaviors also were discovered between employees and managers. Employees expect managers to take on a more active role and greater responsibility when it comes to guardianship enforcement. The study also revealed that employees predisposed to anxiety have the most aversion to policing policies that require active enforcement.

This means that retailers should better identify candidates with confrontation anxiety and provide training to help all employees reduce and manage anxiety caused by guardianship.

Now more than ever, FLE and their managers, who lead that proverbial “circus” as ringmaster, should receive training that includes how to cope with, de-escalate and handle deviant behavior to increase employee self-efficacy and decrease burnout, the researchers noted. The authors also believe establishing and communicating guardianship policies from the date of hire likely is the best way to deal with CDB and enhance retention.

“If employees are expected to combat CDB, it is incumbent upon firms and [front-line managers] to train and lead FLE by setting expectations early,” according to the study.

-FAU-