Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: An empirical study

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the associations between individual factors (personality and demographic variables) and contextual factors (servicescape and situation-specific variables), and the motives that drive episodes of dysfunctional customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach: Self-report data were collected from a survey of bar, hotel, and restaurant customers (n=380). Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were utilized to analyze the data. Findings: Analysis of the data revealed three clusters of motives labelled: financial egotists, money grabbers, and ego revengers. Statistically significant differences were revealed across the personality, servicescape, and situation specific variables for each motive. However, no differences were found concerning demographic variables. Research limitations/implications: This research emphasizes the primacy of three customer behavior motivations. Future research might investigate the motives for dysfunctional customer behavior across different organizational contexts and the dynamics between such motivations. Practical implications: The findings of the study indicate that service managers can proactively control and manipulate servicescape and situation-specific variables that relate to customer misbehavior motives. Originality/value: No existing scholarly research has developed a data-grounded understanding of the motivations of dysfunctional customer behaviors. Moreover, to date, no study has explored the associations between customer's motives to misbehave and personality, situation specific, servicescape, and demographic variables.