Harris, Lloyd C. and Ogbonna, Emmanuel. (2009) Service sabotage : the dark side of service dynamics. Business Horizons, Vol.52 (No.4). pp. 325-335. ISSN 00076813

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

While many aspects of services research assume that employees are largely compliant to management prescribed service standards, a number of recent studies have highlighted the deliberate sabotage by service workers as a key issue. We contend that service sabotage is important not simply because of the pervasiveness of such behaviors, but also because of the impact that such acts can have on firm growth and profitability. Consequently, we seek to achieve three inter-linked objectives in this article. First, we highlight how service saboteurs harm customers' service experiences and negatively affect the performance of the firm. Second, in order to assist managers in recognizing these behaviors, we identify the most common types of service saboteurs and forms of sabotage. Specifically, we classify and describe four main types of service saboteurs: Thrill Seekers, Apathetics, Customer Revengers, and Money Grabbers. Finally, and most importantly, we provide a series of suggestions regarding how managers might effectively address service sabotage in their firms. These include gathering information and exploiting existing data to establish the extent and nature of sabotage, recruiting the right quality of service staff, training and rewarding employees, enriching and empowering employees, developing a service culture, and initiating better monitoring systems and procedures. (C) 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title:	Business Horizons
Publisher:	Elsevier Inc.
ISSN:	00076813
Date:	July 2009
Volume:	Vol.52
Number:	No.4
Page Range:	pp. 325-335
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.bushor.2009.02.003
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/41479

Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item