Beyond “tit-for-tat”: understanding employees’ divergent reactions to customer mistreatment

Purpose This study aims to develop and test a moderated dual-mediator model of employees’ responses to customer mistreatment, positioning withdrawal and helping as two distinct alternatives to retaliation. Drawing on Belief in a Just World theory and the socio-functional perspective on self-conscious emotions, the authors examined how employees’ attributions of customers’ service promotion motives shape shame and guilt, driving psychological withdrawal and customer-directed organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Design/methodology/approach Study 1 used a three-wave, time-lagged survey of 331 hotel employees. Study 2 used a scenario-based experiment with 316 participants. Findings In Study 1, when employees attribute low service promotion motives to customers, customer mistreatment was more likely to evoke shame, which predicted psychological withdrawal. In contrast, when such motives are attributed as high, mistreatment is more likely to elicit guilt, subsequently promoting customer-directed OCBs. Study 2 provided further evidence that employees’ responses to customer mistreatment extend beyond “tit-for-tat” retaliation. Practical implications Beyond hostility and retaliation, customer mistreatment can elicit either shame-driven withdrawal or guilt-induced helping. Attributional reframing and emotional regulation can mitigate withdrawal while fostering customer-directed OCBs. Originality/value This study introduces attributed service promotion motives as a moderator, challenging the assumption that customer mistreatment is invariably perceived as malicious and explaining why employees may sometimes experience shame and guilt rather than hostility. It proposes an attribution-based mechanism through which these self-conscious emotions lead to distinct non-retaliatory responses. Finally, the study develops an integrative model that differentiates flight from helping as an alternative behavioral response and clarifies when and why employees transition following customer mistreatment.