Putting customer service at risk: Why and when family ostracism relates to customer-oriented behaviors


Rahaman H.M.S. Kwan H.K. Babalola M.T. Chen H.
February 2023Elsevier Ltd

International Journal of Hospitality Management
2023#109

This study examines why and when family ostracism can have an adverse effect on employees’ customer service behaviors. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), we theorize the existence of moderated multi-mediation relationships between family ostracism and employees’ customer service behaviors (i.e., customer-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors and customer-oriented voice behaviors) through harmonious passion for work and customer orientation, with social skills playing a moderating role. We used a time-lagged design to collect data from service employees in China. Our results show that controlling for workplace ostracism at Time 1, the relationship between family ostracism and employees’ customer service behaviors is negative and serially mediated by both harmonious passion for work and customer orientation. Furthermore, employees who are less socially skilled are more prone to the adverse effects of family ostracism. Last, female employees are more vulnerable to the effects of family ostracism on their customer service.

Customer orientation , Customer-focused organizational citizenship behavior , Customer-focused voice , Family ostracism , Harmonious passion for work , Social skills

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Department of Psychology, Jagannath University, Dhaka, 1100, Bangladesh
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Department, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, 201206, China
College of Business and Law, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Graduate School of Business, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, 611130, China

Department of Psychology
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Department
College of Business and Law
Graduate School of Business
School of Business Administration

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026