The effects of salesperson mood, shopper behavior, and store type on customer service

This paper proposes that salesperson mood, shopper behavior, and store type have significant effects on the level of customer service provided by a store. Results from a laboratory experiment reveal that salespeople enjoy unpleasant shoppers less but serve them more. Salespeople in a good mood are more uniform in their delivery of customer service, while those in a bad mood are more likely to provide poor service to pleasant than to unpleasant customers. The study also reveals that department-store salespeople provide a more uniform level of customer service than discount-store salespeople. Conclusions and management implications are discussed.