All the same to me: outcomes of aesthetic labor performed by frontline service providers

Pounders, Kathrynn; Babin, Barry J.; Close, Angeline G.

doi:10.1007/s11747-014-0407-4

Cited by 53 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As always, the careful control inherent in scenario‐based studies comes with the tradeoff of some external validity (e.g., Bitner, 1990; Sirianni et al, 2013). On the other hand, simulated shopping scenarios are common in consumer research (e.g., Pounders et al, 2015) and our use of relatable scenarios provided our participants with a degree of realism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another potential limitation of this research is that it is difficult to disentangle the presence or absence of uniforms from related constructs, such as the appropriateness or professionalism of attire, the perceived similarity of employees, and the perceived fit of employees (Pounders et al, 2015). Previous research has shown that blatantly inappropriate attire on service employees can lower perceptions of the employee and company (Shao et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, they were told to imagine their study group being removed from a study room at their business school because they did not have it officially reserved, despite the fact that the room would otherwise be empty. Researchers commonly use simulated experiences of this type to study the effects of contextual cues on consumer behavior (Chebat, Sirgy, & St‐James, 2006; Pounders et al, 2015). Following the scenario, they were shown pictures of three staff members, with the staff member who asked them to leave circled.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is difficult to say with certainty that these managers are wrong because uniforms likely do have some positive effects. For example, uniforms make employees easier to locate and identify (Nelson & Bowen, 2000; Tu, Yeh, Chuang, Chan, & Hu, 2011), make some employees seem higher in fit (Pounders et al, 2015), and some uniforms convey legitimacy (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). Uniforms also change the wearer's behavior (Adam & Galinsky, 2012; Frank & Gilovich, 1988).…”

Section: Study 3: the Competition Is Better: Contrast Across Companiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past literature commonly assumes that uniforms have a positive effect on employee–consumer relations and supports it with anecdotal evidence (Barr, 2007; Joseph & Alex, 1972; Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993; Solomon, 1985). However, experimental tests of the assumed causal influence of uniforms on customers’ service perceptions are lacking (Pounders, Babin, & Close, 2015; Shao, Baker, & Wagner, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Uniformity: The effects of organizational attire on judgments and attributions

Smith

Chandler

Schwarz

2020

J Applied Social Pyschol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite their prevalence in the marketplace, little empirical attention has been paid to how employee uniforms affect consumer reactions to service experiences. We propose that employee uniforms facilitate the shared categorization of employees and their organization in the mind of the customer, which affects many of the inferences that customers draw following service encounters. Study 1 shows that uniforms lead to greater attribution of responsibility to the company for employee behavior, especially following poor service. Studies 2 and 3 show that uniforms also lead to more assimilation of judgments across employees, increasing the impact of one employee's behavior on judgments of other employees of the same organization. Study 3 shows that employee uniforms lead to more extreme judgments of the company following service encounters. It also shows that bad (good) service from a uniformed employee makes competing companies look better (worse), indicating that uniforms can elicit contrast effects across companies. In sum, the mere presence of a uniform on an unsatisfactory service or retail employee can damage judgments of the organization and its employees and improve judgments of rival organizations compared to identical service from a nonuniformed employee. Managers seem unaware of these negative consequences. These same principles are likely to apply to a wide variety of uniformed services, including police, military, firefighters, and health-care providers.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study 3: the Competition Is Better: Contrast Across Companiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Uniformity: The effects of organizational attire on judgments and attributions

Smith

Chandler

Schwarz

2020

J Applied Social Pyschol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Toward holistic frontline employee management: An investigation of the interplay of positive emotion displays and dress color

Bruder

Lechner

Paul

2021

Psychology and Marketing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Frontline employees' visual appearance is important in many service industries.Positive emotion displays are especially crucial, as are esthetic displays such as dress color. However, emotion and esthetic displays have commonly been examined independently of each other in marketing research. We contribute to research and practice by drawing attention to customers' holistic perception of frontline employees, indicating that emotion displays and esthetic displays, such as dress color, are jointly processed. Across four experiments, we demonstrate that the effects of positive emotion displays on customer tipping and employee warmth can be amplified by using warm (vs. cold) dress colors. Drawing on emotions as social information theory, we show that this interaction is explained by a cognitive inferential (i.e., the perception of fit) and not by an affective pathway through positive affect.Our findings guide managers on how to choose dress colors to increase the beneficial effects of positive emotion displays.

show abstract

Social comparison theory: A review and future directions

Caliskan,

Idug,

Uvet

et al. 2024

Psychology and Marketing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social comparison theory provides valuable insights into how individuals assess themselves by comparing various facets of their lives to others. This theory offers a framework that helps in understanding the motivations behind self‐evaluation and improvement, as well as shaping consumer behaviors. The extensive body of research related to the theory has resulted in numerous publications across various domains, hindering a comprehensive overview of the research field and constraining its progress. Our multi‐disciplinary study addresses the fragmented scholarly landscape through a hierarchical bibliometric analysis, unveiling key authors, themes, and connections, and emphasizing its current state and future potential, particularly in the marketing domain. Our research indicates that interest in social comparison theory has surged, driven by social media's impact on body image and self‐esteem. Our findings also highlight the significance of themes such as body image, envy, social media, motivation, and life satisfaction, revealing the multifaceted expansion of the theory across various fields.

show abstract

All the same to me: outcomes of aesthetic labor performed by frontline service providers

Cited by 53 publications

References 71 publications

Uniformity: The effects of organizational attire on judgments and attributions

Uniformity: The effects of organizational attire on judgments and attributions

Toward holistic frontline employee management: An investigation of the interplay of positive emotion displays and dress color

Social comparison theory: A review and future directions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About