Spirals of distrust vs spirals of trust in retail customer service: consumers as victims or allies

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine “nasty” retail shopping experiences. The paper aims to consider implications of distrust related to theft control measures in retail customer service.Design/methodology/approachStorytelling as a “memory‐work” method draws on phenomenology, hermeneutics, and the narrative. Researchers and participants worked together as co‐researchers to analyze and interpret “lived” experiences contained in their written personal stories. The authors extend this understanding in the context of existing literature.FindingsDistrust pervaded the stories, which focused on shoplifting accusations (real and imagined). As a violation of implicit trust, distrust provoked intense moral emotions, damaged identities, and fuelled retaliation. Findings illustrate a pervasive downward “spiral of distrust” in the retail context.Practical implicationsResults suggest that retailers use store personnel rather than technological surveillance to control theft. Interacting with customers and displaying cooperation builds respect, trust, and relationships and may deter theft. Retailers should add signs of trust and remove signs of distrust from retail environments. They cannot rely on service recovery to appease customers disgruntled by distrust.Social implicationsWhen retailers act as if they care, customers reciprocate, creating upward trust spirals and stronger communities.Originality/valueA dark side to retail loss‐prevention tactics is demonstrated in the paper. Surveillance signals distrust, which repels customers and resists service recovery. Concepts of spirals of distrust and trust to the services marketing literature are introduced. The spirals illustrate how distrust destroys and trust builds relationships and communities. Furthermore, ideas are offered about ways to start upward trust spirals.

What's Race Got to Do with It? Responses to Consumer Discrimination

“…The emotions of customers who experience poor treatment in retail stores have been described as mirroring those of crime victims. Among those feelings are anger, anxiety, confusion, helplessness, and shame (Chebat & Slusarczyk, 2005;Friend, Costley, & Brown, 2009;Gabbidon et al, 2008;). In addition, the experience of CRP can negatively affect an individual's self-worth (Gabbidon et al, 2008).…”

The impact of affective and cognitive antecedents on negative word-of-mouth intentions

“…Wang and Huff (2007) corroborate this finding, particularly among customers in the early stages of trust development. Friend, Costley, and Brown (2010), through qualitative research, found that WOM can be used by customers to spread their feelings of distrust regarding a particular company. It is therefore possible that when someone feels distrust, he/she can spread negative information about the company to influence other customers' behavior.…”

Benefits First: Consumer Trust Repair in Mobile Commerce

“…The multiple studies on trust repair have attracted considerable attention regarding competence or integrity-based trust violations, including public-organization or stakeholder-company relationships [19,20], interpersonal or organizational relationships [21,22], contractors-subcontractors relationships [17], citizen-government relationships [23], and buyer-vendor relationships in traditional or online environment [13,24]. Indeed, trust decline encompasses both a single violation event with a sharp destruction of trust and gradual trust erosion with time [25].…”

“…The specific type and its nature of trust influence its repairing emphasis. In buyerseller relationships, current trust repair studies rarely consider the nature of a calculusbased trust by regarding that the single relational or affective strategy (such as apologies, denials or excuses) is effective [12,13], or that the affective and tangible strategy (such as financial compensation) are equally effective in trust repairing [14,15]. Our work bridges the existing research gap by identifying the nature of trust in m-commerce buyer-seller relationship and answers the following research questions are: Do consumers re-trust in benefits, emotions or both?…”