The Influence of the Racial Mix of Other Customers on Black Consumers' Anger Following a Plausibly Prejudicial Service Failure

Abstract

This paper explores service failures involving black consumers and white service employees and the influence of the racial customer mix present at the time. A scenario-based study is conducted with respondents representing a broad cross section of the U.S. black population. Consistent with place identity theory (Proshansky 1978; Rosenbaum and Montoya 2007), the mediating effect of anger is found to differ based on the customer mix present at the time of the failure such that the absence (versus presence) of other black customers results in increased (versus attenuated) anger and increased (versus reduced) service recovery expectations. A technique for testing moderated mediation developed by Preacher, Rucker, and Hayes (2007) is also introduced.

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