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The purpose of this paper is to investigate store-level servant leadership and the procedural justice climate (PJC) as key antecedents for employee-perceived psychological contract breach (PCB) and explores the mediating roles of PCB in the relationships among servant leadership, the PJC and deviant employee behavior.

Survey data were collected from 301 employees at 94 stores of a restaurant chain in Taiwan. The model and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical linear modeling.

The results support the moderated mediation model, showing that the indirect effects of servant leadership and PJC on deviant employee behavior through PCB were stronger for employees with an external locus of causality attribution than for those with an internal locus.

The study relied on cross-sectional survey design, therefore the authors cannot infer causality.

The results will help organizations and managers understand that supervisor servant leadership has suppressive effects on deviant employee behavior through the intermediary mechanism of negative psychological perception (i.e. the perception of a PCB).

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the influences of store-level servant leadership and the PJC on employee deviance and to examine the mediating role played by PCB. The findings suggest a significantly negative relationship.

This study aims to highlight the importance of using attribution theory in metaverse tourism research. The study addresses the lack of clarity regarding the attribution theory’s dimensions (locus, stability, controllability) potential application in the metaverse tourism context.

This study uses a comprehensive exploration of the research gap by searching top-tier journals in Scopus and Web of Science databases about the relevant literature to analyze relevant data to provide a foundation for future transformative research. The study examines the relationship between attribution theory and metaverse tourism and explores how attribution theory can inform the understanding of tourists’ judgments and actions in the metaverse context.

The study shows that attribution theory has the potential to significantly improve the understanding of metaverse tourism by illuminating tourists’ decision-making processes and the factors contributing to those decisions. The study highlights the importance of applying attribution theory to generate more impactful and reliable implications for the tourism industry.

This study is transformative because it provides a foundational understanding of the application of attribution theory in metaverse tourism research. The study is significant because it sheds light on an underexplored area where the theoretical framework is necessary to inform and guide tourism technology research. The study’s originality lies in its contribution to tourism by identifying room for improvement in metaverse tourism research and highlighting the potential benefits of using attribution theory.

本研究通过在Scopus和Web of Science数据库中搜索相关文献的顶级期刊, 对研究空白进行了全面探索, 以分析相关数据, 为未来的变革性研究提供基础。本研究考察了归因理论与元宇宙旅游之间的关系, 并探讨了归因理论如何在元宇宙背景下为理解游客的判断和行为提供信息。

本研究强调了归因理论在元宇宙旅游研究中的重要性。该研究解决了归因理论在元宇宙旅游背景下的潜在应用维度（轨迹、稳定性、可控性）缺乏明确性的问题。

研究表明, 归因理论有可能通过阐明游客的决策过程和促成这些决策的因素, 显著提高对元宇宙旅游的理解。该研究强调了应用归因理论对旅游业产生更具影响力和可靠性的影响的重要性。

本研究具有变革性, 因为它为归因理论在元宇宙旅游研究中的应用提供了基础性的理解。这项研究意义重大, 因为它揭示了一个研究不足的领域。在此领域, 理论框架是为旅游技术研究提供信息和指导所必需的。本研究的独创性在于它对旅游业的贡献, 它确定了元宇宙旅游研究的改进空间, 并强调了利用归因理论的潜在好处。

Este estudio se basa en una exploración exhaustiva de la brecha de investigación mediante la búsqueda de revistas de primer nivel en las bases de datos Scopus y Web of Science sobre la literatura relevante para analizar los datos relevantes con el fin de proporcionar una base para futuras investigaciones transformadoras. El estudio examina la relación entre la teoría de la atribución y el metaverso turístico y explora cómo la teoría de la atribución puede facilitar la comprensión de las evaluaciones y acciones de los turistas en el contexto metaverso.

Este estudio pone de relieve la importancia de utilizar la teoría de la atribución en la investigación turística en metaverso. El estudio aborda la falta de claridad sobre las dimensiones de la teoría de la atribución (lugar de causalidad, estabilidad y, controlabilidad) y su posible aplicación en el contexto del turismo en metaverso.

El estudio muestra que la teoría de la atribución tiene el potencial de mejorar de forma significativa la comprensión del metaverso turístico al esclarecer los procesos de toma de decisiones de los turistas y los factores que contribuyen a dichas decisiones. El estudio destaca la importancia de aplicar la teoría de la atribución para generar implicaciones más impactantes y fiables para la industria turística.

Este estudio es transformador porque proporciona una comprensión fundacional de la aplicación de la teoría de la atribución en la investigación del metaverso turístico. El estudio es significativo porque arroja luz sobre un ámbito poco explorado cuyo marco teórico es necesario para informar y orientar la investigación sobre tecnología turística. La originalidad del estudio radica en su contribución al turismo al identificar las posibilidades de mejora en la investigación del metaverso turístico y destacar los beneficios potenciales de la utilización de la teoría de la atribución.

This study aims to investigate, when a service failure occurs, whether circumstantial cues could be used to encourage more positive responses by customers toward restaurants through the mediation of causal attribution.

A 2 (cause of service failure: easily observable vs difficult-to-observe) × 2 (kitchen design: open vs closed) between-subject experiment is used to analyze customers’ causal attributions of service failures and resultant responses.

When a service failure whose cause is easy to identify occurs, customers at open-kitchen restaurants show more negative responses than those at closed-kitchen restaurants because they are likely to attribute the responsibility to the restaurant. Attribution is confirmed to mediate the relationship between the interaction of service failure by kitchen design and customers’ responses.

Diverse circumstantial cues should be actively used to encourage more positive responses by customers. The mediating role of causal attribution should be considered in managing customers’ responses toward service failures.

This study finds that circumstantial cues could be useful in dealing with service failures in restaurants by confirming the mediating role of causal attribution.

Marketing managers have strategic choices when forming brand alliances. One such choice is integration, defined as the extent to which the offering is a fusion in the form and function of the partner brands. The paper aims to investigate how integration affects consumer attribution of responsibility to brand alliance partners.

This paper builds on the previous study on brand alliances and attribution theory. Multiple experiments are used to test three hypotheses.

This research shows that consumers are sensitive to the level of alliance integration, which, in turn, affects attributions of responsibility for the joint offering. Consistent with attribution theory, results show that responsibility for each brand varies systematically by integration and lead brand status vis-à-vis the alliance: while consumers perceive both brands as equally responsible for higher integration brand alliances, responsibility attributions diverge in lower integration alliances based on whether the brand is the alliance host. This pattern also holds for product-harm events.

It is important to explore brand alliance characteristics and to date, the level of integration between the partners has not been considered from a consumer standpoint. Consumers are sensitive to the level of partner brand integration and this perception influences perceptions of responsibility.

Managers should be aware that the level of brand alliance integration and lead brand status lead to different attributions of responsibility, which is strategically important, as brands seek to take credit in positive contexts and avoid blame for negative events.

This paper explores brand alliances via the level of integration and leads brand status, which are key determinants of consumer attributions of responsibility.

Despite the rich history of examining the connections between symbolic consumption and identity formation, nearly all the research has focused on brands and possessions; the role of activities has been critically overlooked. This study aims to expand marketing’s understanding of identity formation by examining it in conjunction with attribution theory, exploring the relationship between activity engagement and separation distress.

A pilot study (n = 90) using a thematic content analysis reveals six themes (i.e. separation distress, negative emotions, indifference, adapting, positive decision and acceptance), providing support for the conceptual model. The main study (n = 347) tests the conceptual model via five hypotheses.

Self-worth match with an activity predicts the perceived separation distress of stopping the activity. Furthermore, self-activity connection mediates this relationship, but only if consumers believe they are in control of or the cause for stopping the activity.

This research provides critical baseline understanding of activity consumption. Yet, future research on the topic of activities is needed to advance activity engagement as a unique category of consumer behavior.

To craft effective messaging and strategies, marketers should consider the meaning and value embedded in consumer activities (not just possessions and brands).

This research reveals that consumers use activities to construct their identity and manage their self-worth. It also demonstrates that stopping an activity may lead to separation distress.

When a firm implements certain HR practices, different employees attribute different motives and intentions to the firm with regard to those HR practices. Research on HR attributions has made progress toward understanding the relationship between HR practices and employee outcomes from a process perspective. However, this research is still fragmented and lacks a systematic typology of the different types of HR attributions and a compelling organizing research framework. Furthermore, a number of research gaps and opportunities have emerged regarding the nomological net of employee HR attributions. To address the gaps and capitalize on the opportunities, the authors propose an overarching theory-driven multi-level framework that guides the choice of the antecedents and outcomes of employee HR attributions and explains their relationships along with both mediating and moderating mechanisms. Drawing on signaling theory embedded in the proposed framework, the authors identify and categorize various antecedents of employee HR attributions to explain their relationships. The authors also use several additional theories such as social exchange and the job demands–resources model included in their review to identify and categorize various outcomes of employee HR attributions across levels of analysis (i.e., individual, collective [team/group/unit], organization) and explain their relationships. In addition, the proposed framework explains how individual-level employee HR attributions emerge at the collective level and influence collective processes and outcomes. The authors end their review by pinpointing future research needs and discussing related future research directions.

This study explores the impact of two factors that are prominent in the service literature: customer participation and service expectation. Owing to the interactive nature of services, customers often participate in the co‐production of the service. In addition, customers normally enter into the service with certain expectations regarding the level of service they are likely to receive. The survey argues that the participative roles adopted by customers in service specification and delivery and their pre‐encounter service expectations influence how customers attribute the causes of service failure. Finally, the implications from the findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided. The effect of emotional response caused by a service failure on locus attributions remains to be further investigated.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on failures in online flash sales (OFS) and to explore why consumers participate in an OFS even after experiencing service failure. It also examines the role of deal proneness, attribution, and emotions.

Using a mixed method approach to gain insights into this relatively unexplored phenomenon of OFS, this research uses netnography followed by a survey study.

The findings show that deal-prone customers tend to ignore service failures during OFS and re-participate in the future. In the context of OFS, failures attributed to internal locus of attribution (LOA) also have a negative effect on re-participation compared with failures attributed to external LOA. Furthermore, there is a three-way interaction among deal proneness, LOA, and past emotions. The results show that negative past emotions further exacerbate the impact of attribution on the link between deal proneness and re-participation.

In contrast with prior research, the paper shows that consumers participate even after service failure. The proposed difference is between customers who experience different LOA and past emotions offers insights into their behavior after service failure in a new context of an online/electronic commerce event – flash sales. This paper specifically explores the role of internal LOA and finds that it has a more negative impact than external LOA on re-participation.

Preferential treatment of selected customers is one of the strategies employed by companies seeking to implement relationship marketing. However, it remains unclear whether or not this policy negatively affects relationships with customers not receiving the above‐mentioned preferential treatment, as existing literature focuses, for the most part, on the beneficiaries. The purpose of this paper is to study whether or not the perception of lack of preferential treatment has a positive impact on dissatisfaction following a service failure, after accounting for the effects of attribution.

The sample used in this paper consists of 344 subjects who, over the last six months, have experienced service failures. The data are collected via personal interviews using a structured survey. Structural equation modelling is employed in order to test the relationship between lack of preferential treatment and dissatisfaction.

The results of this investigation indicate that lack of preferential treatment has an additional explanatory power with regard to customer dissatisfaction, after considering the effects of attributions, and that negative emotions have a mediation effect on the relationship between these cognitive antecedents and the aforementioned dissatisfaction.

This paper examines only one service context; as a consequence, caution is needed when generalizing the results.

Given the findings of this paper, managers are advised to consider the “merits” of preferential treatment to help strengthen customer relationships.

This paper provides an initial step towards understanding the impact of systematic and deliberate use of preferential treatment as a relationship marketing strategy from a non‐beneficiaries perspective.

Service robots are taking over the organizational frontline. Despite a recent surge in studies on this topic, extant works are predominantly conceptual in nature. The purpose of this paper is to provide valuable empirical insights by building on the attribution theory.

Two vignette-based experimental studies were employed. Data were collected from US respondents who were randomly assigned to scenarios focusing on a hotel’s reception service and restaurant’s waiter service.

Results indicate that respondents make stronger attributions of responsibility for the service performance toward humans than toward robots, especially when a service failure occurs. Customers thus attribute responsibility to the firm rather than the frontline robot. Interestingly, the perceived stability of the performance is greater when the service is conducted by a robot than by an employee. This implies that customers expect employees to shape up after a poor service encounter but expect little improvement in robots’ performance over time.

Robots are perceived to be more representative of a firm than employees. To avoid harmful customer attributions, service providers should clearly communicate to customers that frontline robots pack sophisticated analytical, rather than simple mechanical, artificial intelligence technology that explicitly learns from service failures.

Customer responses to frontline robots have remained largely unexplored. This paper is the first to explore the attributions that customers make when they experience robots in the frontline.