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The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of self‐serving attributions by service providers in reaction to customers' perceived negative and positive behaviors.

Questionnaires are completed by 398 service providers.

The hypotheses, supported by the results, are that service providers would make more external attributions of negative customer behaviors and more internal attributions of positive behaviors. However, the external attributions of negative behaviors are expected to be positively related to burnout because it conflicts with the organizational message regarding the customer's rights. Attributions are found to mediate the relationship between frequency of customers' behaviors and burnout. Empowerment is positively related to internal attributions of both positive and negative behaviors.

The study is conducted with a convenience sample and does not represent a broad spectrum of the service sector. Customers positive and negative behaviors are explored through respondents' self‐reports. Furthermore, the service encounters, namely a one‐time service interaction or a long‐term service relationship are not differentiated.

Self‐serving attributions made by employees do not always accord to managerial policy. In order to minimize the conflict between the organizational notion of the customer's rights and service provider's self‐serving attributions, management must make a clear distinction between customer negative behaviors and service failure. While service providers should assume responsibility for correcting failures, they should not be blamed for customer negative behaviors. Furthermore, management should encourage the internal attribution of positive customer behaviors.

While in most contexts the attribution of negative events externally is found to have a positive effect, the effect of such attribution in the service context is not obvious. The notion of the customer being always right suggests that in the case of a conflict, the service provider is wrong by default. Making external attributions of negative customer behaviors conflicts with organizational standards as well as creates a gap between the service provider's external behavior and his/her internal state. The research question addresses the mediating role of such attributions in the relationship of the frequency of customers' behaviors and service providers' burnout. In additon, to address this issue more fully, the scope of customer behavior beyond the adverse behaviors examined in previous studies is broaden.

Building on a recent study of Weiner's (1985a) attribution–emotion–behavior model, we examine the extent to which negative affective states mediate the relationship between attributions for undesirable outcomes and the ability to justify ethically questionable behaviors. Results of a scenario-based study indicated that causal attributions were associated with affective states and behavioral justification in the general manner predicted. Affective states were not associated with behavior justification, however, indicating that only a direct association between attributions and justification existed. Implications for future research on attributions and emotions are discussed.

This two‐part research project examines self‐serving attributions by employees in reaction to supervisor's negative interpersonal behaviors in the workplace. The first study (N = 289) examined internal and external attributions in reaction to negative supervisor's behaviors compared to positive behaviors, and the moderating effect of organizational empowerment. The respondents attributed positive behaviors internally and negative behaviors externally. However, empowerment did not affect the attributions. The second study (N = 252,) examined the relationship of attributions of blame to the victim in relation to being the victim of negative behaviors as compared to being the perpetrator. Again, negative supervisor's behaviors were related to attribution of blame to factors external to the victim. However, the employee's own negative behaviors were positively related to attribution of blame to the victim.

This paper aims to develop a link between word-of-mouth and attribution of credit or blame following a purchase. Attribution is important because it can affect repurchase behavior, loyalty and word-of-mouth; therefore, understanding who receives credit or blame for a purchase outcome following a product recommendation is critical.

Through three studies, how recommendation context affects attribution of credit or blame to consumers, reviewers and retailers is experimentally examined. These studies test the thesis that context factors that are independent of the product recommendation can affect how consumers assign responsibility for the product’s performance.

Results demonstrate that while consumers trust online reviews, the addition of reviewer incentives diminish that trust, especially when a consumer identifies with the retailer. Findings show support for retailers using online reviews and provide evidence for using caution when incentivizing reviewers.

This study makes a theoretical connection between word-of-mouth (reviews) and attribution. As this connection is not seen often in the literature, future research should look at the role the recommender plays in the purchasing process. This study forced participants to attribute a purchase success/failure to certain parties to find a baseline with which to begin. Future studies should look at this process as more spontaneous. It may not always occur or possibly only occur for certain types of purchases or experiences.

Retailers should be continuing to use online reviews as they provide protection from blame and an increase in credit for successful outcomes. This study also provides evidence that incorporating social media into online reviews as many sites have been doing may actually backfire. While it might be more helpful to the consumer, it can increase blame to the retailer. Reviewers are receiving incentives more frequently, and this study finds that loyal consumers should not be shown incentivized reviews as it heightens blame after a negative outcome.

While attribution has been found to be an important part of the purchasing process, it has not been looked at in relationship to word-of-mouth/electronic word-of-mouth (offline/online reviews). Knowing that who recommends a product to us impacts post-purchase behavior is important, as online reviews are utilized more frequently. Many social media strategies have been implemented without information as to how the retailer themselves will be impacted. This study provides evidence of how to better utilize online reviews.

Though online reviews have been studied widely, less is known about how reviews and product recommendations affect attribution of credit or blame for a post-purchase outcome. The theoretical link between word-of-mouth and product outcome attribution provided here will help guide future research in this area.

Purpose: In this chapter, we develop a conceptual model, the relational anger model (RAM). The model aims to better understand the receivers' attributions and emotion regulation strategies used in the face of intense workplace anger. We also report a test of this model in a workplace setting. Study Design/Methodology/Approach: The data were collected through a survey using a split administration design conducted in various industries. The analysis used PROCESS based on data gathered from 122 employees. Findings: The results indicated that perceptions of greater anger intensity are associated with lower target positive health (e.g., lowered work functionality). When attributions of higher sender anger intensity are viewed as appropriate, targets experience better health outcomes. Targets' attribution of lower sender anger intensity appropriateness is also associated with targets' reporting higher negative health outcomes (e.g., lowered self-esteem). Support for the full moderated mediation model of the effects of the ER strategies is not found. However, separate paths within the model are significant as outlined in the analysis throughout this chapter. Originality/Value: Overall, the RAM increases our understanding of a receivers' internal cognitive and affective processes in the face of workplace anger manifestations in organizations. Research Limitations: There is a possibility of common method variance affecting the study results, but a split administration design was used to minimize this effect. The study may also be affected by memory of the anger incident, which we tried to overcome using the Day Reconstruction Method.

This paper aims to determine whether intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure, after accounting for the effects of the traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), and to examine whether intentionality attributions give rise to humiliation and to what degree this negative emotion enables us to understand the customer’s complaint and switching behavior after a service failure.

A contribution of this investigation is that it studies real complaint and switching behaviors, as the few studies that focus on understanding customers’ complaint and defection behaviors mostly analyze customers’ intentions.

The results of the study indicate that intentionality attributions have an effect on the customer’s switching behavior after a service failure, in addition to the impact of the traditional dimensions of attribution. The findings also show that humiliation is the emotion that mediates the relationship between intentionality attributions and switching behavior, opposite to other emotions that may also be related to attributions. Finally, the results also support that the effect of attribution of intentionality on complaint behavior is indirect; it only exists because attribution of intentionality influences negative emotions like humiliation, which in turn influences complaint behavior.

To understand what makes customers complain after a service failure or switch service providers without giving them first the possibility of recovering the failure may help managers reduce the damage caused by the failure and increase the company’s profits.

This study will try to contribute to the service failure research by analyzing the role of two variables that have not been analyzed before in this context: intentionality attribution and humiliation.

The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual model predicting the influence of biased causal explanations for subordinate behaviors and outcomes on a leader's functionality and the quality of leader‐member relationships.

Attribution theory is used to analyze the effect of leader perceptions and emotions on the functionality of leader‐member relationships. It is predicted that the negative emotions and expectancies stemming from biased leader attributions will promote dysfunctional leader behaviors. These dysfunctional behaviors, in turn, are believed to reduce the quality of leader‐member relationships.

Although much of the proposed model is based on empirical evidence, it is acknowledged that some key relationships have not been tested directly in past research. It is suggested that future research can seek to validate these aspects of the model. It is also suggested that future research explore the role of subordinate, as well as leader, attributions in dysfunctional relationships.

Several implications of the model for promoting functional leadership in organizations are described. The importance of leaders being aware of their attributional biases is indicated and information provided on how to assess one's attribution style. Also discussed are implications for reducing situational ambiguity and increasing causal feedback in the workplace.

This paper builds on past attribution theory research to address a shortage of research on the cognitive, interpersonal aspects of functional and dysfunctional leadership.

This study examines the interplay between media-induced emotional crisis framing (anger vs sadness) and message sidedness of crisis response on publics’ attribution of crisis responsibility as well as subsequent company evaluation and supportive behavioral intention.

A 2 (emotion: anger vs sadness) x 2 (crisis response: one-sided vs two-sided) online experiment was conducted among 161 participants in the USA.

Results showed that anger-inducing media framing of the crisis elicited higher levels of crisis responsibility attribution and more negative company evaluation, compared with sadness-inducing media framing. One-sided message response was more effective than two-sided message response in lowering attribution of crisis responsibility when sadness was induced, but no difference was found under the anger-induced condition. Attribution of crisis responsibility fully mediated the effects of emotional crisis framing on company evaluation and supportive behavioral intention toward the company.

This study is among the first to examine the interaction effect between emotional media framing and response message sidedness in an ambiguous crisis. Drawing on the interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, this study integrates the situational crisis communication theory, appraisal-tendency framework and message sidedness in persuasion literature. As such, it contributes to theoretical development in crisis communication and offers communication managers guidance on how to effectively address emotionally framed crises.

This paper emphasizes that employee attributional processing is a vital element in understanding employee aggression in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to summarize attributional perspectives and integrate recent theoretical advances into a comprehensive model.

The paper achieved its objectives by reviewing and integrating research and theories on aggression, cognitive processing, and attribution processes to explain how employee aggression unfolds in the workplace. Propositions are suggested.

It was found that early conceptualizations proposing that employee attributions and attribution styles would play important and significant roles in predicting employee aggression were supported by recent research enabling theoretical advancements.

Over the last 15 years, research advances show how attributions influence employee aggression. This paper integrates recent theoretical advances with prior empirical evidence and provides a comprehensive model exhibiting how attributions influence aggression in the workplace.

Customers often think that innovations, such as self-service technologies (SSTs), are introduced by service providers to cut costs rather than extend customer service levels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customers use such attributions to adjust their perceptions of relational value.

Drawing on attribution and relationship marketing theories, this study proposes a conceptual model that includes benefit and cost attributions, their antecedents, and consequences. Survey data came from customers of a supermarket that recently introduced self-scanning technology.

Attributions mediate the impact of SST performance on relational value. This value is highest for customers with high-benefit and low-cost attributions; customers with low-benefit and low-cost attributions exhibit detrimental effects on the exchange relationship with the firm. Characterized by low self-efficacy, low education, and low spending, these latter customers appear ambivalent and possibly confused about the provider’s motives for introducing SST.

This research has important implications for service managers responsible for communicating technological innovations to customers. A clear reason for the introduction should be provided, to stimulate customers’ attribution and prevent ambivalence among those with low self-efficacy and low education.

Most SST research focusses on adoption, non-adoption, and disadoption. The more subtle responses by customers facing a new SST and the consequences for the customer-provider exchange relationship, as addressed herein, have been left largely unexplored.