A meta-analytic model of the influence of customer mistreatment on employees’ work outcomes

Customer mistreatment (CM) significantly affects employees’ work outcomes. Drawing on cognitive–affective personality system theory, we conduct a meta-analysis of 232 independent samples from 202 primary studies (N = 76,957), elucidating three prominent mechanisms (i.e., cognition, affect, and resource depletion) through which CM negatively affects three core work outcomes (i.e., in-role, positive extra-role, and negative extra-role performance). Results show that integrating cognitive, affective, and resource mechanisms is essential for a comprehensive understanding of CM. When the three mechanisms are tested jointly, cognition and resource depletion remain significant across work outcomes, while affect remains significant only for negative extra-role performance. CM primarily impairs in-role and positive extra-role performance through cognition and drives negative extra-role performance through affect. Certain factors (e.g., public vs. private contexts, gender) moderate these relationships. These findings advance the understanding of CM and offer insights informing both customer service practice and future research agendas.