An employee lens on the dark and bright sides of customer dissatisfaction

Purpose – Customer dissatisfaction has long been studied in the hospitality marketing literature for its powerful impacts on customer outcomes, but it has rarely been examined from the perspective of hospitality employees. Drawing on the theory of workplace anxiety, this research aims to explore how perceived customer dissatisfaction impacts employees’ emotional state of anxiety and subsequent behavioral responses, and how perceived leader empowerment functions as a motivational contingency that shapes these responses. Design/methodology/approach – Study 1 employed an experimental causal-chain approach using a recall paradigm to support causal relationships between perceived customer dissatisfaction and two behaviors through workplace anxiety. In Study 2, an experience sampling methodology design with U.S. hospitality frontline employees was conducted via CloudResearch. Findings – Perceived customer dissatisfaction increases employees’ workplace anxiety, which in turn, leads to voice behavior. Moreover, employees who perceive higher leader empowerment are less likely to withdraw when experiencing workplace anxiety. Practical implications – Organizations can turn customer dissatisfaction into opportunities for learning and improvement by recognizing workplace anxiety as a motivator for positive behavior and by empowering employees to manage their emotions and respond proactively. Such practices can help build a more resilient, adaptive and productive workforce. Originality/value – This research shifts customer dissatisfaction from a customer-focused to an employee-focused perspective. Customer dissatisfaction can be perceived as a high job demand that triggers employees’ workplace anxiety and results in divergent behavioral responses, namely, voice and withdrawal, contingent on leader empowerment.