Retail Employee Unfriendliness

What it measures

A multi-item scale measuring a customer's perception that a retail store employee was unfriendly during their visit, based on verbal and non-verbal behaviours including tone, facial expression, eye contact, and use of greetings. A rigorously developed nine-item version and a three-item short form are available. Reverse-scored items assess friendly behaviours.

Response format

7-point Likert-type (1 = Completely disagree, 7 = Completely agree); 3-item short version available

Scale items

• The employee in the shop was friendly toward me. (r)
• The employee in the shop was unfriendly toward me.
• The employee in the shop behaved in a friendly way toward me. (r)
• The employee in the shop had a friendly smile. (r)
• The employee in the shop showed an unfriendly facial expression.
• The employee in the shop talked to me in a friendly way. (r)
• The employee in the shop greeted me friendly. (r)
• The employee in the shop thanked me when it was appropriate. (r)
• The employee in the shop had friendly eye contact with me. (r)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Items marked (r) are reverse-scored (friendly behaviours). The short form comprises the first three items. Scale developed using depth interviews, expert rating, item refinement, and pretesting. AVE ranged from .86 to .87, supporting convergent validity. Discriminant validity also demonstrated against related employee-attitude measures.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Albrecht, A.K., Walsh, G., Brach, S., Gremler, D.D., & van Herpen, E. (2017). The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: A social norms perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(6), 827–847.

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