Limiting Negative Effects of Interruptions in Commercial Interaction by Salespeople Explanations: An Abstract

Imagine a common retail situation: An employee is meeting with a customer and the phone rings. The employee answers it. Does the customer consider this minor interruption to be a service failure? If so, how should the employee address the issue? Drawing from the literature on retail atmosphere and service failures, this research investigates how (1) service interruptions impact customer perceptions of service and (2) employees can mitigate the negative impact of service interruptions through verbal justifications.