Can Customer Misbehavior Be Controlled? Case study on Retail Industry Consumer Behavior in Indonesia

Abstract

Retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Indonesia, with Hypermart as one of the biggest retail companies. As it provides consumer goods for large percentage of Indonesians, Hypermart faces intense and frequent interaction with its customer. As such, various misbehaviors from the customers’ part will negatively and significantly affect the company. In this paper, misbehavior is defined as a behavior within the exchange setting that deliberately violates the generally accepted norms of conduct in such situation (Daunt and Harris, 2011). The aim of this study is to understand the connection between past and future probabilities of customers’ misbehavior. In previous studies on customer misbehavior, this connection has not been adequately researched. Additionally, five personality-based variables (consumer alienation, Machiavellianism, sensation seeking, aggressiveness, and self-esteem) are also examined to see their connection with past customer misbehavior, which in turn will affect future misbehavior. 200 respondents were evaluated, and the data were analyzed using multiple regressions with SPSS 16. The result of this study can be utilized by companies facing customer misbehavior problems and in shaping a strategy to reduce such problems