Racial Discrimination Against Service Employees: The Influence of Managers and Employees’ Responses

Abstract

This study investigates how managers’ and targeted Asian employees’ responses to customer-perpetrated racial discrimination affect the observing customers’ perceptions and behavioral intention. Using two experimental designs, Study 1 examines the effect of managers’ responses (i.e., avoidance, employee support, and customer support), and Study 2 tests targeted employees’ responses (avoidance, confrontation, and venting) to racial discrimination on observing customer’s revisit intention. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of the severity of racial discrimination. Across two studies, this research provides evidence that observing customers tend to rate managers as fair when they support the targeted employees. Also, observing customers rate the targeted employees as competent when they professionally confront the customers which led to a higher level of revisit intention. This study expands the hospitality literature by focusing on racial discrimination against Asian American and offers practical guidance on how managers and employees should respond to racial discrimination.