Research on customer mistreatment has predominantly adopted an episodic approach, characterizing each service interaction as isolated and independent from others. This study expands this perspective by investigating the consequences of customer mistreatment faced by service employees, particularly how it affects their behavior toward the next focal customer. Central to our exploration is the concept of ego depletion as a key mechanism that potentially triggers displaced aggression towards subsequent customers following an instance of mistreatment. In Study 1, we conducted a laboratory experiment in the context of a restaurant to understand the underlying causal mechanism (N=84) in which we examined video recordings to capture displaced aggression. In Study 2, we used the Critical Incident Technique to replicate the results using a sample of five-star hotel employees (N = 314). Additionally, we explored various boundary conditions such as commitment to display norms, perspective-taking, and self-monitoring. We found that customer mistreatment faced by an employee leads to displaced aggression towards the next focal customer through ego depletion. Additionally, perspective-taking was found to moderate the first stage of this mediated relationship, and commitment to display norms resulted in a significant second-stage moderator, diminishing the effects of ego depletion on displaced aggression. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics between customers and service employees following mistreatment episodes.
