Research in Consumer Misbehaviour: A Simulation Game Approach

Abstract

Misbehaving consumers are pervasive during service encounters (Fullerton & Punj, 1993; Powers, 1993; Robinson & O'Leary-Kelly, 1998). Therefore, consumer misbehaviour has become an interesting area of research owing to its adverse psychological, financial, and social impacts on organisations, their employees and other consumers (Fullerton & Punj, 1993; Harris & Reynolds, 2003). However, attempting to collect data on consumer misbehaviour is hindered by current research techniques that are low in involvement for respondents. Methodological research suggests that the optimal technique to increase the level of respondent involvement with a scenario is an elaborate simulation game (Greenberg & Eskew, 1993). This paper therefore examines how simulation games might be used to accurately elicit realistic cognitive, emotional and behavioural consumer responses.