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The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives
The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of customer entitlement from the perspective of fine-dining waitstaff in South Africa. A power imbalance between customers and waitstaff is especially likely in restaurant environments because of the expectations of customer acquiescence and the no...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Organisational Psychology
2020
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| _version_ | 1867613269586345984 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Coutts, Cameron |
| author2 | Bagraim, Jeffrey |
| author_browse | Bagraim, Jeffrey Coutts, Cameron |
| author_facet | Bagraim, Jeffrey Coutts, Cameron |
| author_sort | Coutts, Cameron |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of customer entitlement from the perspective of fine-dining waitstaff in South Africa. A power imbalance between customers and waitstaff is especially likely in restaurant environments because of the expectations of customer acquiescence and the notion that “customers are always right” (Fisk & Neville, 2011). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven waitstaff who were employed full-time in a fine-dining restaurant. Theoretical thematic analysis yielded five themes: (1) excessive demands, (2) mistreatment of waitstaff, (3) openly and excessive criticism of service quality, (4) entitled behaviour that affects other customers, and (5) aggressive behavioral reactions to unmet expectations. This study contributes to the limited research on customer entitlement in restaurant environments and provides a foundation for further research in this area. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31359 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:26.520Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Organisational Psychology |
| publisherStr | Organisational Psychology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31359 The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives Coutts, Cameron Bagraim, Jeffrey Organisational Psychology The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of customer entitlement from the perspective of fine-dining waitstaff in South Africa. A power imbalance between customers and waitstaff is especially likely in restaurant environments because of the expectations of customer acquiescence and the notion that “customers are always right” (Fisk & Neville, 2011). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven waitstaff who were employed full-time in a fine-dining restaurant. Theoretical thematic analysis yielded five themes: (1) excessive demands, (2) mistreatment of waitstaff, (3) openly and excessive criticism of service quality, (4) entitled behaviour that affects other customers, and (5) aggressive behavioral reactions to unmet expectations. This study contributes to the limited research on customer entitlement in restaurant environments and provides a foundation for further research in this area. 2020-02-27T13:55:32Z 2020-02-27T13:55:32Z 2019 2020-02-27T11:51:07Z Master Thesis Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31359 eng application/pdf Organisational Psychology Faculty of Commerce |
| spellingShingle | Organisational Psychology Coutts, Cameron The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| title_full | The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| title_fullStr | The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| title_short | The Nature of Customer Entitlement in Fine-Dining Restaurants: A Qualitative Study of Waitstaff Perspectives |
| title_sort | nature of customer entitlement in fine dining restaurants a qualitative study of waitstaff perspectives |
| topic | Organisational Psychology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31359 |
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