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Beauty Service Workers’ Encounters with Abusive Customers: Furthering the Concept of External Bullying at Work

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Indian Perspectives on Workplace Bullying

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Abstract

This chapter brings novel theoretical contributions that advance the concept of external bullying at work. Based on a hermeneutic phenomenological study aimed at understanding the lived experiences of beauty service workers employed in unisex salon chains in Bangalore, India, the present chapter examines customer abuse in the context of interactive bodywork. Taking into account the stigmatized nature of beauty service work, the chapter notes that employees in salons experience customer abuse because of occupational features of a low-skilled, low-status and sexualized job, in addition to the unequal power relationship between them and their customers arising from the notion of customer sovereignty. Gender, caste and regional identity also play a role. Beauty service workers feel humiliated and helpless during negative customer encounters. However, they endure and overcome the abuse due to favourable aspects of their jobs, namely, occupational, organizational and contextual factors which make beauty service work a high-profile offering due to its commercial, professional and branded setting. The findings of the study further the aetiology of and rewrite power dynamics linked to external bullying at work. Other original contributions include contrasting external bullying at work in in-situ/traditional versus cyber/virtual environments and demonstrating dual locus workplace bullying.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Field work revealed that hairstylists were considered superior to beauticians due to the differential stigma attached to each job, and hence an attempt was made to include participants holding either or both these job titles.

  2. 2.

    Literature also documents that Islamic religious beliefs command women to cover their hair and body as a symbol of modesty and honour, especially in front of adult males who are not part of the women’s direct lineage (Hammoud et al. 2005; Siraj 2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organizational Behaviour Area, Indian Institute of Management Nagpur, Nagpur, India

    Avina Mendonca

  2. Organizational Behaviour Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India

    Premilla D’Cruz & Ernesto Noronha

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  1. Avina Mendonca
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  2. Premilla D’Cruz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Organizational Behaviour, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Organizational Behaviour, Ahmedabad, India

    Premilla D'Cruz

  2. Organisation Behaviour, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Organisation Behaviour, Ahmedabad, India

    Ernesto Noronha

  3. Organizational Behaviour, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Organizational Behaviour, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Avina Mendonca

  4. Organizational Behaviour, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Organizational Behaviour, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

    Nidhi Mishra

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Mendonca, A., D’Cruz, P., Noronha, E. (2018). Beauty Service Workers’ Encounters with Abusive Customers: Furthering the Concept of External Bullying at Work. In: D'Cruz, P., Noronha, E., Mendonca, A., Mishra, N. (eds) Indian Perspectives on Workplace Bullying. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1017-1_8

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