Klodiana Lanaj, Mo Wang and Yifan Song
From left: Klodiana Lanaj, Mo Wang and Yifan Song

Practicing social mindfulness improves service employees’ well-being

Think back to your last experience with a customer service representative. Was your representative pleasant, helpful and able to solve your problem efficiently?

If this was your experience, your customer service representative might have practiced social mindfulness and attempted to take on your perspective as a customer when solving your problem.

New research from Warrington College of Business Lanzillotti-McKethan Eminent Scholar Chair and Director of the Human Resource Research Center Mo Wang, Associate Professor Klodiana Lanaj and PhD Candidate Yifan Song shows that service employees who were asked to spend a few minutes each morning putting themselves in their customer’s shoes experienced less customer mistreatment at work, leading them to be in a better mood the rest of the day. Their research also found that service representatives also spent less time ruminating on their negative experiences with customers and participating in maladaptive or impulsive shopping.

“Our findings suggest the importance of the other-orientedness and social mindfulness in improving service employees’ well-being,” said Song.

Read the complete research in the Academy of Management Journal here.