How psychology might alleviate violence in queues: Perceived future wait and perceived load moderate violence against service providers.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Queues are inherent to service encounters, as it is not always possible to provide service to all clients at the exact moment they request service. Queues involve waiting for a service in a specific place that might also be crowded, they obstruct the client's' goal of receiving service, and at times lead clients to mistreat service providers and in extreme cases even attack them violently. We show, in a hospital setting, that perceived predicted future wait and load can buffer the causes of violence towards service staff.

Methods

We combine objective data on crowdedness, reports of violence, and durations of time people waited, with psychological measures of perceived load and perceived future wait, collected from 226 people in the Emergency Department (ED) of a

SUBMITTER: Efrat-Treister D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6590795 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature