{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T09:41:05Z","timestamp":1786527665294,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":106,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Jimei University National Fund Cultivation Program Project","award":["ZP2023007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZP2023007"]}]},{"award":["ZP2023007"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZP2023007"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03hknyb50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of Fujian Province of China","award":["FJ2024C082"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FJ2024C082"]}]},{"name":"Youth Project of the Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education","award":["23YJCZH217"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["23YJCZH217"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behav. Sci.","Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Drawing on attribution theories, this study presents an integrated moderated serial mediation model to explain when and why customer mistreatment is associated with victimized employees\u2019 contrasting \u201cflight\u201d and \u201cfight\u201d responses. Specifically, we propose that observed customer mistreatment serves as an individually perceived social cue that shapes how employees interpret and respond to their own mistreatment experiences. When similar mistreatment is rarely observed among colleagues, employees are more likely to see themselves as singled out, a perception accompanied by greater self-blame and, in turn, shame and psychological withdrawal. When such mistreatment is commonly observed, employees may instead hold customers responsible, which is linked to greater hostility and, in turn, retaliatory service sabotage. Using three-wave time-lagged data from 282 customer-service employees across various industries, we found support for the hypothesized moderating effects of observed customer mistreatment. The conditional serial indirect effect on psychological withdrawal through self-blame and shame was significant, whereas for service sabotage, the separate indirect effects through customer-directed blame and hostility were significant, but their serial indirect effect was not. These findings advance understanding of the boundary conditions and cognitive\u2013affective processes that may underlie employees\u2019 flight-or-fight reactions to customer mistreatment and offer implications for both theory and practice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16081385","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T09:11:36Z","timestamp":1786525896000},"page":"1385","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u201cWhy Me?!\u201d An Attribution Perspective on Employees\u2019 Flight-or-Fight Responses to Customer Mistreatment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1340-3135","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lele","family":"Fan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-9470-6456","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anan","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Science Innovation and Culture (ISIC), Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep (RMUTK), Bangkok 10120, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenling","family":"Shao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Business Administration, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Aiken, L. 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