Thesis
Customer sexual harassment of frontline service workers in Scottish hospitality : the role of line managers in addressing the problem
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2026
- Thesis identifier
- T18017
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 202268748
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This thesis examines the issue of customer sexual harassment (CSH) experienced by frontlineservice workers in Scotland’s hospitality sector. Sexual harassment (SH) is understood asunwanted behaviour of a sexual nature directed towards an individual; in this context, theindividuals are customer-facing hospitality workers. The study explores the prevalence of CSH,analyses its impact on workers, and investigates how line managers respond to customerperpetrated incidents. It also considers how human resource practitioners (HRPs) support bothworkers and managers in managing customer abuse.Adopting a holistic, multi-stakeholder perspective, the research draws on qualitative data from44 semi-structured interviews with frontline service workers, line managers, internal andexternal HRPs, hospitality trade union representatives, and an industry representative. Findingsindicate that legally defined forms of SH by customers were prevalent across all nineparticipating establishments. The study further reveals that both workers and managersinterpret incidents through a personal “interpretive prism”, leading to hierarchical assessmentsof seriousness. Individual interpretation and perceived customer “sovereignty” contribute tounderreporting by workers, heightening managerial caution in addressing customermisconduct. The research also identifies significant shortcomings in training for frontlineworkers regarding the nature of SH and strategies for managing abusive customers. Weakcommunication between line managers and HRPs left HR staff largely unaware of the extentof customer abuse. Additionally, the findings suggest that both managerial groups displayedonly a perfunctory concern for workers' well-being in the context of customer mistreatment.Four key contributions emerge from this study. First, it demonstrates the interpretive prism'scentrality in shaping how individuals evaluate incidents of CSH on a hierarchical scale. Second,it highlights managerial caution in navigating perceived customer power as a barrier toproactive intervention. Third, it identifies “perfunctory concern” by line managers and HRPsconcerning worker well-being when addressing customer misbehaviour and abuse. Fourthly,regarding CSH, it shows that the worker-line manager-HR triangle has inherent communicationweaknesses, with HR being a distant partner in the triad.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Nickson, Dennis
- Hadjisolomou, Anastasios
- Resource Type
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2025
Relations
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