For organizations attempting to become more customer service-oriented, customer satisfaction surveys seem like a good way to measure performance. But while some employees may receive accurate ratings, others may be subject to discrimination or bias. In addition to being unfair, this presents a major legal liability for organizations, particularly if such ratings are used as criteria for promotion and compensation.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
In three separate studies, two in the field and one in the lab, researchers determined that women and minorities were consistently rated lower on customer satisfaction, even when the underlying performance was the same. Predictably, this relationship was even stronger when the rater held negative attitudes toward these groups. Additionally, the negative ratings given to minority and female employees also affect customer ratings of the organization. It’s not enough that customers like your employees a little less for being non-White or female, they also like your company a little less.
Why is this happening? Anonymity probably has something to do with it. Surveys almost never ask customer raters to identify themselves so people feel freer to let their attitudes affect their judgments. Also, there’s a lack of standards and training for most of these surveys. Raters without training may rely on their gut reactions more so than individuals trained to focus on observed behavior.
THE BOTTOM LINE
So what does this mean for an organization? Customer satisfaction surveys need to be taken with a grain of salt and probably not used for employment decisions. Customers will rate identical work as less satisfactory if a woman or minority member performs it. If you are going to use them, customer satisfaction surveys should be tailored to ask for behavioral episodes, not gut reactions, and should only be used in conjunction with other, less biased measures of employee performance.
Hekman, D. R., Aquino, K., Owens, B. P., Mitchell, T. R., Schilpzand, P., & Leavitt, K. (2010). An examination of whether and how racial and gender biases influence customer satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 238-264
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