Understanding retail karma

A new study reveals how past misdeeds influence consumers’ tolerance of service failures

By Ellis Ng

Retail is crucial to connecting businesses and consumers but many would agree that retail jobs are quite challenging. Retail workers often encounter customer misbehaviour like yelling at cashiers, trashing stores, making unreasonable demands, committing return fraud, and the like.

But what happens when shoppers who have misbehaved later become victims of poor service? A new study found that these shoppers may connect their own past misdeeds with subsequent negative experiences through a framework of karmic belief.

“Deeply held, culturally rich, yet irrational beliefs – like fate, luck and karma – can shape consumer decisions,” says Zhang Meng, Professor of Marketing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School. “Consumers might psychologically link their own past misdeeds to later encountered shopping experiences, even when those experiences are completely unrelated.”

The idea that our actions have consequences is nearly universal. From the Chinese saying, “種瓜得瓜 種豆得豆: Plant melons and you get melons, plant soybeans and you get soybeans”, to the English, “You reap what you sow,” cultures worldwide share a deep-rooted belief that what goes around comes around. The karmic principle, it turns out, shapes not just our beliefs but also our behaviour as consumers.

In a study titled Retail karma: How our shopping sins influence evaluation of service failures, Professor Zhang, along with Li Ran of Nanjing University and Pankaj Aggarwal of the University of Toronto, found that customers who have previously engaged in questionable shopping behaviour tend to be more forgiving when they later experience poor service themselves.

“Consumers might psychologically link their own past misdeeds to later encountered shopping experiences, even when those experiences are completely unrelated.”

Professor Zhang Meng

From shop floor to karma door

Through eight carefully designed experiments, Professor Zhang and fellow researchers discovered an intriguing pattern: consumers who had previously wronged a business – whether through shoplifting, providing false information or even just contemplating such actions – were notably more forgiving when they later experienced poor service at a different store.

In a series of experiments, participants were asked to imagine themselves in everyday shopping situations where they crossed ethical lines: walking away from items they had accidentally damaged, pocketing items without paying or sneaking extra loyalty points. Later, these same people were presented with scenarios of service failures at different stores. The results showed that rather than reacting with typical consumer frustration, people who had recently imagined themselves (or acted) as “shopping sinners” were notably more accepting of poor service. It is as if their earlier misdeeds made them feel they deserved less-than-stellar treatment – a retail version of karma.

To understand the role of karmic beliefs more deeply, the researchers used moderation-of-process in experiments to examine whether certain factors strengthened or weakened an effect. For example, in one experiment, some participants’ rational thinking was heightened before completing the experiment by reading scientific pieces arguing against the seeming connections between random events.

“If karmic belief was truly driving the effect, then for those whose rational thinking is highlighted at the time of the decision, we expected that their tolerance to the poor service to change – and that’s what we found,” Professor Zhang says.

The researchers also employed serial mediation in experiments to map out how this “retail karma” works. The analyses showed a clear psychological chain reaction: After prior wrongdoing is salient in mind (real or imagined), then the consumer “sees” causality between their own prior wrongdoing and the current service failure, followed by self-blame, and finally, a more forgiving attitude toward poor service.

“These analyses provided more evidence that karmic belief, not simple mood shifts or others, was the most likely key factor in shaping the effects observed in our research,” Professor Zhang adds.

A better understanding of retail karma helps both sides

For businesses, this insight sheds light on customer service and marketing. For example, companies might remind customers of ethical behaviour—perhaps through messaging about fairness, integrity, or reciprocity. Customers might become more forgiving when things go wrong.

“Ultimately, our research aims to raise awareness of the influences of karmic belief in commercial settings. By understanding this factor better, both businesses and consumers can foster more positive interactions.” Says Professor Zhang.

Will technology downplay retail karma?

Karmic-based beliefs run deep in many Asian religions and philosophies, but they are not just limited to the East – according to a recent report (Statista Research Department 2022), 31 per cent of Americans strongly believe in the concept of karma. This makes karma one of the “extraordinary beliefs” with the potential to shape how consumers make decisions in a powerful way.

The rise of artificial intelligence, or AI, in retail raises fascinating questions, says Professor Zhang. “How do consumers perceive service failures when AI, rather than humans, is responsible? Can karma still apply when the ‘wronged party’ isn’t a person but an algorithm?”

“As AI continues to reshape the retail landscape, understanding how human psychology interacts with technology will continue to be crucial for businesses looking to create better customer experiences,” she concludes.