A set of University of Texas at El Paso and University of Wyoming studies indicates that the consequence of this gut reaction is flawed service. This pattern was seen most clearly in study scenarios where the identity relevance of the service was high. It was seen with a retail transaction for a wedding ring, but not with one for a birthday gift ring.
Flawed service corrupts retail profitability. The operator of the business may have little or no prejudice toward shoppers who present as lesbian or gay. But if the salespeople discriminate against these groups, the operator benefits from easing the salesperson-shopper interaction discomfort. Fortunately, the researchers find how the remedy to the problem resides in its cause. If we show these religiously conservative salespeople aspects of social identity they have in common with the lesbian and gay consumers, service quality should improve. Successful interventions in the studies included asking study participants to “write about the commonalities that you and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals hold. Some similarities that you could focus on are that both are human beings, both seek to love others, both have families and friends, etc.”
The researchers point to how such interventions go beyond the usual diversity, sensitivity, and empathy training methods. Feedback to identify discriminatory service is important in the researchers’ suggested system. It would be prejudicial in itself to assume that every religious salesperson will provide poor service to every lesbian or gay shopper. For one thing, the researchers found that the problem arose with those reporting intrinsic religiosity (“I try to live all my life according to religious beliefs”) more than with those reporting extrinsic religiosity (“I go to church because it helps me to make friends”).
Other research also finds advantages to surfacing commonalities with shoppers. Researchers at University of British Columbia and INSEAD Singapore set up a study in which a personal trainer offered a trial fitness program. Participants who believed the fitness instructor was born on the same day as them were more likely to buy a membership. Dental patients who believed they were born in the same place as their dentist were more likely to schedule future appointments.
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Go Over the Rainbow for LGBT Retailing
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