Factors that Affect Depression and Anxiety in Service and Sales Workers Who Interact With Angry Clients

INTRODUCTION: We evaluated depression and anxiety in service and sales workers from Korea who interacted with angry clients to identify factors that mediated and moderated depression and anxiety in these workers. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of data from the fifth Korean Working Conditions Survey conducted in 2017. A structural equation model was used for mediation and moderation analysis. RESULTS: Service and sales workers who had more interactions with angry clients had increased risk for depression and anxiety. Experiencing clients' adverse behaviors (acute episodes) mediated the relationship between interacting with angry clients (a chronic situation) on depression and anxiety. Job satisfaction and managers' support moderated the relationship between interacting with angry clients and mental health problems. CONCLUSION: We suggest that employers of service and sales workers should recruit staff based on their aptitude for such work, thus ensuring job satisfaction, and train them to deal with angry clients in such a way that they experience less emotional burden. Employers should also make bylaws requiring managers to directly take care of adverse social behavior by clients. Furthermore, a sociocultural campaign to prevent adverse social behavior by clients is also needed.