Unintended Consequences of Corporate Overtime: Spillover Effects on Consumer Voice
研究企业加班如何通过削弱员工关系与产品质量管理，导致消费者在线投诉增加，并发现员工培训、女性核心员工和员工参与能缓解这一负面效应。
Abstract Consumer complaints incorporate consumers in value co‐creation with firms. As a pivotal HRM practice, the spillover effects of corporate overtime on consumer feedback warrant rigorous investigation. Using a sample of Chinese A‐share listed companies from 2018 to 2023, this study constructs a firm‐level overtime indicator based on daily satellite nighttime light data and machine learning methods, and analyses over 16 million consumer complaint behaviours. Drawing on the organizational slack theory and job demand control theory, the findings indicate that corporate overtime significantly increases consumer online complaints, mediated primarily through weakened firm–employee relationship and compromised product quality management. Under the ability–motivation–opportunity framework, we demonstrate that employee training (ability), female core employees (motivation) and employee engagement (opportunity) effectively mitigate the adverse effects of overtime. From the perspective of labour–product market interaction, this study deepens our understanding of the literature on firms’ intangible slack resources, employee strain and consumer voice.