A QUT-led study has suggested how body worn cameras (BWCs), commonly used in law enforcement, could transform the retail and service sectors to address abuse and violence towards workers.
Major Australian retailers such as Kmart, Coles, Woolworths, Officeworks and Bunnings have started equipping frontline workers with BWCs, yet no peer-reviewed studies have been published examining their use in service-based industries.
This study, led by Professor Gary Mortimer, alongside Dr Thusyanthy Lavan and Dr Charmaine Glavas from the QUT School of Advertising, Marketing and PR, is said to be the first to interrogate existing BWC research and contextualise it to a service-based business domain.
It follows a 2023 survey which found 87 per cent of workers had faced verbal abuse or aggressive behaviour from customers.
"I was surprised to find currently, no peer-reviewed research on BWCs within a retail or services domain had been published, with existing work resting only within policing and corrective services literature," Professor Mortimer said.
"We undertook an extensive search of published studies from those sectors and applied the learnings to the retail, hospitality, banking and financial service sectors."
The research found that customers supportive of BWCs viewed them as neutral observers that promote accountability and policy compliance.
However, concerns were raised by opponents about privacy and the potential misuse of footage.
"Our analysis found that BWCs may lead to a 40 per cent reduction in complaints, but mixed results on aggression were noted in the literature," Professor Mortimer said.
"On one hand, there was no effect at all. Other studies found a decline in abuse and aggression, but in worse-case scenarios, 'back-firing' effects were noted.
"Simply, there was a risk that turning on a BWC could potentially inflame an already tense situation."
Retail workers' responses to BWCs were also varied.
Some reported feeling safer and believed that BWCs helped build better customer relationships.
Others expressed concerns that footage could be used for disciplinary action and felt constrained in using personal discretion to resolve issues, as they were compelled to follow strict procedures.
"While there is widespread community support for BWCs, privacy concerns also remain a significant issue," Professor Mortimer said.
"Reducing customer aggression will require a comprehensive approach with contributions from researchers, retail and service businesses, industry associations, policy makers and police."
Read the full paper, Human Interactions with Body-Worn Cameras in Service-Based Businesses: A Critical Review and Research Agenda, published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, online.
