Abstract
Western retail experience balances between customer expectations and experience in the service exchange. Retailers set on customer service improvement often use mystery shoppers to gauge alignment between intended service and client experience. This exploratory research considers how instructions typically used by mystery shopping providers impact the diagnostic value of data gathered, and whether those instructions become superseded by hired shopper experiences and cultural behavioral expectations. This work suggests the industry tacitly relies on mystery shoppers to leverage cultural knowledge to deliver insights, and that even robust instructional changes may not significantly change the reporting of mercenary shoppers.