Exploring the relationship between individual values and the customer orientation of front-line employees

Abstract

Because of the nature of services, namely the inseparability of production and consumption, employee behaviours influence customer perceptions of service quality and satisfaction with the service provider. In particular, customer-oriented employees seek to help customers by addressing their needs, and this contributes to the building of customer satisfaction and the development of a relationship. Not surprisingly, research has been investigating the drivers of employees’ customer orientation. This paper examines how individual values influence the customer orientation of front-line service employees, a topic that has been unexplored in extant literature, and this is useful for the selection of employees who match the firm’s service strategy. To accomplish this, the study relies on the Schwartz value theory, which is applied to front-line employees in banking. The findings indicate that both resultant conservation and resultant self-enhancement affect the customer orientation of employees, and that these effects are moderated by job satisfaction and autonomy.     

Employee attitudes toward advertising

The attitudes and opinions of a group of bank employees toward a recent advertising campaign run by the bank which stressed employee service were studied via factor analysis. The analysis revealed three clearly defined dimensions underlying the attitude-opinion items: general attitude toward the campaign, relevance of the campaign to the respondent's job, and changes in the respondent's job behavior caused by the campaign. Relationships among factor scores on these three dimensions with job satisfaction, job involvement, degree of customer contact, and degree of contact with other employees were investigated using multiple regressions and canonical correlation analysis. Employee attitudes toward the campaign were significantly related to all four of the job characteristic variables, as was perceived relevance of the campaign to the employee's job. Changes in job behavior were related only to involvement and satisfaction. The relationships found here suggest that in some cases, employee attitudes should be considered in evaluating the effects of advertising campaigns. Close coordination between marketing and general managerial functions is required in situations where advertisements relate to employees as well as customers.     

Service Orientation: Its Impact on Business Performance in the Medical Service Industry

From the viewpoint of internal marketing, employees who are content in their job may be motivated to satisfy their customers better than ones who are not content. Another relevant premise is that the content employees, because of their work motivation, would eventually help improve the performance of their firm. To verify these relationships, some previous studies looked into the effects of organisational service orientation on employee's satisfaction. But only few of them investigated the mediating effects of variables such as service value and customer orientation for their role in linking service orientation to business performance. This study examines how an organisation's service orientation had an effect on its performance at hospitals. For this purpose, verification of the mediating role of service value perceived by employees as well as the role of customer orientation on the firm's performance was attempted. For this study, a total of 292 usable questionnaires were collected from hospital staffs located in metropolitan cities of Korea. The hypotheses concerning relationships among service orientation, service value, employee satisfaction and customer orientation were verified by covariance structural modelling, using SPSS 10.0 and AMOS 4.0 programs. The result is as follows. First, organisational service orientation had a positive effect on both employee satisfaction and service value perceived by hospital staff. Second, employee satisfaction had a positive impact on service value and customer orientation. Finally, service value as well as employee's customer orientation were found to exert positive influence on the medical firm's performance.     

Determinants of employees’ attitudes toward union membership in India

Drawing on data from a survey of 252 unionized full-time employees from large Indian organizations, this study examined whether individual level job related variables and individual cultural value dimensions of individualism–collectivism (I–C) were predictive of employees’ attitudes toward union membership. Using regression analysis, the author found that over and above the effects of demographic and job-related variables, work situation dissatisfaction and perceived work stress were able to predict union attitudes significantly and positively for the sample. The relationship of union attitude was highly significant and negative with a consultative managerial style. Collectivism was able to predict the union attitudes positively, whereas individualism was negatively related to the union attitudes. The interaction between employees’ perceived work stress and work situation dissatisfaction are found to have a positive influence on their union attitudes. The results and implications of findings are discussed in the paper with reference to the literature on role of cultural dimensions (I–C) and job related factors in relation to organizational outcomes like union membership.     

Part-time restaurant employee perceptions of management practices: An empirical investigation

The UK hospitality industry increasingly relies on part-time rather than full-time employees to provide more flexible and cost-effective operations with potential trade-offs for service quality. Part-time employees can be divided into two distinct groups – permanent and temporary – each with very different employment rationales. This study compares full-time and part-time employee perceptions of management practices across twelve Cardiff-based restaurants using a self-administered questionnaire. There were significant differences between full-time and part-time employees but no difference between temporary and permanent part-time employees who were equally dissatisfied with management practices, job attitudes and job behaviours. The qualitative data showed the two part-time employees' sub-groups had different needs. Despite this they were treated as a homogenous group by managers. Lack of management understanding of part-time staff impacts on how they are treated and ultimately on service quality and customer satisfaction.     

Engaging and retaining customers with AI and employee service

Artificial intelligence (AI) permeates in service organisations as a tool to enhance operational efficiency and improve customer experience. Reports show that most consumers prefer human interactions with service employees. Drawing on this observation, the current study examines how customers' service experiences with employees and AI influence customer engagement and loyalty. Customers’ emotional intelligence is proposed as a moderator between service experience and customer engagement. The study was conducted with hotel customers in Australia. The results show that whilst both service experience with employees and AI are significantly related to customer engagement and loyalty, only certain dimensions make significant unique variances in the outcome variables. The findings indicate that customers prefer employee service. These service experiences also have significant partial mediation effects on customer loyalty. Emotional intelligence has a significant moderation effect on customer engagement. Discussion of these findings and implications derived from this study concludes this paper.     

The Antecedents of Prosocial Service Behaviours: An Empirical Investigation

Frontline employee attitudes and behaviours during service encounters influence customers' perceptions of service quality. For this reason, the identification of variables that influence service behaviours is important. Much remains unknown about the factors affecting service behaviours in service settings. This study investigates service employees' attitudinal (job satisfaction and organisational commitment) and behavioural (prosocial service behaviours) responses to management strategies (internal communication, professional development and empowerment). One hundred and eighty-eight service employees contributed data, which were analysed using a structural modelling methodology. The authors found that management strategies influence service behaviours directly but the mediating role of job attitudes is not supported.     

The Effect of Organisational Vision on Service Quality Delivery

This study is an attempt to apply the concept of organisational vision to quantitative measures of service operation. Service organisations look at customer satisfaction ensuing from service quality delivery as a source of competitive advantage. To be able to contribute towards this end, vision must exert influence on the key variables job satisfaction and service effort of employees. The results show that organisational vision positively contributes to job satisfaction and service efforts of the participants working in a nationwide fast-food organisation.     

The Role of Empathetic Concern and Communication on Job Tension and Job Satisfaction of Customer Service Employees

The authors examine a model of empathetic behavior introduced in the social and clinical psychology literature to determine whether empathy contributes significantly to the job satisfaction or job tension of customer service employees. Both job satisfaction and job tension were found to be influenced by the level of .empathetic concern employees had towards customers, the amount of emotional contagion they experienced, and the degree of communicative responsiveness expressed. Results suggest that management should hire empathetic individuals, develop empathetic skills among their employees, and empower them to act accordingly. Findings have applicability to all service related organizations and businesses.     

Alleviating job stress to improve service employee work affect: the influence of rewarding

Firms strive to identify interventions that promote customer contact employee (CCE) well-being by mitigating job stress to encourage better service experiences for customers. Drawing on equity theory, this research examines the influences of alternative rewarding approaches on CCE job stress and work-related attitudes, by assessing the effects of intrinsic (social recognition) and extrinsic (monetary) rewarding on CCE job stress, commitment to the organization, and customer orientation. Results of a survey of 220 CCEs from multiple service organizations indicate that social recognition reduces CCE job stress but that, contrary to expectations, monetary rewarding increases it. Moreover, satisfaction with pay has a greater influence on CCE customer orientation than social recognition.     

The Importance of Hotel Employee Service Attitude and the Satisfaction of International Tourists

Although there have been numerous studies dealing with service attitude and customer satisfaction, they have not specifically addressed international hotel customers. Moreover, most of them have discussed the subject from the viewpoint of the employee. This study takes a customer perception approach and emphasises critical factors (elements) of service attitude affecting the satisfaction of international tourists. It has been found that the importance of employee attitudes to service and the level of satisfaction with the service vary significantly among customers of different nationalities. For example, American travellers emphasise elements such as employees being able to solve their problems, and so are dissatisfied with the service when employees lack an adequate command of English. Taiwanese customers stress the importance of employees treating customers politely regardless of their attire. They feel that they are treated unfairly because of employee expectations of tips from well-dressed customers. These findings could furnish managers with useful information for planning marketing and personnel training.     

Individual Differences Among Service Employees

SUMMARY

To do an excellent job of managing external relationships, service firms must be prepared to do an excellent job of managing internal relationships. This effort begins with recruiting, selecting, and retaining employees who are likely to serve customers well. While service firms strive to match the knowledge, ability, and skills of potential employees to the requirements of the job, most do not have the time or the resources to implement elaborate recruitment and selection systems. This is especially true among services where relatively high turnover levels mandate that recruitment and selection processes be fast and inexpensive. To meet this challenge, managers often focus on a set of easily identifiable individual characteristics, such as experience, job tenure, age, or education that can be assessed during the time of an interview or scan of a job application. This study examines the effect of these characteristics on the attitudes and responses of service employees that are critical for the effective delivery of quality service (job satisfaction, self-efficacy, role stress, organizational commitment). The results indicate that satisfied and committed service employees tend to be older, better educated, and possess a great deal of service experience. These employees also appear to be better able to handle the stress associated with service positions. These characteristics are atypical of the service industry, where employees tend to be younger, possess relatively little experience in any one industry, and are less educated. Implications for managing the recruitment, selection, and retention of service employees are offered, as are directions for future research.     

The effect of customer participation on service providers' job stress

There have been conflicting explanations of how customer participation affects service providers' job stress. This study explores the relationship between the two. Survey data from 293 customer-contact employees at 64 restaurants in Taiwan indicate that customer participation is positively related to perceived job stress and perceived workload, implying that it is inappropriate to explain job stress from the perspective of partial employees. Moreover, while customer participation increases the level of job stress, workload is only a superficial explanation for the relationship. The real explanation is role conflict, which is associated with changes in job characteristics. Implications of these findings for managing customer participation are subsequently discussed.     

Employee emotional response toward healthcare organization’s service recovery efforts and its influences on service recovery performance

Previous studies on service recovery performance of frontline employees have focused primarily on the direct relationship with the organizational efforts for service recovery. However, based on the reformulation of attitude theory (appraisal-emotional response-behaviour), we believe that the emotional responses (work engagement and burnout) toward organizational efforts for service recovery of frontline employees mediate the relationship. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine how healthcare frontline employees show their emotional response toward the organizational efforts for service recovery and it influence on actual recovery performance. This study uses two conflicting emotional responses, burnout and work engagement, to examine how employees react toward organizational efforts, helping better understand employees?? evaluations of the efforts. Research model and hypothesis were tested using a sample of frontline employees who perform none-clinical activities in hospitals. The results showed that teamwork and empowerment have positive effects on work engagement. In addition, customer complaint management, empowerment, and teamwork influenced negatively on burnout. Lastly, work engagement and burnout showed statistically significant impact of service recovery performance of frontline employees. Among the organizational efforts for service recovery, teamwork was the most important factor in improving frontline employees?? work engagement and lessened their burnout, respectively. Interestingly, customer service training had a negative effect on burnout. Besides, by comparing our research model to two alternative models, we confirmed the validity of the research model.     

Does Service Employee Arrogance Discourage Sales of Luxury Brands in Emerging Economies?

Upscalex stores selling luxury brands from Western, developed countries are having a strong presence in many emerging markets. However, it is not uncommon to find that the service employees of these stores are arrogant and inhospitable. This article uses a dual attitudes perspective to show how service employee arrogance affects customers’ attitudes and purchase intentions toward luxury brands in emerging markets. Experimental findings show that arrogance produces dual attitudes, with positive implicit attitudes exerting a stronger influence than unfavorable explicit attitudes on purchase intentions. In addition, for customers with high self‐esteem, service employee arrogance has a negative effect on their purchase intentions. In line with the expectation disconfirmation model, when service employees change their arrogant attitudes and subsequently show hospitality, customers also change their expectations. When the improved service exceeds customers’ expectations, their explicit attitudes turn positive and exert a stronger influence on purchase intentions than when service employees are consistently hospitable.     

The Perceived Impact of Information Technology on Salespeople's Relational Competencies

Abstract

Cross-cultural service research is an important topic with a rich array of empirical evidence for differences in customer perceptions, attitudes and behaviours. However, the extant literature is almost exclusively focused on differences between cultures at each end of the diversity spectrum (most commonly East vs. West). Contemporary researchers have observed that existing studies fail to acknowledge the substantially greater levels of intra-cluster variation that exist. A cultural cluster is a group of countries that reflect values, attitudes and beliefs stemming from a common cultural ancestry. This seems surprising given the anecdotal evidence and stereotypes that are portrayed in popular culture, media and art. One area where intra-cluster variation may be evident is consumer complaint behaviour and in particular within the Anglo-cultural cluster in countries. A cultural cluster is a group of countries that reflect values, attitudes and beliefs stemming from a common cultural ancestry. The aim of this study is therefore to explore and elucidate the nature of differences in consumer complaint behaviour between cultures traditionally conceived and operationalised as identical. This study presents a qualitative study of 60 in-depth interviews with consumers in the United Kingdom and Australia and identifies differences in complaining styles, parental influence and the conceptualisation of complaining.     

Managing for customers and employees in Hong Kong: The quality and teamwork challenges

Service marketing, total quality management, and human resource management researchers have proposed that employee teamwork is a foundation for service quality. North American research suggests that developing cooperative relationships and constructive controversy among employees can empower employees to serve customers and to strengthen their work relationships and commitment to the organization. Chinese employees in an American-style restaurant in Hong Kong were interviewed on specific incidents that affected service quality. Correlational and structural equation results support the hypotheses that cooperative goals help employees discuss their diverse views open-mindedly and that this constructive controversy results in quality customer service. Competitive and independent goals were largely negatively correlated with dynamics and outcomes. Results were interpreted as suggesting that service teams should develop strong cooperative goals and the skills and procedures of constructive controversy. Deutsch's theory of cooperation and competition, although developed largely through North American research, seems useful for understanding and developing service quality teamwork in Asia.     

How do employees adapt to organizational change driven by cross-border M&As? A case in China

Globalization has encouraged merger and acquisitions (M&As) across countries. We propose a theoretical model that explains the process through which employees adapt to changes introduced by cross-border M&As. Empirical analyses based on 174 Chinese employees who experienced an unexpected M&A initiated by a Western company suggest that the relationship between change management practices (i.e., provision of training and assurance of job security) and post-change performance is mediated by employees’ person–change (P–C) fit perceptions. Integrating the quantitative results with interviews, we further theorize that underlying cultural dynamics (e.g., collectivism and Confucian doctrines) drive change-related attitudes and behavior among Chinese employees.     

Negotiators’ Attitudes toward Signing Business Contracts: Evidence from Greece and Israel

This study extends beyond negotiation process and styles, and focuses on negotiators’ tendency to sign formal contracts. Drawing on a risk mitigation perspective, it examines the influence of businesspeople's levels of horizontal and vertical individualism‐collectivism, ethical idealism, and trust propensity on their attitudes toward signing formal negotiated business contracts in Greece and in Israel. A survey questionnaire was translated from English to Greek and to Hebrew, and 649 responses were collected from employees who worked in industries such as banking, insurance, construction, manufacturing, retailing, and tourism in the Greek and Israeli private and public sectors. Our findings suggest that higher levels of horizontal individualism, horizontal collectivism, and ethical idealism increase employees’ tendency to sign formal contracts, whereas lower levels of general trust are associated with a higher propensity to sign formal contracts. Interestingly, employees’ propensity to sign formal contracts was significantly lower in Israel than in Greece. We argue that the propensity to sign formal contracts, and thus to mitigate potential agreement risks, is dependent on the individuals’ cultural and personal attributes. The study provides practitioners with a set of cultural and individual attributes that can serve as predictors of negotiators’ predisposition toward signing business contracts. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Combined effects of franchise management strategies and employee service performance on customer loyalty: a multilevel perspective

Although franchisee performance is likely to be influenced by franchisors’ management strategies, little is known about whether and how franchisors’ strategies affect franchisee employees’ performance. This study examines the combined effects of three franchisor management strategies, namely innovative culture, support services and autonomy on service performance of the franchisee store employees and the loyalty of their customers. Data were collected from a total of 38 employees and 679 customers of 25 franchisee stores. The study employs multilevel analysis on a nested data-set created by matching customer data with employee data for each store. The results reveal that customer loyalty of a franchisee store is positively influenced by the service performance of its employees and the support services received by the employees of the store from its franchisor. On the other hand, it has been found that franchisor management strategy such as innovative culture and autonomy negatively influence customer loyalty of the franchisee store. The paper discusses relevant theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.