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.     

内部营销与顾客满意关系的实证研究(英文)

为了确定内部营销、员工满意、服务质量和顾客满意之间的因果关系,本文在文献研究的基础上构建了内部营销—员工满意—服务质量—顾客满意关系模型,并以35家商业银行的员工和顾客为实证样本,采用因子分析、回归分析检验了模型的假设关系。     

服务型企业组织导向的整合机制研究——兼论员工与顾客的价值统一性

员工导向与顾客导向是组织导向的重要内容,但已有研究发现二者存在潜在冲突。本研究试图在利益相关者理论框架下,引入员工承诺和顾客满意两类关键变量,探索员工与顾客的价值统一性,以发展员工导向与顾客导向的整合机制。运用来自我国服务型企业的研究数据分析发现,员工导向与顾客导向能够在员工承诺和顾客满意的联结作用下有效整合,并共同推动企业市场效能的提升;同时,实证结论还显示,传统服务型企业和高端服务型企业的组织导向整合机制存在显著差异性。最后,文章对研究结论的理论与实践启示,以及存在的局限性进行讨论。     

Customer orientation of frontline employees and organizational commitment

This study investigates the effect of alignment between employee and firm customer orientation (FCO) on the organizational commitment of frontline service employees. Furthermore, the study examines how the size and nature of the discrepancy between employee customer orientation (ECO) and FCO affects organizational commitment. The results suggest that organizational commitment is stronger when employee and FCO are matched than when they are not. Furthermore, organizational commitment is slightly stronger when ECO exceeds FCO than when the reverse is the case. The results suggest that efforts expended by firms in hiring and retaining customer-oriented service workers will be unlikely to yield optimal commitment benefits without simultaneous investments to improve firm-level customer orientation.     

Market-focused HRM in service organizations: Satisfying internal and external customers

This paper describes how the HRM function can positively influence the satisfaction of both its internal customers, such as, line employees, and external customers. Evidence is cited for how satisfaction levels in these internal and external markets often are correlated in service organizations. The management practices apparently associated with this correlation are described, concentrating on HRM's role in creating satisfied employees who are motivated and able service providers. The importance of customizing HRM practices to fit a specific market segment is emphasized.     

Striving for quality: The key role of internal and external customers

This research suggests that the concept of customer orientation is at the core of a successful quality program. Based both on a series of interviews conducted at a Baldridge Award winning company and on past literature support, it is shown that in addition to an external customer orientation, an internal customer orientation plays a strategic role in the achievement of high quality standards throughout the organization. Several recommendations are proposed to foster the development of an internal customer orientation—a concept which has been largely neglected in the quality management literature.     

Understanding the causes of defection among satisfied B2B service customers

Abstract

Many research studies conclude that satisfaction is strongly and positively related to repurchase intentions and loyalty behaviour. However, companies are often faced with the perplexing question of why some customers, who are satisfied, still switch suppliers given the right circumstances. To answer this question, an exploratory research study was conducted in the facilities-management industry with business-to-business service customers. The study was conducted in two stages: an exploratory stage that focused on the industry as a whole, and a confirmatory stage that focused on lost customers from one specific company. It was found that switching motives and actual reasons for switching are quite different. Customers, despite being satisfied, are more likely to switch suppliers for price reasons than they originally stated.     

Assessment of Satisfaction of Local Government as a Client of the Federal Government: Case Study of the Priority Zone Development Program

This paper reports the design of a model that broadens focus of the national government index of customer satisfaction from external clients to internal clients between local and federal governmental institutions. The model for a case study of a national Mexican welfare program includes (i) generic variables, as adapted from the American Customer Satisfaction Index model for government and the variable of institutional image by findings in Mexico; (ii) specific variables, as identified through a qualitative study. The estimation technique is partial least squares. The result is a valid and reliable model that moderately explains satisfaction (R² = 0.67), perceived quality (R² = 0.60), and trust (R² = 0.41). The moderating role of institutional image is not rejected. Future research must test the resulting model in other cases to obtain an appropriate model for the Mexican User Satisfaction Index (MUSI). The Council for Science and Technology of Mexico funds this project.     

Climate perceptions and the customer orientation of frontline service employees

Satisfaction of customers' needs is particularly dependent upon the customer orientation of frontline employees. Understanding the drivers of such orientation is, therefore, a key issue in current research. Research relating perceptions of organisational values with the customer orientation of employees is rather sparse. This topic is approached by investigating the role of selected dimensions of psychological climate in promoting the customer orientation of frontline service employees. A structural equations model is developed and empirically tested, indicating that perceptions of customer, ethical, and innovation climates exert an indirect effect on the adoption of customer-oriented behaviours by frontline employees.     

顾客遗憾作用下的重购决策模型

顾客遗憾来源于消费者对不同企业产品或不同购买方案可感知价值的横向对比,遗憾感受程度受到交易情景因素如消费者决策现状、购买行为结果的可逆性以及对已购买产品的满意度的调节,同时会反过来影响顾客满意,最终影响顾客以后的购买行为。因此,它与顾客满意一起构成了影响消费者重购倾向的决定因素,企业在注重顾客保留和培养顾客忠诚时必须将二者同时考虑,做到需求导向和竞争导向的并重。     

Market Orientation: An Iterative Process of Customer and Market Engagement

ABSTRACT

Research Purpose. The objective of this research was to examine market orientation in organisations that deliver manufacturing-based services to both client organisations and their customers.

Research Approach. The case study research method employed three data collection methods: in-depth, semi-structured interviews, document analysis and physical artefact analysis. Embedded study units comprising groups of different stakeholders with distinctly different perspectives provided a basis for replication logic to enhance validity of the findings.

Findings. The research revealed that a firm's transition toward a market-oriented state is progressive. At a given point in time, a firm may be adjusting to its markets intuitively or cognitively; market responsiveness may be occurring in specific pockets of the firm, or as an enterprise-wide strategy; and some of the conditions specified may be met, some may be partly met and others may remain to be addressed in the future. A specific customer focus was important to the conceptualisation of market orientation in the case organisation.

Research Implications. Key implications of the research are as follows:

• In conceptualising market orientation as a process as opposed to an ideal state, important issues of structural and policy alignment and senior executive vision and drive are revealed;

• in addition to customer and competitor orientations and intra-organisational co-ordination, other dimensions of a market orientation revealed in the research context are a customer focus and a new knowledge orientation; and

• both inter- and intra-organisational co-ordination facilitate the development of market driven and market driving customer value.

Practical Implications. While the senior executives were aware of the significant performance benefits to be achieved through a national, market-oriented vision, the lack of a co-ordinated plan to achieve cultural change resulted in incremental achievements towards the vision. One key factor inhibiting the envisioned cultural change was the power base of those within the organisation who perceived that a national, market focus would eliminate local autonomy. Specific policy was required to align rewards with required behavioural change.

Contribution. This research provides a unique perspective of market orientation as process of organisational development directed towards aligning the organisation with its served markets. Intervention strategies and incremental changes attempted to achieve a national market perspective, highlight the importance of aligning structure, human resource management strategy, top management commitment and leadership drive in achieving such a cultural change.     

基于顾客满意的消费者网上购物影响因素分析

在技术接受模型、交易成本理论和顾客满意度理论的基础上,提出了基于顾客满意度消费者网上购物决策模型,并通过结构方程模型方法对所建模型进行实证研究。基于顾客满意度消费者网上购物决策模型对消费者网上购物行为具有较好的解释度。     

How uncivil customers corrode the relationship between frontline employees and retailers

This study investigates the effects of customers’ uncivil treatments on frontline retail employees’ emotions, deviant behaviors and relationship with the retail organization. Our theoretical model is based on both marketing and personnel management literatures. 415 frontline retailing American employees answered our questionnaire. Employees treated uncivilly by customers feel angry but have to hide their negative emotions, which leads them to emotional exhaustion and deviant behaviors. Paradoxically, employees’ strong commitment to their retailing organization brings about more deviant behaviors. We propose some managerial strategies to cope with uncivil customers, as well as future research on this important and under-researched topic.     

Market Orientation of Riding Schools: A Comparison of For Profit and Nonprofit Organizations Using Structural Equation Modeling

For profit and nonprofit service providers compete in different areas of economy. Market orientation is a widely acknowledged concept that influences the performance of both for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations. Nevertheless, the different underlying attitudes and motivations of voluntary or professional managers may influence the market orientation of an organization. An empirical study was conducted for investigating the influence of different attitudes toward market orientation. Groups of non- and for-profit managers are compared using the example of German riding schools. Overall, 244 volunteer and professional managers answered the survey. A structural path model was evaluated using the software SmartPLS 3. Results show that attitudes and motivations exert influence differently in the non- and the for-profit contexts. The economic situation was found to have an influence solely on the satisfaction reported by professional managers but not on the satisfaction reported by volunteers. Implications for future research on nonprofit market orientation can be drawn from the findings.     

Postservice Recovery Customer Satisfaction in Indian Retail Banking: Scale Development and Validation

The construct of postservice customer satisfaction with respect to Indian retail banking has been studied. Furthermore, the development and validation of the postservice recovery customer satisfaction scale in Indian retail banking is detailed. The scale development process was carried out over three stages (item generation, scale purification, scale validation) and comprised of conducting depth interviews and focus groups for item generation and three separate phases of data collection, involving a total of 851 individual respondents. The data provide evidence for face, content, discriminant and convergent validity, dimensionality, reliability, and generalizability of the customer satisfaction scale in Indian retail banking.     

Additional Thoughts on the Measurement of Market Orientation: A Comment on Deshpande and Farley

Deshpande and Farley examinethe reliability and validity of three well-known market-orientationscales from which they derive a single market-orientation scale.We believe that their synthesized scale effectively capturesa business's customer-value orientation which is the essenceof a market orientation, and that this scale development is adefinite contribution to marketing thought and practice. However,in two other respects we disaree with them. First, we believethere is more evidence of a positive market-orientation - performancerelationship than they acknowledge. Second, we hold that bothlogic and scholarly research strongly support the idea that amarket orientation is nothing less than an organization's culture.     

Relative importance and combined effects of attributes on customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction with a service experience is often determined by several critical attributes. Prior studies have suggested that food, physical environment, and employee service impose an important effect on diners' satisfaction with restaurant services. Although much research has looked at the direct effect of these attributes individually, little is known about them when they are considered together. This study investigates the relative importance and combined effects of the determinants of customer satisfaction in China's hospitality industry. The results show that food taste, employee service, and physical environment (in that order) all significantly contribute to diners' satisfaction, and that one attribute may substitute for another attribute in the satisfaction formation process. Generally, humanic attributes (employee service) can effectively substitute for less humanic attributes (physical environment).     

Congruence in the assessment of service quality between employees and customers: A study of a public health care delivery system

Using social information processing theory, we examined the congruence between employee and customer assessments of organizations' service quality. The setting was a public health care delivery system. Contrary to expectations, employee assessments of service quality were lower than those of their customers. Also unexpectedly, employees with professional training had less congruent assessments than other employees. As expected, employees with longer tenure and those in departments with stronger customer service work climates had more congruent assessments relative to their customers. The results have implications for both management theory and for managers interested in developing customer-centered organizations.     

Bridging the intention–behavior gap among organic grocery customers: The crucial role of point‐of‐sale information

Although the interest in organic groceries has increased, actual buying behavior falls short for reasons that are mostly unknown to researchers and practitioners. This paper addresses this so‐called intention–behavior gap by investigating the impact of point‐of‐sale (POS) information on the perception of purchase barriers and behavior. While behavior and interest differ for various product categories, the organic groceries most frequently bought worldwide are differentiated on the basis of product category involvement in a pilot study. A laboratory experiment and a field experiment containing actual purchase behavior and market data revealed the possibility of enhancing organic purchases within low‐ and high‐involvement categories, while exposed to POS information. In low‐involvement product categories, POS information should reveal new product category‐specific organic features. In high‐involvement product categories, the perceived addition of value for money is crucial for purchasing organic groceries. While the effect of POS information on perceived trust and knowledge is higher for health conscious or green consumers in low‐involvement product categories, it is the converse in high‐involvement product categories.