Contingent effects of firm and employee reputations on professional advice adoption

Applying resource-based theory and signaling theory, we argue that firm and employee reputations affect consumer adoption of advice offered by professional service providers, and these effects are contingent on contextual variables. Our study on brokerage reports in Singapore supports our arguments. We show that reliance on firm (employee) reputation when adopting advice is higher (lower) if the evaluation of an entity is an initial rather than a repeated one. Also, reliance on employee reputation increases with stronger recommendation or when the entity has a business relationship with the advice-giving firm. These findings have implications for advice-giving firms and policy makers.     

Corporate social responsibility and employee attitudes: The moderating role of employee age

This study examines the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee engagement and job satisfaction. Using 322 responses from employees of selected companies in Ghana, and employing hierarchical regression analysis, the study examines the direct impact of economic, legal, ethical and discretionary CSR practices on employee satisfaction and engagement in organisations. The study further explores the moderating role of employee age on the relationship between CSR and employee engagement and satisfaction. The results provide evidence that economic, legal, ethical and discretionary CSR practices influence higher employee engagement and satisfaction levels at work. However, the study finds no evidence of employee age moderating the association between each of the four CSR dimensions and employee job attitudes (engagement and satisfaction). These findings are insightful and provide a response to calls for research on these issues. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that ethical CSR practices strongly influence employees' satisfaction and engagement levels; legal and discretionary CSR activities also have an influence, though to a lesser extent; and the economic dimension of CSR activities has the least impact. The managerial, practical and further research implications of these findings are discussed.     

管理者自恋会导致员工沉默吗:心理安全感与上下级关系的作用

员工沉默是近年来组织行为学领域关注的热点问题.本研究基于进化心理学理论和领导成员交换理论,构建管理者自恋与员工沉默关系的研究模型.通过两阶段的问卷调查,检验管理者自恋与员工沉默的关系、 心理安全感的中介作用及上下级关系的调节作用.研究结果表明:(1)管理者自恋与员工沉默显著正相关,员工的心理安全感在两者之间起部分中介作用;(2)上下级关系负向调节管理者自恋与心理安全感之间的关系,即上下级关系质量越高,管理者自恋与员工心理安全感的负相关关系越弱;(3)上下级关系显著负向调节心理安全感对管理者自恋与员工沉默之间关系的中介作用,即上下级关系质量越高,心理安全感的中介作用就越强;反之则越弱.     

From employee engagement to customer engagement: A multilevel dual-path model of engagement spillover effects in service ecosystems

Researchers have acknowledged that focusing only on single-actor engagement is insufficient to address the nature of multi-actor, value co-creation within a service ecosystem. This study aims to understand how multi-actor service ecosystems work. Given the spillover effects of multi-actor engagement, this study proposes a multilevel, dual-path model, through which employee job and organizational engagement influence customer engagement. Mplus 7.31 was adopted to analyze the multilevel model. The results identified two subtle influencing mechanisms from employee engagement to customer engagement, which demonstrated the existence of engagement spillover from employees to customers. The finding provides preliminarily confirmation of the value of using a beyond transaction path focus to improve service-profit chain outcomes. From a management perspective, the study offers insight into how firms can operate more effectively by integrating key actors in a collaborative manner.     

Structural relationships among organisation service orientation,employee service performance,and consumer identification

Numerous studies have examined relationship behaviour linking enterprises and consumers from the enterprise perspective rather than the consumer perspective, including consumer approval and relationship maintenance. To redress this imbalance, this study investigates three issues linking the enterprise and consumer perspectives. The first issue involves analysing the influence on the consumers that arises from integrated internal and external environmental resources using service orientation business strategies. The second issue involves exploring the foundations of the relationship factors based on consumer identification that serves to establish consumer relationships. The third issue involves discussing consumer and staff evaluations and experiences of the service. The following opinions can be induced based on the analytical results. Both internal and external environmental characteristics positively affect the service orientation of business. Service orientation positively impacts consumer perceptions of employee service performance. Consumer perceptions of employee service performance have positively impacted consumer identification.     

Echoes of Silence: Employee Silence as a Mediator Between Overall Justice and Employee Outcomes

Despite burgeoning interest in employee silence, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of (a) the antecedents of employee silence in organizations and (b) the implications of engaging in silence for employees. Using two experimental studies (Study 1a, N = 91; Study 1b, N = 152) and a field survey of full-time working adults (Study 2, N = 308), we examined overall justice as an antecedent of acquiescent (i.e., silence motivated by futility) and quiescent silence (i.e., silence motivated by fear of sanctions). Across the studies, results indicated that overall justice is a significant predictor of both types of silence in organizations. Furthermore, Study 2 indicated that the implications of silence extend beyond the restriction of information flow in organizations to include employee outcomes. Specifically, acquiescent silence partially or fully mediated the relationship between overall justice perceptions and emotional exhaustion, psychological withdrawal, physical withdrawal, and performance. Quiescent silence partially mediated these relationships, with the exception of performance. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for both the justice and silence literatures are discussed.     

To be engaged or not to be engaged: The antecedents and consequences of service employee engagement

Drawing on the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model, this study explores the antecedents and consequences of service employee engagement. The model examines the main effect of resources (autonomy, feedback, and support) on engagement and how the interaction among resources impacts engagement. Further, the model also examines the mediating role of engagement in linking resources to customers' perceived level of service employee performance. The study uses multi-level modeling on data from 482 service employees and customers in 66 retail stores. Results suggest that supervisory feedback is positively related to engagement while supervisory support is not. More engagement is related to more positive service employee performance. Regarding the interactions, supervisory support had a positive effect while supervisory feedback had a negative effect on engagement at high levels of perceived autonomy. Also, engagement was a full mediator between supervisory feedback and service employee performance. Implications for retail service management are discussed.     

The dimensions of international hotel employee service attitude and their managerial implications

The purpose of this paper is to determine the dimensions of international hotel employee service attitude and the differences in customer satisfaction with these dimensions among guests from the USA, Japan, and Taiwan, and the resulting practical managerial implications in the area of international hotel operation. Using exploratory factor analysis, service attitude is divided into four dimensions: problem solving, empathic feeling, enthusiastic service, and friendliness. The results of the study reveal that there are significant differences in satisfaction with customer service among three national sets of tourists by the use of ANOVA. These findings are followed by a discussion of their implications for hotel management in the areas of employee recruitment, training, and motivation, with suggestions on how to improve the various dimensions of hotel employee service attitude and thereby, the corresponding customer satisfaction.     

Achieving favourable customer outcomes through employee deviance

This study advances current knowledge by examining how employee deviance and customer participation during a single employee–customer exchange generate favourable customer responses. This work bridges the employee deviance stream with the service encounter literature and illustrates the importance of equity theory in deviant service exchanges between customers and employees. Moreover, results add to the ongoing debate on service nepotism by canvassing the consequences from the customer’s active participation in deviant exchanges which appears to enhance customer perceptions of the exchange. A 3?×?2 between-subjects experimental design was adopted which manipulates three types of pro-customer deviance along with customer’s participation (or not) to the exchange. The dependent variables capture three types of perceived customer justice (cognitive outcomes) and customer’s affective state (affective outcome). Findings illustrate that customers approve employees’ deviance for their own benefit while also indicate favourable outcomes from deviant exchanges with employees such as higher perceived justice and a more positive affective state. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and research directions that emerge from this study.     

Organizational intellectual capital and its relation to frontline service employee innovative behavior: consumer value co-creation behavior as a moderator

Frontline service employee innovative behavior is “the moment of truth” that significantly affects organizational performance. Yet, little research has investigated the effect of organizational intellectual capital on frontline service employee innovative behavior. This study used SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 20.0 to examine the structural model and the hypothetical effects of (1) different dimensions of organizational intellectual capital on frontline service employee innovative behavior and (2) consumer value co-creation on frontline service employee innovative behavior along the dimensions of organizational intellectual capital. A total of 282 valid questionnaires were collected from frontline service employees working at a travel agency located in Taipei, Taiwan. Human capital and customer capital were found to positively affect frontline service employee innovative behavior. The interactions between consumer value co-creation and human and customer capital had a significant moderating effect on frontline service employee innovative behavior.     

Leveraging employee emotional intelligence in casino profitability

Drawing on the link between service quality and casino profitability, this paper describes the roles of frontline employees in delivering casino service quality and analyses how management can nurture employee emotional intelligence's (EEI) contribution to casino revenue growth. This study is conceptual in nature. The analysis builds from identifying the emotional contents embracing service encounter involving casino frontline employees and customers. The identification area approaches from emotional work performed by employees, referred to as emotional labor, the emotional service delivered by casinos, customer attributed emotions and emotional contagion. The study comprehensively analyses how EEI can manage and regulate emotionally charged service encounters which subsequently affect customers’ perception of employee behaviours and service performance over service encounters. These encounter performance forms customers’ perception of casino service quality which leads to customer loyalty and ultimately casino profitability. This theory-focused study presents an additional venue with great potential for casinos to enhance business performance and financial growth, as well as providing new insights into the role of EEI in organizations for researchers in the relevant field.     

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 impact of high-performance work systems in the health-care industry: employee reactions,service quality,customer satisfaction,and customer loyalty

The purpose of this study is to empirically test the effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on employee attitude, service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in health-care organisations. The proposed research model was tested using structural equation modelling for hypotheses, based on data collected from 196 pairs of employee–customer respondents in four selected hospitals with more than 500 beds. The results indicate that hospitals can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through efficient operations, employee engagement, and service quality. One of the key findings of our study is that HPWS in health-care organisations influence employee reaction and service quality.     

Service climate and employee service performance: exploring the moderating role of job stress and organizational identification

Drawing on a sample of 368 frontline employees and 45 managers from five Chinese banks, this study examined the relationship between service climate and frontline employee service performance, including in-role and extra-role performance, and the difference of this relationship considering the moderating role of employee's emotional experience (job stress and organizational identification). Empirical results indicated the positive effect of service climate on service performance as hypothesized. Moreover, job stress negatively moderated the relationship between service climate and extra-role performance, while organizational identification positively moderated the climate–performance relationship.     

Evidence-based recommendations for employee performance monitoring

From security cameras to GPS tracking systems, nearly 80% of organizations use some type of electronic performance monitoring (EPM). EPM uses technology to gather, store, analyze, and report employee behavior (e.g., productivity, use of company time, incivility). The objective, real-time data that EPM systems collect can be used for performance appraisal, training and development, logistical tracking, wellness programs, employee safety, and more. Despite the organizational benefits of EPM, these systems can have adverse effects on employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, fairness perceptions, and employee behavior. Research provides evidence, however, that these downfalls can be mitigated by implementing these systems with employee attitudes and privacy perceptions in mind. Using theory and empirical research evidence, we offer five recommendations for maximizing the positive effects and minimizing the negative effects of EPM: (1) Be transparent with employees about EPM use, (2) be aware of all potential employee reactions to being monitored, (3) use EPM for learning and development rather than deterrence, (4) restrict EPM to only work-related behaviors, and (5) consider organizational makeup when implementing an EPM system.     

A CSR perspective to foster employee creativity in the banking sector: The role of work engagement and psychological safety

The entire service sector has acknowledged the importance of employee creativity. However, the underlying mechanism due to which employees are engaged in creativity has been relatively unexplored. Moreover, where the banking service sector in advanced countries has realized the potential role of employee creativity for a bank's success, the same was not fully realized in the context of a developing country, especially in Pakistan. Against this backdrop, the current study is an effort to explore the underlying mechanism of employee creativity as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the mediating effects of work engagement (WE) and psychological safety (PS) in the banking sector of Pakistan. Data were collected (n = 483) from banking employees through a self-administered questionnaire, which used the paper and pencil method. The hypotheses of the current survey were validated by employing structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software. The results confirmed that employee creativity, as an outcome of CSR, was significantly influenced by the CSR orientation of a bank. Furthermore, PS and WE produced a significant mediation effect (41%) between the relationship of CSR and employee creativity. The findings of the current study are helpful to the banking sector of Pakistan in understanding the CSR-employee creativity mechanism, which is of utmost importance from the standpoint of competition.     

Quantifying the link between employee engagement,and customer satisfaction and retention in the car rental industry

In the retail service industry, employee engagement may play an important role in customer satisfaction and retention, as employees often interact directly with customers. This paper investigates the empirical link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction and retention by analyzing a unique data set from a large car rental company. Our analysis makes use of retirement-induced employee turnover as an exclusion restriction that is plausibly induced by employee age, thereby allowing for variation in employee engagement that is partially exogenous to common underlying factors that also impact customer satisfaction and retention. We show that there is a positive effect of employee engagement on customer satisfaction and retention. Further analysis of moderating effects highlight potential limits to employee engagement, as service disruptions in the form of car downgrades can dampen the positive effects of employee engagement. However, despite the dampened impact of employee engagement its overall effect remains positive indicating that employee engagement can be a key factor in building resilience to unforeseen service disruptions.

     

The relationship between perceived training opportunities,work motivation and employee outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between training opportunities and employee outcomes. A cross‐sectional survey of 343 trainees from a broad range of Norwegian service organizations showed that the relationship between perceived training opportunities, and both task performance and citizenship behaviors were fully mediated, and that the relationship between perceived training opportunities and turnover intention was partially mediated by employee intrinsic motivation. In addition, intrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between perceived training opportunities and organizational citizenship behaviors. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship for those with high intrinsic motivation. In sum, the variables included as predictors in our study explained 13 per cent of the variance in task performance, 19 per cent of the variance in organizational citizenship behavior and 24 per cent of the variance in turnover intention. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ethical work climate,employee commitment and proactive customer service performance: Test of the mediating effects of organizational politics

This study examined the mediating effects of organizational politics on the relationships between ethical work climate and two employee outcomes: affective commitment and proactive customer service performance. Using 200 survey responses collected from six shopping malls, we found that perceived ethical work climate had a direct effect on employee perceptions of organizational politics, affective commitment and proactive customer service performance. Moreover, perceived organizational politics partially mediated the relationship between ethical climate and affective commitment, but not that between ethical climate and proactive customer service behavior. We recommend retailers develop ethical climate to strengthen their competitive advantage.     

Managing employee attention and internal branding

We extend the marketing literature on internal branding by developing a theoretical framework to explain the processes whereby brand orientation affects in- and extra-role employee brand-building behavior from the theoretical perspective of the attention-based view. The results of a survey of 314 UK-based nonprofit organizations show that brand orientation leads to the development of internal branding mechanisms, which in turn fosters in-role employee brand-building behaviors. We also find that internal branding mechanisms mediate the effects of brand orientation on extra-role employee brand-building behavior, as there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between internal branding mechanisms and extra-role employee brand-building behaviors. Furthermore, our result shows that the inverted U-shaped relationship between internal branding mechanisms and extra-role employee brand-building behaviors flips to a concave upward curve when strong interfunctional communications exist.