The crisis cloud's silver linings: The effects of hope and gratitude on employee burnout and engagement

A crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic has a tremendous impact on organisations and their employees. Building on the job demands–resources model, conservation of resources theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we examined the influence of job stressors on employee burnout, as well as how positive emotions can help employees thrive in tough times. We collected data from 503 Australian employees during the transition period of the COVID-19 crisis, when the country had reached a high vaccination rate and was starting to prepare to return to pre-crisis normal. Our findings show that financial insecurity has a direct impact on employee burnout, whereas a health threat has only an indirect effect. Further, our findings highlight the importance of positive emotions. Hope for the post-crisis future was found to buffer the negative impact of financial insecurity and reduce employee burnout, and feeling gratitude at work was found to mitigate the effects of burnout and enhance employee engagement even when employees are emotionally exhausted.     

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.     

Provision of human capital by business schools of Pakistan: A need for the sustainability of the Pakistani banking sector

Economic growth of Pakistan through the banking sector relies heavily on the human capital dispensed to them by the Pakistani business schools. A conceptual model of the continuous improvement cycle for building human capital is developed through a literature review, with the aim of helping to generate human capital. Six semistructured interviews were conducted with bank branch managers and eight junior bank managers to gauge the extent to which this model was being followed so that the growth in the Pakistani banking sector remains. The results showed that a linear model was currently in place where there was no room for continuous improvement for building human capital for the banking sector.     

Brand engagement in self-concept and consumer engagement in social media: The role of the source

This three-group between-subjects experimental research investigates the extent to which consumer engagement with a social media branded post is directly affected by individuals’ tendency to incorporate brands as part of their self-concept (BESC) and whether this relationship is moderated by individuals’ exposure to three different post source types. Participants were exposed to one of three Instagram social media posts of a luxury brand, where the only manipulated factor was the type of source. Findings show that there is a positive relationship between BESC and post engagement. The study also shows that content source plays a moderating role in the relationship between BESC and post engagement, such that individuals with high BESC will engage significantly more with content posted by other users, compared with branded sources (brand, influencer).     

The role of customer online brand experience in customers' intention to forward online company-generated content: The case of the Islamic online banking sector in Palestine

The purpose of this study is twofold: Firstly, to assess the impact of customer online brand experience (COBE) with online banking on customer's intention to forward online company-generated content (CGC). Secondly, to explore the role of online brand community engagement (OBCE) and the perceived trust of brand community page (BCP) as mediating variables between COBE and the intention to forward online CGC. This research conducted an online survey among various Islamic bank customers in Palestine who were members of online brand communities (fan pages) on Facebook. 375 valid responses were collected and results revealed that COBE exerts a dual influence on intention to forward CGC. This study is a pioneering empirical research on the role of OBCE in customers' intention to forward online CGC within the fast-growing Islamic banking industry. This study contributes to fill this research gap by assessing the effect of COBE on OBCE and intention to forward online CGC within the context of the Islamic online banking sector in Palestine. In this sense, this study is a first-of-its-kind research on the role of experience on customer engagement with regard to online brand communities of Islamic banks.     

The effect of the Internet on front-line employee skills: exploring banking in Sweden and France

This paper aims to explore (1) the Internet effects on the nature of the face-to-face service encounter and (2) what demands this introduces on front-line service employee skills in a banking context. The paper draws on empirical data generated from two banks in Sweden and France, where in-depth interviews with 21 managers have been carried out. The paper argues that in light of the Internet, the face-to-face service encounter is becoming increasingly interactive and customized, where much attention is paid towards building and maintaining relationships with customers, providing advice and support in customer's decision making, and also, learning from and acquiring qualitative information about the customer. This up-scaling of the face-to-face service encounter entails an increase in job complexity and task discretion, involving demands for high-level skills such as information provisioning and evaluation, and emotional skills such as empathy, interpretive skills, conversational skills, and management of body language.     

It takes two to tango: The role of customer empathy and resources to improve the efficacy of frontline employee empathy

This study investigates the link between employee empathy and customer satisfaction. Building on social exchange theory, we develop a model of employee-customer empathy. We focus on the central role of customer-oriented behaviour in explaining the empathy-satisfaction relationship, predicting that employee empathy positively influences customer-oriented behaviour, which in turn enhances customer-satisfaction. We also examine the moderating roles of customer empathy, as well as of customer resources. Results of a dyadic-survey study of 211 pairs of frontline employees and their customers support the proposed moderated -mediation model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Role of authentic leadership and personal mastery in predicting employee creative behavior: A self-determination perspective

Personality dispositions and their role in inducing employee creative behavior are well documented in the literature. However, much is unexplored about the collective and relative contribution of personality orientations and environmental factors in explaining creative behavior. This study used a framework based on selfdetermination theory (SDT) to measure the combined and relative contribution of personal mastery orientation and authentic leadership in predicting employee creative behavior as mediated by autonomous motivation. A self-reported survey was conducted among software developers working in software houses. The results of the study show that both personal mastery and authentic leadership are significant predictors of employee creative behavior. In addition, autonomous motivation significantly mediates the relationship between personal mastery, authentic leadership, and creative behavior. The findings of the study lend support to the combined effect of personality orientation and environmental factors in predicting employee creative behavior and test the SDT framework’s efficacy in predicting creative behavior.     

A cross cultural investigation of retailers commitment to CSR and customer citizenship behaviour: The role of ethical standard and value relevance

Factors promoting customer citizenship behaviour are of great interest to both practitioners and academics because customer citizenship behaviour is a notable driver of business success. This study examines the role of value relevance and ethical standards in shaping consumers perceptions about retailers commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its effects on customer citizenship behaviour under different cultural contexts. It also examines the critical role of personality in shaping citizenship behaviours. Data from the UK and Egyptian consumers were collected and analysed. Data were collected from 1757 consumers and analysed using structural equation modelling (PLS/SEM). The findings indicated that value relevance and ethical standards are key drivers of retailer commitment to CSR, which in turns lead to customer citizenship behaviour. Moreover, the multiple-group analysis revealed that the degree of effect of these variables on customer citizenship behaviour differs between customers in Egypt and the UK. Specifically, the effect of value relevance and ethical standards on retailer commitment to CSR is stronger for the Egyptian customers than for the UK customers, while, CSR has stronger effects on customer citizenship behaviour for the British consumers than for the Egyptian customers. The managerial and theoretical implications were identified.     

Retaining and engaging older workers: A solution to worker shortages in the U.S.

Over the next 20 years, many organizations will experience significant shortages of skilled workers. At the same time, because of longer lifespans and a gradual rise in what society has considered the traditional retirement age of 65, older workers will represent a growing proportion of the American workforce. For a variety of reasons, many of these older workers desire to continue working and, if retained and engaged, they constitute a significant labor source for mitigating the emerging shortages of skilled workers. However, many organizations are not prepared to take advantage of this demographic shift; some even generate barriers that impede the retention and engagement of older workers. In this article, we identify a variety of ways in which organizations can retain and engage older workers to meet their staffing needs and enhance organizational performance. We also discuss the relationship of these proposals to prominent theories of motivation in management.     

A different perspective on consumer engagement: exploring the experience of using health apps to support healthier food purchasing

ABSTRACT

Healthy food purchasing behaviour may be facilitated through the use of health apps if used for the necessary time period. However, little is known on the factors that influence the user experience and facilitate or impede their continued use. The purpose of the present research is to explore the lived experience of using a health app to support healthier food purchasing behaviour. Findings identify the presence of behaviour change motivation and anticipated effort levels as drivers of app engagement. It appeared that behavioural, cognitive and emotional dimensions of engagement may influence one another, driven by contextual influences, to simultaneously contribute to the intrinsic experience of engagement. The research makes practical and theoretical contributions to the consumer engagement literature and highlights the need to focus on understanding and capturing the specific engagement context to better understand engagement.     

From active participation to engagement in online communities: Analysing the mediating role of trust and commitment

The advent of new media and the internet has brought social media to the fore of all brand communications. Marketers are looking at leveraging social media and all its capabilities to their advantage so as to build and manage customer relationships while also co-creating brand experiences. Online communities are one of the most preferred choices of marketers, from among all the tools and features that social media offers. The present study aims to understand how user’s active participation in online communities is instrumental in influencing their engagement with the community. The above relationship is tested on a sample of 203 respondents, using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), where trust and commitment are explored as mediators. While trust is found to partially mediate the relationship between active participation and engagement, commitment acts as a full mediator. The influence of personal characteristics (membership duration, gender) is also explored as an ancillary outcome to the study.     

Stay close! The role of leader distance in the relationship between transformational leadership,work engagement,and performance in undergraduate project teams

The author aimed to show that (a) transformational leadership is related to project teams’ performance via work engagement and (b) leader distance moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. The proposed moderated mediation model was tested using 180 students in an undergraduate management course and working in project teams. The findings supported only the relationship between work engagement and performance, and thus transformational leadership does not appear to be useful in undergraduate project teams. However, the nonsignificant moderator effect revealed an unexpected finding for a direct and marginally significant relationship between leader distance and work engagement.     

Ethics institutionalization, quality of work life, and employee job-related outcomes: A survey of human resource managers in Thailand

This research investigates the association between institutionalization of ethics, quality of work life (QWL), and employee job-related outcomes in the Thai work place. The data were collected by means of questionnaires mailed to human resource managers of 514 Thai companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The response rate was 31.9%. Our survey results reveal a positive relationship between implicit form of ethics institutionalization and both lower-order and higher-order aspects of QWL. The results also indicate that the implicit form of ethics institutionalization and the two aspects of QWL have positive impacts on the three employee job-related outcomes: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and team spirit. The research findings not only validate the research findings in the U.S. but also verify the importance of ethics institutionalization and QWL programs for business organizations in Thailand.     

Psychological antecedents of consumer trust in CRM campaigns and donation intentions: The moderating role of creativity

Cause-related marketing (CRM) refers to charitable donation contingent on consumer purchase of a product by supporting a specific cause that is linked to a non-profit organization (NPO). The present research examines the influence of consumer psychographic traits on trust in CRM campaign and its resulting impact on intention to donate money to NPO. The results indicate that collectivism and hedonism have positive effect on trust in CRM campaign, but individualism and utilitarianism have negative effect on trust in CRM campaign. Moreover, the result shows that trust in the CRM campaign had significant positive effect on donation intentions. We further have investigated the role of cognitive process and demonstrated the moderating effect of creativity on the impact of trust in CRM campaign and donation intentions, such that the higher level of creativity led to higher level of donation intentions, if consumers have trust in CRM campaign. This research offers marketers and advertising professionals’ practical insights to design effective CRM campaigns. Additionally, it assists NPO managers to understand the crucial role of trust and creativity in CRM campaigns and its positive impact on donation intentions. Academic and managerial implications of this research study along with future directions are discussed.     

Quality of channel integration and customer loyalty in omnichannel retailing: The mediating role of customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness

The aim of this study was to understand how omnichannel integration quality affects customer loyalty through customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness and to verify the relationship between customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness in omnichannel retailing. Data was collected through a questionnaire with 378 available respondents. PLS-SEM was exerted to examine the model. The results disclosed the positive influence of omnichannel integration quality on customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness, which consequently impacted customer loyalty. Also, the positive influence of customer engagement on relationship program receptiveness was proved. Further, the role as mediators of customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness was explored. This study contributed to the omnichannel literature by confirming that psychological and behavioral customer engagement plays a vital role in omnichannel retailing. This study also helped omnichannel retailers understand that providing a seamless, consistent and reassuring environment can facilitate customer engagement and thereby gain customer loyalty.     

Leader-member exchange and employee work outcomes in Chinese firms: the mediating role of job satisfaction

This study investigates the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationships between leader-member exchange (LMX) and employee work outcomes in Chinese firms, namely, organizational commitment and intention to leave. Based on the data collected from the four manufacturing firms based in China, the hierarchical regression analyses strongly support our theoretical predication that job satisfaction fully mediates the relationships between LMX and employees’ organizational commitment and intention to leave. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Investigating the Effect of Employee Empathy on Service Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Trust in and Satisfaction with a Service Employee

Abstract

This study examines the indirect effect of employee empathy on service loyalty through the intervening effect of trust in and satisfaction with service employees during service interactions. Data were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire from university students. A total of 410 useable responses were used to perform data analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping for indirect effects were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results show a significant effect of employee empathy on trust in service employee and satisfaction with service employee during customer–employee interactions. Also, satisfaction with a service employee showed a significant effect on service loyalty during service interactions. The study enhances the understanding of empathy within banking services during interactions between service employees and customers. It also provides insights for service managers and frontline service employees on how empathy develops customer’s trust and satisfaction with service employee.     

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.     

Customer engagement in the context of retail mobile apps: A contingency model integrating spatial presence experience and its drivers

This study develops and investigates the mechanisms through which retail mobile-app cognitions—i.e., interactivity and vividness—are translated into spatial presence experience and subsequently result in customer engagement under the parasol of the hierarchy-of-effects model and the situated cognition theory. The contingency roles of need for cognition and domain-specific interest as individual intrinsic tendencies and issue-specific motivations, respectively, are also scrutinized. A dataset obtained from a survey of 558 customers is employed to estimate the proposed research model. The results indicate that interactivity and vividness significantly stimulate the spatial presence experience, i.e., feelings of “being there” in the mobile-app environment; in turn, this drives customers to become more engaged and contribute to retailers that provide such experiences. The moderating roles of the two motivations are also identified.