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.     

顷客心理受权与服务质量和满意感的实证研究

目前,大学生旅游已成为旅游业新的利润增长点,是旅游企业不可忽视的一个市场群体。通过在广州市的三所大学进行了一次实证研究,探讨了顾客心理受权的组成成分及其与服务质量和顾客满意感之间的关系。数据分析结果表明,顾客的消费能力、消费自主权、影响力是顾客心理受权的组成成分,顾客心理受权对服务质量和顾客满意感存在显著影响。     

The Service Industries Journal: Its Ethos and Emphases

This study investigates the dynamics of customer affection and customer trust on customer loyalty intention after cases of service failure and recovery. The results demonstrate that after customers experience service failure and recovery, customer affection has a greater influence on customer trust but less in loyalty intention, whereas customer trust becomes more influential in loyalty intention in comparison to the time prior to a service failure. The findings suggest that the rebuilding of loyalty after a service failure and recovery relies primarily on the recovery of trust and that the key determinant of trust recovery is customer affection. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.     

服务补救——留住顾客的关键

市场竞争日益激烈 ,越来越多的企业认识到维系顾客的重要性 ,而维系顾客的关键在于提高顾客的满意程度 ,只有顾客满意了 ,他们才会长时间的保持对企业的忠诚。但是实际上 ,即使最优秀的企业也难免发生失误 ,难免造成顾客的不满。这就要求企业对其失误进行补救 ,最大限度的降低顾客的不满 ,这就是服务补救。而企业要想真正把服务补救工作做好 ,必须制订完善的服务补救策略 ,来指导企业的服务补救工作。     

客户对雇员的个人忠诚与企业绩效关系研究——基于中国“关系”情境下的多重案例研究

客户忠诚可以划分为客户对公司的忠诚和客户对雇员的忠诚,在转中国"关系"文化情境下,许多企业存在更多的是客户对雇员的个人忠诚.但这种个人忠诚是否有利于提高企业的绩效?是我国许多企业面临的十分严峻的现实问题.本文在相关理论研究回顾的基础上,针对这个问题进行了多重案例研究.研究发现在企业发展的不同阶段,客户对雇员的个人忠诚对企业绩效有不同的影响;管理者应根据企业发展的不同阶段,对客户-雇员忠诚进行有效的管理,充分发挥其对企业绩效的积极作用.     

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.     

服务质量构成要素对顾客满意影响力差异研究--现有顾客同潜在顾客间的比较

本研究通过对银行服务业现有顾客样本和潜在顾客样本的比较分析发现:两种不同类型的顾客样本分析结果都显示服务互动质量和结果质量要素对顾客满意都有显著正影响,顾客满意对(重复)购买或口头传播等行为意向有积极效应。物理环境质量对顾客满意的显著影响效应只是在潜在顾客样本中发现,而在现有顾客样本中并不显著。现有顾客样本的分析结果显示三方面服务质量要素对顾客满意的影响力是有显著差异的,而对于潜在顾客样本,三方面的服务质量要素对顾客满意的形成所起的作用没有显著差别。     

Reducing employee turnover intention: a customer relationship management perspective

Research examining ways to prevent employee turnover has observed varied and often inconsistent findings, yet this remains a challenge to many firms, particularly call centers. This study therefore examines the impact of customer relationship management (CRM) dimensions on employee job satisfaction and intention to quit. A two-step methodological approach utilizing data from the Malaysian call center industry was used. The study conducted preliminary qualitative investigations (from literature and a focus group), and survey data were then used to test the conceptual model via structural equation modeling. The findings establish that a properly initiated and implemented CRM strategy will engender employee job satisfaction thereby resulting in significantly reduced intention to quit. The study identifies the key CRM dimensions that can be useful for call center managers in enhancing employee job satisfaction and averting employee turnover intentions. Implications for marketing theory and practice as well as areas for future research are discussed.     

The effect of perceived economic mobility on customer aggression toward service employees: A darker aspect of customer behavior

The current research illuminates perceived economic mobility (PEM) as a causal antecedent of customer aggression. Study 1 with large‐scale panel data shows that PEM is positively related to attribution of poverty to personal characteristics and self‐centered intention to change jobs. Study 2 based on an experimental design shows that PEM causally induces customer aggression. Study 3 reveals that the effect of PEM on customer aggression varies depending on income; PEM increases customer aggression among low‐income earners, but the effect disappears among high‐income earners. Study 4 examines control over service employees to get self‐beneficial outcomes as a mechanism for the interaction effect of PEM and income on customer aggression. A moderated mediation analysis shows that the indirect effect of PEM on customer aggression through the proposed mechanism is significant among low‐income earners but not among high‐income earners. In sum, main findings of the present article are threefold: (a) PEM induces customer aggression, (b) income moderates the causal relationship, and (c) control to get benefits explains the joint effect of PEM and income on customer aggression. By delineating the dark side of PEM in consumer behavior, this study provides useful marketing implications for lessening side effects.     

Service failure and recovery in using technology-based self-service: effects on user attributions and satisfaction

This study examines service failure and recovery in using technology-based self-service (TBSS) systems to determine the effects of a variety of relevant factors on negative customer/user attributions to the service provider, to employees who try to help in recovery, and to the technology itself, as well as the effects on customer/user satisfaction with the failure/recovery experience. The findings show that immediate recovery of TBSS failures reduces negative attributions and increases customer/user satisfaction with the experience, as does a low-anxiety environment around the kiosk. Technology error (as opposed to user error) decreases user satisfaction. Employee assistance decreases negative attributions to the employee but increases negative attribution to the technology. Some interactions were found among the experimental factors that are also meaningful.     

Determinant Factors and Choice Intention for Chinese Restaurant Dining

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify important selection attributes for customers dining at Chinese restaurants in the state of Indiana, and the determinant and predicting factors in customers' intentions to return. A closed-ended questionnaire was used, and a systematic sampling approach was employed to survey a sample of customers in three Chinese restaurants in Indiana. The data were analyzed using factor and multiple regression analysis. A four-dimensional structure was established from 14 selection attributes. The results of the study indicated four dimensions that were significantly related to the likelihood of customers returning to the same restaurants, as follows: “Food and Environment,” “Service and Courtesy,” “Price and Value,” and “Location, and Advertising and Promotion.”     

Impact of Traditional Chinese Culture on Business-to-Business Relationship Marketing and Service Firm Performance

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This work addresses the mixed findings in relationship marketing studies regarding the importance of traditional culture-level (i.e., interpersonal) relationships on service firm outcomes.

Methodology/approach: This article leverages customer relationship marketing (CRM) theory to advance a framework for understanding the causal relationship between the Chinese cultural worldview and relationship marketing in order to better predict firm performance.

Findings: The author suggests that five major Chinese cultural characteristics—iren-qing, wa-pao, mianzi, chaxu-geju, and collectivism—can qualify the business-to-business (B-to-B) relationship building process and impact the effectiveness of interpersonal and/or group relationships on service firm outcomes.

Research implications: The study’s framework suggests that Chinese cultural characteristics, universal concepts manifest in the activities of Chinese society and organizations, have a positive effect on customer relationship marketing. Chinese culture characteristics can be used to generate excellent relationships with customers and thus create a consumer preference for certain companies and drive service marketing repurchase.

Originality/value/contribution: This study’s theoretical framework (a) distinguishes between Chinese cultural characteristic and relationship marketing relationships; (b) suggests that Chinese cultural characteristics and customer relationship marketing have a positive and substantial effect on service firm performance and that Chinese cultural characteristics are related to customer relationship marketing in their effect on service firm performance; and (c) provides managerially relevant guidelines for strategic sales planning.     

Service Delivery Encounters in Business-to-Business Contexts as a Source of Innovation – A Conceptual and Explorative Study

This article offers a conceptual and empirical view on the potential for innovation impulses stemming from the supplier-customer interface as a more or less unplanned by-product of customer contact of service companies. The empirical findings support the existence of a considerable innovation potential at the supplier-customer interface. Determinants of this source of innovation are identified and suggestions are made as to how companies can tap this potential. A translation of all German literature titles is provided in parentheses     

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.     

Customer Retention Strategies of Fast-Food Outlets in South Africa: A Focus on Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's,and Steers

The primary aim of the research was to critically analyze and evaluate the different customer retention strategies being implemented by fast-food outlets such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nando's, and Steers in South Africa. The fast-food industry in South Africa is experiencing numerous market-related changes, which range from intense globalization forces to heightening competition levels. The pressure on businesses today is further increased by a market where the customer acquisition rate is slowing, customer loyalty is decreasing, and sales cycles are lengthening. In such an environment, losing a valuable customer to a competitor can have a significant impact on profitability and growth. As a result, many companies have shifted their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. The research was primarily concerned with assessing customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and communication through technology as strategies to maintain intimate relationships with customers. Personal interviews and in-depth interviews with the help of questionnaires were used to collect primary data in the research. The results indicated that KFC, Nando's, and Steers adopt similar marketing strategies or use the same concepts to manage their relationships with both internal and external customers and other stakeholders. These strategies and concepts include customer relationship management, relationship marketing, and technological means of communication.     

Psychological contracts and fairness: The effect of violations on customer service behavior

A conceptual model of the effect of psychological contracts and associated fairness perceptions on customer service organizational citizenship behaviors (CSOCB) is presented. Psychological contracts, individually held beliefs regarding employer-employee reciprocal expectations and obligations, provide a basis for the comprehensive perception of organizational justice. In turn, justice perceptions result in CSOCB, or externally directed extra-role behaviors. When customer contact employees perceive violations, these behaviors are likely to be either negative or a reduction of positive behaviors. Future research is discussed.     

Logistics Performance,Customer Satisfaction,and Share of Business: A Comparison of Primary and Secondary Suppliers

The linkage between logistics performance and overall firm performance has received attention in the literature for more than 30 years. However, researchers have not investigated if differences in performance between primary and secondary suppliers affect customer satisfaction and the percentage of business allocated to suppliers. In this research, primary suppliers received more than four times as much business as the secondary suppliers. We investigated the impact of the Marketing Mix on customer satisfaction and share of business for primary suppliers and secondary suppliers, and identified differences between the two groups, using multigroup structural equation modeling. The results indicate that perceived performance on logistics attributes significantly affects customer satisfaction and the percentage of business that is allocated to primary and secondary suppliers, which is key information for developing competitive strategies. Our research findings challenge the practice of providing service levels to customers based on current revenue or profitability which does little to convince customers, who are using a company as secondary source, to make it the primary supplier.     

The Link Between Organizational Ethics and Job Satisfaction: A Study of Managers in Singapore

Based on a survey of 237 managers in Singapore, three measures of organizational ethics (namely, top management support for ethical behavior, the organization's ethical climate, and the association between ethical behavior and career success) are found to be associated with job satisfaction. The link between organizational ethics and job satisfaction is argued from Viswesvaran et al.'s (1998) organizational justice and cognitive dissonance theories. The findings imply that organizational leaders can favorably influence organizational outcomes by engaging in, supporting and rewarding ethical behavior.     

基于服务质量测度的游客满意度影响因素分析——以宏村为例

游客的满意是旅游地提高竞争力、实现旅游地持续发展的主要影响因素。基于顾客满意度感知实绩模型,从旅游服务质量要素测度入手,以皖南世界文化遗产地宏村为例,分析游客满意度情况及其主要影响因素。多元统计逐步回归分析结果表明,游客总体满意度受多因素的共同影响,其中旅游景区、导游服务、购物及餐饮等因素与宏村游客总体满意度有很强的相关性和良好的因果解释关系,宏村游客总体满意度与忠诚度(推荐意愿与重游意愿)之间的相关关系显著。     

人力资源管理实践与员工态度关系研究——基于珠三角192家民营中小高科技企业的问卷调查

文章以珠三角7个国家级高新技术开发区的192家民营中小高科技企业的357份人力资源管理经理和1367份员工的数据,探讨了网络构建的人力资源管理实践影响员工态度的跨层次作用机制。研究结果表明,网络构建的人力资源管理实践与员工态度显著相关,而组织支持完全中介它们之间的关系。最后,对研究的理论意义和现实意义进行了讨论,并提出未来的研究方向。