The consequences of customer-oriented constructive deviance in luxury-hotel restaurants

Prior research has illustrated the antecedents of customer-oriented constructive deviance. However, research on their consequences has been limited. To clarify the relationship between customer-oriented constructive deviance and its outcome, the present study is based on affective event theory and posits that customer-oriented constructive deviance predicts customer gratitude and employee guilt, which in turn lead to customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty, respectively. This research also investigates how service and ethical climates moderate these relationships. Based on a dataset comprising 223 matched employee–customer pairs collected from luxury hotel restaurants, we found that customer-oriented constructive deviance is positively related to customer loyalty, but negatively related to employee loyalty. Furthermore, service and ethical climates are found to have disparate impacts on these relationships. Our findings call attention to a potential risk that managers should be aware of when they manage customer-oriented constructive deviance to achieve greater customer service.     

Employee Flow as an Integrated and Qualitative System: Impact on Business-to-Business Service Quality

Purpose: This article develops and tests the effect of a complete model of employee flow on business-to-business (B2B) customer service outcomes.

Methodology: Employee flow in organizations refers to all inflows, outflows, and internal movements of staff, and is a crucial human resources area. However, research rarely deals with employee flow as a whole. Instead, studies generally limit themselves to individual employee flow aspects, such as employee turnover, and limit outcomes to internal organizational issues. This study employs hierarchical regression and structural equation to model the effect of an integrated and qualitative measure on B2B service quality through the INDSERV scale.

Findings: Employee flow, especially net outflows, affects service quality perceptions through various mediated relationships. Employee flow affects outcome quality through potential and soft process quality and impacts hard process quality through potential quality. Relationship frequency, supply chain integration of the customer, and environmental characteristics are significant moderators.

Research implications: The introduction of complete employee flow as a predictor variable is a research advance and can be extended to many research settings. Confirmation that INDSERV scales have an internal progression is new and informs future model building.

Practical implications: Managers, especially in bigger and service-oriented companies, might employ integrated employee flow indices as a practical management metric. The tendency of B2B processes to separate client and customer staff (e.g., through technological bridges and call centers) is discouraged by the finding that employee flow affects outcomes partly through soft process, relational quality. Managers should attend to frequency and customer integration.

Contribution: The use of integrated and qualitative employee flow models in modeling service outcomes, especially in B2B settings, is an original contribution, as is the hitherto untested progression within the subconstructs of the INDSERV B2B service quality scale.     

Chatbots and service failure: When does it lead to customer aggression

Artificial intelligence technology is changing the way services are delivered and introducing opportunities for new sources of service failure. The purpose of this paper is to examine how customers might respond (emotion- or problem-focused coping) to service failure of a chatbot when there is an option to interact with a human employee. Using data from 145 participants, we found that in a chatbot service failure context, telling a customer late in the service interaction that a human employee is available to help leads customers to engage in emotion-focused coping, resulting in customer aggression. The positive relationship between late disclosure and emotion-focused coping occurs with those who perceive low customer participation whereby they do not believe they are overly involved in co-producing and co-delivering the service. This research demonstrates how chatbot service failure in a service encounter can produce different effects on customers’ intention to engage in aggression.     

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 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.     

The authentic service employee: Service employees' language use for authentic service experiences

This study analyzes how service employees' language use influences the authenticity of a service. The extant service literature on language use remains exclusively focused on the customer's perceptions of first language use in direct communication. Shifting the focus to the service employee, this paper posits that language could exert a wider influence, contributing both to how customers perceive the authenticity of the service and the entire service experience. Analyzing language use in service encounters, the paper addresses this research gap in the literature from the perspective of the service employee. In many service settings, authenticity is an important part in customers' construal of their experience. The study analyzes how service employees in British pubs outside the UK may use English with local customers who frequent these pubs to get a taste of Britain and British culture, contributing to the service literature by introducing a typology to align the service employees' language use with authenticity to strengthen the customer experience. The paper further contributes to service theory by extending the understanding of service sabotage by showing how, why, and in which circumstances service employees may use a language switch to sabotage the customer experience. Finally, the study extends the extant human resources literature on the effects of allowing service employees to be themselves to show that this managerial practice not only benefits the service employees also results in a more authentic customer experience.     

Relationship Marketing at the Service Encounter: the Case of Life Insurance

This article details empirical evidence to suggest that, by and large, UK life insurance salespeople fail to be client-driven in their approach to customer service. Furthermore, there is insufficient attention given to the nature of exchanges between service provider and purchaser by these staffs. Therefore, by implication, there is a deficit in relationship marketing implementation at the service encounter and workbench level.     

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.     

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.     

Investigating the service brand: A customer value perspective

Despite considerable interest in the nature and role of marketing using a service perspective [Vargo S., Lusch R. Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. J Mark 2004; 68 (1): 1-17] there is limited research about branding. Research to date tends to be qualitative [e.g., Berry L. Cultivating service brand equity. J Acad Mark Sci 2000; 28: 128-137; de Chernatony L., Segal-Horn S. The criteria for successful services brands. Eur J Mark 2003; 37 (7/8): 1095-1118] rather than quantitative. This research closes this gap by developing and testing a theory of the influence of the service brand on the customer value-loyalty process. The model includes the traditional influence of brand image plus three additional influences that more fully reflect the broader service perspective (company image, employee trust, and company trust). Using survey data of a sample of 552 airline customers, the analysis shows there is a direct influence of all the aspects of the brand on customers' perceptions of value. In addition brand image, company image and employee trust have a mediated influence on customer value through customers' perceptions of service quality. Finally the analysis shows that a service brand does not have a direct influence on customer loyalty but rather its influence is mediated through customer value. This paper concludes with a discussion of the managerial and research implications.     

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.     

Employee versus supervisor ratings of performance in the retail customer service sector: Differences in predictive validity for customer outcomes

Based on data from Maxham and Netemeyer [Maxham, J. G. and R. G. Netemeyer (2003). “Firms Reap What They Sow: The Effects of Employee Shared Values and Perceived Organizational Justice on Customer Evaluations of Complaint Handling,” Journal of Marketing, 67, 46-62], the authors present two field samples to examine predictive validity differences of service employee ratings of their performance versus supervisor ratings of employee performance with respect to customer satisfaction and customer likelihood of spreading positive word-of-mouth (WOM) after a service recovery attempt. The results generally show that supervisor ratings are more strongly positively related to customer satisfaction and WOM than are employee ratings of their own performances. The results also show that both supervisor ratings and employee ratings are related to customer satisfaction and WOM in a curvilinear fashion (as well as linear fashion). Employee extra-role performances (toward customers and the firm) show increasing returns at the higher levels of performance, and employee in-role customer performance generally shows a decreasing return at the higher level of customer in-role performance.These results suggest two managerial implications. First, supervisor ratings of customer service employee performances may be the preferred form of measurement for predicting customer outcomes. Second, maximizing in-role performance inputs may have decreasing returns for customer evaluations in the service recovery context; but maximizing extra-role performance inputs may actually “delight” customers, i.e., increasing returns for customer evaluations.     

好的表演需要好的观众——顾客察觉准确性在员工情绪劳动影响中的作用

基于385对顾客和员工的问卷调查的配对数据,考察了员工的情绪劳动如何影响顾客的信任和忠诚,以及顾客察觉准确性在其中的调节作用。研究结果表明员工的深层表演会促进顾客的信任,进而促进顾客忠诚;顾客对深层扮演的高察觉准确性会加强员工的深层扮演与顾客信任之间的正向关系,而当顾客对表面扮演察觉准确性低时,员工的表面扮演会对顾客信任有正向的影响;顾客的深层/表面扮演察觉准确性加强了深层/表面扮演、顾客信任和忠诚之间的中介效应。研究帮助从情绪的视角更好地理解服务情境中信任的前因变量,发现顾客的察觉准确性在情绪劳动影响过程中的重要作用,有助于服务企业从情绪劳动的角度来建立顾客信任和忠诚。     

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.     

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.     

A conceptual model of the impact of advertising on service employees

Although the importance of the service employee in providing satisfying service encounters has frequently been noted, the effects of organizational marketing actions on employees has been virtually ignored. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of advertising on service employees. Ads can have positive impacts on employee organizational commitment by depicting roles which will encourage congruent expectations among the organization, the employee, and the customer; by clarifying workers' roles in the organization; by communicating the degree to which the organization values employees; and by being accurate in their messages about services, organizational policies, and treatment of employees. This employee organizational commitment is critical to the provision of quality service to consumers.     

The impact of staff empowerment and communication style on customer evaluations: The special case of service failure

Empowering front-line staff to deal with service failures has been proposed as a method of recovering from service breakdown and ensuring greater customer satisfaction. However, no empirical study has investigated consumer responses to empowerment strategies. This research investigates the effect on customer satisfaction and service quality of two employee characteristics: the degree to which the employee is empowered (full, limited, and none), and the employee's communication style (accommodative–informal and personal, and underaccommodative–formal and impersonal). These employee characteristics are studied within the context of service failures. Subjects were shown videotaped service scenarios, and asked to complete satisfaction and service quality ratings. Results revealed that the fully empowered employee produced more customer satisfaction than the other conditions, but only when the service provider used an accommodating style of communication. Fully empowered and nonempowered employees were not judged differently when an underaccommodating style of communication was adopted. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An examination of the congruence and incongruence between employee actual and customer perceived emotional labor

This study examines the effects of the congruence and incongruence between employee actual and customer perceived emotional labor on customer trust. Based on data collected from 510 service employee and customer dyads in restaurants, the results of response surface modeling indicate that customer trust is higher when employee deep acting and customer perceived deep acting are both high rather than both low. Customer trust is also higher when customer perceived deep acting is higher than employee actual deep acting rather than vice versa. The effects are different in surface acting: as employee surface acting and customer perceived surface acting increase, customer trust initially decreases, then increases, exhibiting a U‐shaped effect. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.     

What the eye does not see,the mind cannot reject: Can call center location explain differences in customer evaluations?

Moving call centers offshore may be an effective way to increase service productivity by lowering costs, yet recent research suggests that customers associate offshore call centers with lower service quality. This study clarifies customer evaluations of call centers with a field study that examines how customer perceptions of a foreign accent, call center location, and the agent's customer orientation relate to nonmonetary performance outcomes. Multivariate analysis of data collected from more than 800 customers using call centers located in three countries suggests that neither accent detection nor call center location relates to customer satisfaction, trust, or word-of-mouth communication; only perceived customer orientation has an effect on these outcomes. These findings suggest offshore call center locations are not necessarily associated with lower performance outcomes and that service firms should place a higher priority on ensuring call center agents have a strong customer orientation, rather than on avoiding the use of call centers abroad.     

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.