Perceived uncertainty in self‐managed service teams: an empirical assessment

Abstract

This empirical study examines the impact of context‐team factors and team‐employee factors on perceived uncertainty in self‐managed service teams. The results of our study show that context‐team factors rather than team‐employee factors are critical to the extent of uncertainty employees perceive when providing customer service. Furthermore, perceived uncertainty has negative impact on self‐managed team outcomes in terms of job satisfaction and intention to leave the team. Besides this, our findings indicate that team commitment to customer service quality can serve as an effective tool to handle the negative consequences of perceived uncertainty in self‐managed service teams. Finally, in addition to the cross‐sectional analysis, a longitudinal exploration has been carried out, the outcomes of which suggest that the structural relationships are changing over time, underlining the need to take dynamic considerations into account in analyzing the effectiveness of self‐managed work teams.

Citation

de Jong, A., de Ruyter, K., Streukens, S. and Ouwersloot, H. (2001), "Perceived uncertainty in self‐managed service teams: an empirical assessment", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 158-183. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564230110387533