Control mechanisms and goal orientations: evidence from frontline service employees

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of organizational controls, both formal and informal, over the goal orientations of frontline employees. The goal orientations of employees, namely, in frontline settings, have been associated with a number of positive outcomes for organizations. Not surprisingly, past research has identified several personal characteristics with an influence on goal orientations. However, the contextual variables that influence employees’ goal orientations remain unspecified.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors distributed approximately 1,350 questionnaires through the frontline employees of a Brazilian bank and obtained 296 usable responses. The questionnaire relies on previously validated scales. The final confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) obtained a good fit and provided evidence of scale validity.

Findings

Overall, our results suggest that both formal and informal control mechanisms play a significant role explaining employees’ goal orientation. However, informal control mechanisms were found to play a more significant role explaining employees’ goal orientation.

Research limitations/implications

This paper relies on employees from a single organization. In addition, it has a cross-sectional nature. The procedural and statistical remedies employed in this study suggest that method variance is not a concern.

Practical implications

The results show that managers may resort to control mechanisms to influence the goal orientations of frontline service employees in a manner that is consistent with organizational objectives.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of control mechanisms on employees’ goal orientation.

Citation

Rodrigues, L.C.A., Coelho, F.J. and Sousa, C.M.P. (2015), "Control mechanisms and goal orientations: evidence from frontline service employees", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 3/4, pp. 350-371. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2014-0008