The formation of a cross-selling initiative climate and its interplay with service climate
ISSN: 0309-0566
Article publication date: 12 April 2018
Issue publication date: 21 June 2018
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the formation and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, as well as how a service climate, which provides an important boundary condition, affects both its formation and its ultimate impact on service-sales performance. This article identifies two important predictors of a cross-selling initiative climate: frontline employees’ perceptions of supervisors’ bottom-line mentality and their own sense of accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The multilevel data set includes 180 frontline staff and supervisors (team leaders) from 31 teams employed by a spa/beauty salon chain. Hierarchical linear modelling and partial least squares methods serve to analyse the data.
Findings
Supervisors’ bottom-line mentality disrupts a cross-selling initiative climate. A sense of accountability exerts a positive impact at both individual and team levels. A service climate at the team level weakens the impact of a sense of accountability on a cross-selling initiative climate. A cross-selling initiative climate has a positive effect on team-level service-sales performance, but this effect is weakened by the service climate.
Originality/value
This study conceptualises an important frontline work unit attribute as a climate. It offers an initial argument that a cross-selling initiative climate is a central factor driving a work unit’s service-sales performance, which can increase firms’ productivity and competitive advantages. With this initial attempt to explore the antecedents and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, the study also offers novel insights into the interplay between a service and a cross-selling initiative climate.
Keywords
Citation
Yu, T., de Ruyter, K., Patterson, P. and Chen, C.-F. (2018), "The formation of a cross-selling initiative climate and its interplay with service climate", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52 No. 7/8, pp. 1457-1484. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-08-2016-0487
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited