How do customer-related characteristics influence frontline bank employees' boundary spanning behaviors?

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigated the influence of ambiguous customer expectations and customer demandingness, which reflect hindrance and challenge demands, on the boundary spanning behaviors (BSBs) of frontline bank employees (FBEs) through person-job fit and work engagement. It also examined the moderating effect of customer stewardship between job demands and work engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Data of 296 FBEs in the retail banking industry in the Republic of Korea were collected through an online survey and analyzed.

Findings

Ambiguous customer expectations acted as hindrance demands and negatively affected FBEs' psychological process. Additionally, customer demandingness positively affected FBEs' psychological process as challenge demands. Moreover, person-job fit and work engagement improved the BSBs of FBEs as a psychological motivation process. Lastly, customer stewardship buffered the negative influence of ambiguous customer expectations on work engagement while strengthening the positive influence of customer demandingness on work engagement.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the marketing literature by presenting customer-related characteristics influencing the BSBs of FBEs and exploring the psychological response processes. First, this study presents empirical evidence that ambiguous customer expectations and customer demandingness play the role of hindrance and challenge demands, respectively. Second, it confirms that customer-related characteristics affect the BSBs of FBEs through psychological processes. Finally, it enriches the authors' understanding of customer stewardship as a job resource by exploring the role of customer stewardship in moderating the relationship between different types of job demands and work engagement.

Citation

Lee, M.-S. and Yoo, J. (2023), "How do customer-related characteristics influence frontline bank employees' boundary spanning behaviors?", International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 41 No. 7, pp. 1945-1973. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-12-2022-0541