Reducing service sabotage and improving employee commitment to service quality

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of formal [ethics training (ET)] and informal [psychological ethical climate (EC)] controls in reducing service sabotage (SS) and increasing employee commitment to service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were electronically collected from a national survey of hotel/motel customer contact employees leading to a usable sample of 316 employees. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings indicate that ET can be used to positively influence the EC of customer contact service employees, which, in turn, reduces their SS behavior and increases their commitment to service quality.

Practical implications

Management should incorporate both formal (ET) and informal (EC) controls to bring about less SS and greater commitment to service quality among customer contact employees in service settings.

Originality/value

This research furthers the understanding of SS by finding an important variable, EC that may be used to reduce its incidence in service settings. Further, it shows that EC is an important contributor to improving ECSQ. As such, this research gives important direction for companies wishing to improve the customer service experience.

Citation

Schwepker, Jr, C.H., Dimitriou, C.K. and McClure, T. (2019), "Reducing service sabotage and improving employee commitment to service quality", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 615-625. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2019-0009