Work design and frontline employee engagement
Journal of Service Theory and Practice
ISSN: 2055-6225
Article publication date: 8 August 2018
Issue publication date: 4 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
In response to calls for the identification of approaches that promote frontline employee (FLE) engagement, the purpose of this paper is to extend the current understanding of the influence of work design by testing competing mediating models that assess job resource and social exchange aspects of work design as either intermediate or antecedent mechanisms in reciprocal social exchanges between service provider firms and FLEs. Moderating effects of interactions between job resources and organizational support and customer focus on engagement are also assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire is administered to 525 FLEs from multiple service industries. Structural equation modeling is used to test hypotheses and examine their robustness relative to competing models. Common method bias is assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis marker variable technique.
Findings
Organizational support and customer focus are identified as proximal mediating social exchange aspects of work design that, consistent with role-specific conceptualizations of engagement, differentially influence FLE job and organization engagement.
Practical implications
The study findings offer insight about how firms can implement job resource and social exchange aspects of work design to favorably influence FLE engagement.
Originality/value
Services marketing research continues to focus more on service recipients than on FLE service providers. The examination of reciprocal social exchanges between service provider firms and FLEs sheds light on the complexities associated with exploiting aspects of work design to more effectively engage FLEs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge their gratitude to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting the examination of competing mediation and moderation models, enhancing the study’s conceptual contribution and the robustness of the proposed hypotheses.
Citation
“Miracle” Qi, J., Ellinger, A.E. and Franke, G.R. (2018), "Work design and frontline employee engagement", Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 636-660. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-04-2017-0061
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited