To read this content please select one of the options below:

How and when internal marketing orientation affects frontline employees’ positive word of mouth: insights from a hotel in China

Zijing Hong (Guangzhou Huashang College Educational Research Institute, Guangzhou, China and Research Base of Guangdong Basic Education Development, Guangzhou, China)
Angela J. Xu (Bay Area International Business School, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China)
Raymond Loi (Department of Management and Marketing, University of Macau, Macau, China)
Cheris W.C. Chow (Department of Management and Marketing, University of Macau, Macau, China)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 26 September 2024

Issue publication date: 15 November 2024

161

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of job crafting, this study aims to investigate how and when internal marketing orientation (IMO) promotes employees’ positive word of mouth (PWOM).

Design/methodology/approach

The two-wave, multisource data came from frontline employees and their supervisors in a hotel located in Eastern China. The hypothesized relationships were tested with Mplus with multilevel path analysis.

Findings

The results reveal that IMO encourages frontline employees to change the task, cognitive and relational boundaries of their jobs. Nevertheless, it is through relational crafting that IMO ultimately affects employees’ PWOM, especially when they work with supervisors high in felt responsibility for constructive change (FRCC).

Research limitations/implications

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies to investigate how organizations and supervisors can work together to encourage frontline employees’ PWOM.

Practical implications

The findings carry important implications for practitioners on how to encourage frontline employees’ PWOM in the service sector.

Originality/value

First, this research adds to the limited knowledge of how organizations and supervisors can work together to promote frontline employees’ PWOM in the service sector. Second, by proposing job crafting as a key intermediary mechanism underlying IMO’s impact on employee PWOM, this research not only offers a new theoretical perspective to understand how to promote frontline employees’ PWOM but also sheds new light on the underlying mechanisms through which IMO exerts its influence on frontline employees. Third, supervisors’ FRCC as a boundary condition of IMO can help service organizations more effectively capitalize on IMO to motivate frontline employees’ engagement in job crafting and subsequent PWOM.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [72372054; 71902070], Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [2024A1515030218; 2023A1515012651] and Guangdong Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science [GD24CGL30].

Author contribution: The first two authors Zijing Hong and Angela J. Xu share the first authorship.

Citation

Hong, Z., Xu, A.J., Loi, R. and Chow, C.W.C. (2024), "How and when internal marketing orientation affects frontline employees’ positive word of mouth: insights from a hotel in China", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 9, pp. 2095-2126. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-11-2022-0845

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles