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It has been accepted that enhancing the satisfaction of employees, especially customer‐contact employees is important as they can significantly and positively influence customers' satisfaction. In order to improve satisfaction of customer contact employees – caddies in Chinese golf clubs, this paper explores the internal service quality of caddy managers' encounters with caddies from a dyadic perspective (the view of caddy managers and of caddies).

A qualitative multiple‐case study methodology was adopted; using critical incident interviews to collect the data. In order to make sense of the data, narrative analysis is used to interpret favourable and unfavourable stories that are related by participants and why the storytellers told the stories in such a way.

Nine dimensions were found to construct the internal service quality of caddy mangers in internal service encounters between caddies and caddy managers. They are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, communication, consideration, fairness, recognition and flexibility.

The outcome of this research can help the management team to better manage the internal service encounters between managers and caddies in order to improve caddies' satisfaction during service encounters. It can assist Chinese golf clubs in recruiting and training caddy managers.

This research extended the service quality framework to the Chinese golf industry. There have been no previous studies conducted in this sector.

This paper aims to examine the nature of the relationship between internal marketing (IM) and customer orientation, with the mediating role of job satisfaction and affective commitment. The study encompasses workers of the service sector in Bahrain.

In total, 300 questionnaires were distributed, using a simple random sample, to employees of different service industries. The response rate was (73%). Simple and multiple regressions were used to analyze the data and test hypotheses.

The main findings of the study reveal a significant positive relationship between IM practices and customer orientation. It also indicates a significant positive effect of one of IM practices, internal communication, on customer orientation. The regression confirms a significant positive effect of IM on job satisfaction and affective commitment. Furthermore, the effect of job satisfaction and affective commitment on customer orientation were demonstrated. In addition, the results show a mediating effect of job satisfaction and affective commitment on the path of the relationship between IM and customer orientation, which was full for job satisfaction and partial for affective commitment.

This paper was trying to address a societal problem, the mediating role of job satisfaction and affective commitment in the direct path along the relationship between IM and customer orientation in the private sector in Bahrain. This cannot be done in a vacuum, as all research builds upon previous work. A deep literature review of books and journals on what is known so far about the problem was a guide to lead us to focus on filling the gaps in the knowledge about such a problem.

This study aims to identify the dimensions recognised by customers when assessing quality in the automotive repair industry. It further examines potential variations in customers' perceptions of service quality based on their purchase behaviour designating different loyalty patterns.

The SERVPERF instrument and the patronage behaviour were utilised to measure service quality and loyalty respectively. A total of 949 questionnaires were personally administered to customers of nine automotive repair companies in Greece.

Exploratory factor analysis revealed three service quality dimensions. These are: holistic customer consideration, infrastructure, and empathy. T‐tests were also utilised to reveal possible differences in terms of the identified dimensions. Controlling for customers' loyalty showed significant differences in 11 of the service quality items.

Distributing questionnaires personally did not allow the creation of a completely representative sample of customers of the Greek automotive repair industry.

Measuring customers' perceptions in terms of the three service quality dimensions that emerged can support decision making regarding initiatives to be taken. Moreover, findings suggest that managers should customise the holistic bundle of services offered.

The findings of this study provide insight into customers' priorities in the automotive repair industry. Furthermore, they reposition service quality construct within the customer satisfaction framework.

The purpose of this study is to assess differences between the guidance offered by cultural studies in the services literature and the retailing literature for emerging markets. To research these differences, the role that the contact person has towards South African township residents' willingness to buy is to be assessed.

A services quality survey of black (ethnic Xhosa) township residents was performed for two different retail types: new, small, independently owned grocery retailers located within the townships, and established, large, national chains located within the city centres. The influence of these services quality measures on willingness to buy was assessed using the partial least squares method for each of the two retail types. Differences between the model parameters for these two retail types were assessed using ANOVA.

The results show that, consistent with the retailing literature, the contact people in these new, small, local and independently owned retailers focus extensively on empathy to influence willingness to buy, while the contact people in the large, traditionally white‐owned national retailers jointly focus on assurance and responsiveness to influence willingness to buy, and spend very little effort on empathy.

Research implications are based on the usefulness of supporting theory, namely that the guidance offered by the cultural studies in the retailing literature is more predictive than that in the services literature for the emerging South African retailing market.

It is found that core elements in relationship marketing are well ingrained in collectivist Xhosa cultural norms. The results suggest that these cultural norms can, and should, be leveraged by the new independently owned grocery retailers.

The research addresses a key concern within emerging markets and offers practical help for retail development within this dynamic economic setting.

Both the collapse of the financial system and the recent child protection scandals in the UK illustrate the limitations of the contract model for regulating social interactions. This article argues that the economic orthodoxy that has dominated recent public policy in the affluent Anglophone countries is now discredited, and that the social value derived from communications and exchanges within cultures of empathy, respect and inclusion should supply criteria for evaluating interventions, and should replace contracts as means of sustaining quality in many aspects of services.

To extend existing knowledge about health care quality and patient satisfaction by exploring Japanese context having a different health care system and a different culture from the USA and Europe.

A structural equation model is used to explore links between quality perception and patient satisfaction as well as between patient satisfaction and intentional behavior relying on 159 Japanese outpatient replies.

Japanese healthcare service quality is evaluated using its process characteristics (patient‐provider interaction) and physical attributes (settings and appearance). Process quality attributes were found to be patient satisfaction antecedents. Satisfaction in turn predicts patient intentional behavior (to return and to recommend). Japanese society cultural specificity seems to be an interesting background to understand Japanese evaluation when patients assess health service quality.

The sample investigated is relatively small. The study relied on a linear approach to assess patient satisfaction and intentional behavior. However, the non‐linear model should yield a better reality fit.

To improve Japanese patient satisfaction, cultural values such as courtesy, empathy and harmony should be emphasized when delivering medical services. Satisfied consumers are an important asset for the healthcare provider as they intend to reuse the service and to recommend it to their families and friends. Both foreign and Japanese providers should adopt a consumer perspective to enhance the service quality and then to maintain long‐term relationships with their customers.

The study used structural equation analysis to assess patient satisfaction in a scarcely investigated context. Moreover, the study relies on Japanese society's cultural characteristics to explain and understand results.

The purpose of this paper is to describe, examine and discuss scholarly literature on reflective leadership, a topic gaining momentum as a result of globalization. Despite the growing popularity of reflective leadership techniques, current and aspiring leaders are struggling to find ways in which to effectively practice reflection as a consequence of a lack of tangible available guidance.

Scholarly literature on reflective leadership was examined and presented in this paper. Discussion on the potential efficacy of reflective leadership is also included as the available literature on the topic is scarce in comparison to other more established leadership techniques.

Reflective leadership has been shown to improve organizational performance. The advent of globalization further intensifies the need for an effective approach leaders may deploy when assessing the long-term consequences of their actions and decisions. Therefore, methods to extend the theory and effective practice of reflective leadership are necessary to enable the future development of leaders.

This paper provides leaders with strategies for improving their leadership effectiveness. Practical techniques for utilizing reflective leadership are offered.

This paper describes the challenges faced by leaders when adopting reflective leadership as a way to improve organizational performance. A universal framework is presented for the effective practice of reflective leadership. This framework provides a basis for future research to test the efficacy of the model.

The present research attempts to review literature on the effects of transformational leadership on organizational creativity and innovation. It is well recognized that organizational creativity and innovation are crucial for an organization and even for the whole society. Transformational leadership exerts great impact on organizational creativity and innovation. With the increase of empirical studies, relevant variables and research findings are from all kinds of perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to sort relevant works out, incorporate them into an overarching framework and suggest a few future directions which are both critical and viable, so that future researchers may easily find the “gap” and fit their prospective works properly.

The research is conducted by first perusing recent and major papers on the subject which have been published on high quality journals. The paper sorts out pivotal mediators and moderators, and sheds light on the their effects.

Although the conclusions drawn from different studies are somewhat inconsistent, most scholars found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational creativity and innovation. Transformational leadership can influence organizational creativity and innovation both directly and indirectly. The bulk of this paper is about the indirect effects of transformational leadership. The mediators and moderators are from different levels including individual, team and organizational level. In addition, some contextual variables are also included.

The paper is the first to review the literature by focusing on the effects of transformational leadership on organizational creativity and innovation. It incorporates various factors into a whole framework which covers three levels and includes internal and external contexts. It makes the relevant findings clear, points out the strengths and weaknesses of the extant literature. It also brings forward future research directions which can be a valuable reference for other researchers.

In this chapter, authors take a narrative/interpretive approach by sharing insights from millennials and Generation Z as to the definition of kindness as a behaviour and action. Sixty-six individuals living in North America, Africa and Europe were interviewed during the pandemic (October 2020). They were asked to describe an incident in which they expressed kindness and/or in which it was expressed to them. Authors identified five themes (metapatterns) which denote different ways kindness is described through narrative. These kindness behaviours include: (1) kindness as a small act, (2) kindness as an event, (3) kindness as intervention and (4) kindness as consideration. The fifth form of kindness operates with more performative qualities, and the authors' have dubbed it as ‘kindness [that] makes me feel good’. Authors attempt not to constrain or essentialize what kindness behaviour is, but rather to reveal patterns while also leaving room for possibilities.

Law enforcement is a stressful profession. Police officers are faced with emotionally exhausting events on a daily basis and are required to control negative emotions in an effort to conduct their jobs effectively. This chapter explores the emotions experienced by police officers and seeks to understand the emotional labor of this profession. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with police officers to garner information about the role of emotional expression and suppression on the job. The results revealed several themes, such as the importance of anger to the job of police officer and the emotional climate within the police force. Understanding emotion work and the management of emotions among law enforcement officers is an important contribution to improving the well-being and performance of police officers. Our research results call for further exploration of the role of emotions in law enforcement.