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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational and employee‐customer identification on job engagement. The paper also aims to explore the role of customer orientation in the model as a consequence of identification, in addition to an antecedent of engagement.

This study utilizes an online survey administered to Cooperative Extension employees in frontline service roles. Amos 18.0 was employed to examine the proposed structural model.

This study examines and finds that employee‐customer identification is an important contributing factor for customer orientation and job engagement among frontline employees in service industries. The findings also reveal that customer orientation acts as an intervening effect necessary in linking organizational identification and employee‐customer identification to job engagement.

The study's results advance understanding and consequently reveal the importance of employee‐customer identification to employee behavior. Specifically, the results underscore the prominent need for managers to build‐up interpersonal connections with customers by reducing their firm's dependence on electronic storefronts in service‐based encounters. The study raises issues that address the necessity for a proper medium between human connections and technology intelligence programs within service industries.

This research authenticates the need to examine a holistic identification model that includes the social outcomes of organizational identification as well as the relational impact of employee‐customer identification. Furthermore, the understanding of customer orientation as it relates to relational identification is advanced.

Employee gratitude is often associated with positive customer-related benefits. However, our understanding of employee gratitude is notably underdeveloped within the service literature. To address this issue, this study aims to position employee gratitude within the service profit chain (SPC) framework as a complementary mediator. Further, the authors empirically examine service climate as a central antecedent to employee gratitude and employee customer-oriented behavior as an outcome that triggers an internal and external reciprocal social exchange.

The examination of the research questions was done across two studies, using employee self-reported data (Study 1) and employee–customer dyadic data (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors investigate how employee gratitude mediates the relationship between service climate and customer-oriented behavior, with employee interpersonal influence functioning as a moderator. In Study 2, the authors examine how customer-oriented behavior, an outcome of Study 1, influences customer satisfaction and customer avoidance, with customer gratitude functioning as a mediator.

Results from both Study 1 and Study 2 support the proposed relationships. These studies contribute to the service literature by evaluating how and why employee gratitude functions as a significant factor in determining employee and customer behavior within the service context.

This work enriches the gratitude literature by empirically testing a novel theoretical perspective on employee and customer gratitude in service encounters. In doing so, the authors provide a more nuanced understanding of how internal and external processes are connected and potentially reinforced in SPC.

The purposes of this paper is to first explore, and describe positive discretionary risky-service behaviour (DRSB) of customer-contact service providers in relational context and second to model the antecedents of such actions.

Employed an exploratory qualitative approach and purposive sampling. The authors gather data from field interview of 35 relationship managers in private and public banks in India. Grounded theory method using analytic induction approach was employed.

Existing studies and field interviews are used to forward the notion of “DRS behaviour” denoting employee service behaviour that is discretionary as it is work beyond what could reasonably be expected from an employee's job role and risky in a sense that it is outside the specific rules and processes incorporated in the formal service process document. Data reveal the existence of DRS behaviour in banks. A definition of DRS behaviour is forwarded and a range of antecedents proposed.

To explore the generalizability of results replications among bank employees (relationship managers) in other countries (with more regulatory banking environments) required. While the exploratory data suggest the general antecedents of DRS, the specific propositions have not been tested.

The paper includes implications for the management and advancement of employee-customer relationship such as employee's traits, reward structure, and system for monitoring employee-customer relationship strength.

The main contribution of the study is relationship antecedent, which may be taken as a starting point for relationship advancement research.

Grounded in emotional dissonance and social presence theories, this study examines whether the characteristics of employee–customer interaction (frequency, routineness and duration) and emotional intelligence (EI) have an impact on emotional labor (surface acting (SA), deep acting and naturally felt emotions (NFE)) and whether the type of interaction (face to face, voice to voice and online) moderates this relationship.

A survey method was employed to collect data from employees working in hotels, customer care and e-booking services (n = 604). The model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The study showed that EI was positively linked to deep acting and NFE but negatively associated with SA. Frequency of interaction had a negative relationship with deep acting and NFE but a positive association with SA. Duration of interaction (DOI) had a positive relationship with deep acting and NFE but a negative association with NFE. Routineness of interaction had a negative relationship with deep acting and NFE but surprisingly had a negative relationship with SA. Online interaction moderated the relationship between EI and deep acting.

This pioneering study examines the relationship between EI and characteristics of employee–customer interaction with emotional labor in the Indian hospitality context. While the association between EI and emotional labor has been studied, this study is unique in substantiating the moderating effects of interaction type and is among the first to do so empirically.

The purpose of this study is to examine antecedents of the under researched area of customer feedback in a retail context with feedback defined as positive and negative comments as well as suggestions for product/service improvements. A market-oriented firm listens to customers and puts their feedback into practice. Research on customer engagement, which includes customer feedback, has recently surged. The preponderance of feedback research to date has been focused on customer complaint behavior which is negatively valenced. Much less attention has been paid to customer feedback (including sharing positive information, thoughts and suggestions for new ideas, in addition to negative information) even though it has great value for companies. This research addresses this gap by integrating literature on customer orientation and engagement and relationship marketing antecedents (social benefits) and outcomes (commitment) to better understand what retailers can do to encourage customer feedback through relationships with frontline employees.

This study employs a cross-sectional, single retailer approach surveying 864 customers who have varying relationships to a coffee house.

Conditional process analysis was used to test the hypothesized mediating and moderating relationships. Results were consistent with predictions, showing that retail employee customer-oriented behavior is mediated by customer social benefit perceptions to influence feedback. Further, social benefit perceptions will interact with the level of customer continuance commitment to impact feedback. Specifically, the impact of social benefits will be stronger when commitment to the retailer is higher.

This research has academic and practical implications by increasing our understanding of an underrepresented and valuable aspect of engagement – customer feedback. Specifically, it addresses a key marketing research priority set forth in a 2010 JSR special issue, calling for more work contributing to this topic. Also, this research implies managers have the ability to influence the amount of feedback that they receive by encouraging certain employee behaviors.

The concept of value in relationship marketing is a theme of increasing interest. This paper examines the concepts of employee value, customer value and shareholder value and the linkages between them. It reviews research on the service‐profit chain framework and other related models and then discusses the extent to which linkage models or enterprise performance models, which integrate these components of value, have been adopted by organisations. An example is used to illustrate the adoption and use of an enterprise performance model. Implications for the retail financial services sector are considered.

The purpose of this paper is to test the influence of managerial coaching on frontline employee customer orientation, sales orientation and performance in a Chinese context. Further to this first goal, the authors also aim to compare these results with those obtained with a sample of Canadian bank employees in order to understand to what extent differences between Eastern and Western cultures affect business practices and employee responses in both environments.

This paper replicates a study from 2014 that used a sample of Canadian financial advisors to test the impact of managerial coaching on customer orientation, sales orientation and performance. In this new study, 185 frontline employees from a large insurance company in Chongqing (China) answered a paper-and-pencil questionnaire in Mandarin providing information about the coaching received from their managers, their own customer and sales orientation, as well as performance. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in AMOS as well as multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to evaluate cross-cultural differences.

The authors found that for the Chinese respondents managerial coaching is positively related to employee performance both directly and through the mediation effect of customer orientation. The authors found no support for the mediation of sales orientation between coaching and performance. These results suggest that managerial coaching might be a good strategy to promote relational behaviors in frontline employees, but not to reduce manipulative behaviors. The authors also found that these results are statistically equivalent for Chinese and Canadian respondents, suggesting that cultural differences are less prevalent than expected in this business sector.

The study makes several contributions to research. First, it suggests that managerial coaching can help employees develop their customer orientation–a central construct for commercial organizations working under a relational marketing approach. Second, it presents one of the first studies that evaluate the efficiency of managerial coaching in an Eastern country. And finally, results underline the equivalence of results for Eastern (China) and Western (Canada) respondents suggesting that in a global environment (like the financial industry) the business logic guiding the development of good customer relationships and employee customer-oriented behaviors prevails over potential cultural differences and makes leader and employee behaviors more similar and comparable across different regions in the world.

First, the use of managerial coaching seems to increase frontline employee relational behaviors, like customer orientation. Accordingly, managerial coaching seems to be a link that can help financial institutions bridge the formulation of a marketing relational strategy in the boardroom and the implementation of such a strategy at the customer interface between frontline employees and customers. Second, given the equivalence of results between the Canadian and the Chinese sample, it seems that the similarities between business models and business logics within the financial services sector are more important—and supersede—the potential cross-cultural differences between Eastern and Western countries.

The study makes a contribution to the limited literature on the use of managerial coaching in financial institutions to increase frontline employee relational behaviors. At the same time, it presents one of the few cross-cultural studies comparing results obtained from Chinese and Canadian respondents.

Blames hierarchical management behaviours, attitudes and priorities ‐ characteristic of the traditional “exclusive” Anglo‐Saxon business culture ‐ for the small number of UK world‐class companies referred to in the Government’s third Competitiveness White Paper. Contrasts the “inclusive” collaborative approach of best practice and the core skills and attitudes which underpin it. Considers that widespread neglect of the culture issue is the reason why so many management and training initiatives intended to increase efficiency, quality and innovation, are unsuccessful. Discusses the key role of top management in achieving best practice and points to an inclusive “genuine team” management and training method which can be integrated effectively into day‐to‐day activities in the workplace. Indicates a strategy for initiating and managing radical ‐ yet cost‐effective culture change necessary for removing the barriers to world‐class performance.

This study aims to review the published empirical research on relationship orientation in banking and insurance services. The objective of the study is to understand whether a strong customer–sales representative relationship contributes to sales effectiveness and to know the significance of relational behaviors in developing and maintaining long-term relationship.

Through Boolean search, a systematic review with narrative synthesis was conducted. Relevant electronic bibliographic databases and reference lists of pertinent review articles were searched. Screening and eligibility of articles were based on participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes (PICO) model and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews) guidelines.

A total of 22 papers were finalized for the study, and results reveal that customer orientation behavior and adaptive selling behavior of sales representatives improve relationship quality, culminating in higher customer satisfaction, enhanced loyalty and escalated commitment, whereas selling orientation diminishes the relationship quality. The attributes of sales person especially contact intensity, contact frequency and client knowledge augment sales effectiveness and longstanding relationship with the customers.

This paper would provide valuable insights for financial sales representatives, academicians and practitioners of relationship marketing in the area of banking and insurance services. Personalization and customizations are important aspects of the provision of social benefits that strengthen competitive advantage.

Although the relevance of relationship marketing has been acknowledged, the conceptual base of relationship orientation in banking and insurance services has received only limited attention.

This study aims to explore employee-customer identification and its consequences in the banking, financial service and insurance (BFSI) sector. We also look at the mediating role of psychological ownership and work orientation (calling) between employee-customer identification and the adaptability of service offerings.

In this study using a sample of 215 frontline employees from the BFSI sector in five Indian cities, the data was analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in Smart PLS- 3.2.7 software.

When employees consider customers as individuals similar to them, they tend to be more accommodating of customers' diverse needs resulting in adapting the service. The study empirically establishes that psychological ownership and work orientation (calling) mediate the relationship between employee-customer identification and service offering adaptation.

This kind of identification can remedy the perennial problem of mis-selling in the BFSI context. The new insights gathered from these customer interfaces can be transferred upwards within the organisation to formulate actionable strategies. Hence, when employees feel their work is satisfactory, it leads to improvement in both profit margins as well as asset turnover for high-contact service firms.

The results demonstrate that employees who identify with their customers are more accommodative of customers' diverse needs resulting in adapting the service resulting in improved performance.