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21 – 30 of over 61000Kangcheol Lee and Taeshik Gong
This study examines the mediating effects of burnout on the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and commitment to service quality. The study also investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the mediating effects of burnout on the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and commitment to service quality. The study also investigates the moderated mediation effects of caring and instrumental climates.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 622 frontline employees and 81 managers. Data analysis uses multi-level structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings show that employee burnout negatively mediates the relationship between dysfunctional customer behavior and commitment to service quality. Moreover, a caring climate weakens this indirect effect.
Originality/value
This study reveals that dysfunctional customer behavior decreases commitment to service quality through burnout and caring climate decrease weakens this indirect effect.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness and to highlight the nature of inter‐relationship(s) between service climate and job involvement in impacting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness and to highlight the nature of inter‐relationship(s) between service climate and job involvement in impacting customer‐focused organizational citizenship behaviors of frontline employees in a diverse cultural context, at the crossroads of East and West.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on organizational citizenship behavior literature, the present study in the paper involved customer‐contact personnel employed in five service industries in a Greek mid‐sized town. Questionnaires were administered in person by the researcher during regularly scheduled meetings on company premises. A total of 269 individuals were invited to participate in the study. Participation was voluntary. The response rate was 74 percent. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability‐, correlation‐ path‐ and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test research hypotheses.
Findings
The findings in this paper indicate that the concept of customer‐oriented organizational citizenship behavior (CO‐OCB) is a useful construct in the Greek context. Both direct and indirect influences and interactive effects were identified. Indeed, results indicate that the relationship between job involvement and service climate in impacting CO‐OCBs is complex (moderated mediation or mediated moderation?), warranting further investigation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings in the paper are limited by the sampling method and the specificity of the geographic context. It would be of interest to enhance the theoretical model by incorporating more individual, task, organizational and contextual variables.
Practical implications
The study in this paper demonstrates the important effects of service climate and job involvement on frontline employees' customer‐oriented organizational citizenship behaviors in Greek service organizations. Service managers should benefit from noting the links and the likely favorable outcomes for customers, employees and their organizations.
Originality/value
The paper provides empirical evidence of the applicability of the CO‐OCB construct in Greek service contexts and illuminates the complex nature of inter‐relationships between organizational climate for service and job involvement in predicting customer‐oriented organizational citizenship behaviors, expanding the OCB literature.
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Jin Ho Jung, Jaewon Yoo and Yeonsung Jung
The aim of this paper is to test how leader–member exchange (LMX) interacts with procedural justice climate to influence three types of employee motivation (i.e. achievement…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to test how leader–member exchange (LMX) interacts with procedural justice climate to influence three types of employee motivation (i.e. achievement striving motivation, status striving motivation and communion striving motivation). Furthermore, this study empirically examines the indirect effects of LMX on customer loyalty through employee motivation and service orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a matched sample of 188 retail service employees and 376 customers from a large shopping mall in South Korea to test the empirical model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping method were employed to test a series of proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that LMX significantly enhances customer loyalty through two motivational dimensions and service orientation. In particular, this study shows that achievement and status striving motivation are directly related to service orientation, but communion striving motivation does not affect customer-focused service attitude. In addition, procedural justice climate serves as a critical moderator and synergistically interacts with LMX to influence achievement and status striving motivation.
Research limitations/implications
This study offers new insight regarding how managers' roles in both individual (leader–member exchange) and organizational (procedural justice climate) level affect different forms of retail service employee motivation and service orientation, which in turn, result in customer loyalty.
Practical implications
The results suggest that when retail service employees perceive procedural fairness at retail stores, they are more motivated to work hard to complete their assignments and achieve their sales goals in conjunction with leader support. Therefore, managers must provide a clear guideline and procedure regarding salary raises and performance evaluations or engage in thorough discourse on such matters with employees prior to announcements of such decisions. Moreover, as retail service employees interact with customers in the frontline, and how they serve customers plays a key role in creating customer loyalty. Managers should encourage retail service employees to engage in service-oriented behaviors.
Originality/value
The results suggest that LMX facilitates more formal task-related motivation to achieve either tasks or status while it is less related to relationship-building motivation, which is a unique contribution of this study. The results offer better understating of how LMX differentially leads to specific types of employee motivation in the existing literature.
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Anat Drach‐Zahavy and Anit Somech
With a twofold aim, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the service climate, including its antecedents, consequences, and a moderator. First, it examines whether task‐ and…
Abstract
Purpose
With a twofold aim, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the service climate, including its antecedents, consequences, and a moderator. First, it examines whether task‐ and goal‐interdependent configuration facilitates the level of service climate; second, it tests the strength of the moderating role of service climate between service climate levels and service behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Among 54 nursing units at six hospitals, the data were collected using multiple methods (surveys, observations, administrative data).
Findings
Mixed‐linear model analyses indicated that the joint effects of task and goal interdependence related significantly to service climate level. Service climate strength moderated the relationship of service climate level to quality service behavior.
Research limitations/implications
The research approach may diminish the generalizability of the research results. Further work should test the propositions in other research contexts.
Practical implications
Quality service behaviors and the service climate could be promoted through well‐designed task‐ and goal‐interdependence structures within units. Assimilating a service climate in units is not enough. To promote high quality service behaviors, managers must direct their efforts toward finding agreement among team members with regard with the importance of service in their unit.
Originality/value
The paper's findings offer empirical support to the persistent social interaction explanation of climate formation and point to the important role of interdependence for creating and maintaining service climate levels and promoting service behaviors in units.
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Tyler R. Morgan, Adam Rapp, R. Glenn Richey, Jr. and Alexander E. Ellinger
– The purpose of this research is to explore how firm market orientation, as a culture, affects the service climate that develops in the firm.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore how firm market orientation, as a culture, affects the service climate that develops in the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical testing is performed at the managerial level and boundary-spanning employee level as part of this multilevel study. The sample includes participants from a US-based firm operating in the hospitality industry.
Findings
Results indicate that a market-oriented firm culture interacts with other elements such as boundary-spanning employee flexibility and control to positively impact the service climate that develops.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides theoretical implications for the development of a service climate within a market-oriented firm culture and the influence of managers on boundary-spanning employees in the development of the climate.
Practical implications
As managers attempt to develop a service climate through a market-oriented firm culture, they will find success by providing boundary-spanning employees with control and hiring employees that possess flexibility as a personality trait.
Originality/value
The framework developed in this research provides insights regarding the multilevel nature of service climate development and the impact of a market-oriented culture.
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Carolyn (“Casey”) Findley Musgrove, Alexander E. Ellinger and Andrea D. Ellinger
Research suggests that employee engagement favorably influences the provision of customer service, that high levels of service employee engagement are rare, and that firms'…
Abstract
Purpose
Research suggests that employee engagement favorably influences the provision of customer service, that high levels of service employee engagement are rare, and that firms' strategic profit emphases affect engagement and service climate. This study responds to calls for research that identifies drivers of employee engagement and foundational issues that promote effective service climates within service organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey method is utilized to assess data from 502 key informant service employees from multiple service industries.
Findings
The findings indicate that service organizations' revenue enhancement and cost containment strategic profit emphases differentially influence employee engagement, and that organizational and job engagement differentially influence service climate.
Research limitations/implications
Data comprised of individual service employees' perceptions of their firms' strategic profit emphases and service climates are utilized. Although it is conceivable that some respondents' perceptions of these variables may be misguided, the study findings are based on a large sample of experienced service employees from multiple service industries.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that the most effective approach for promoting effective service climate is to hire service employees with a track record of job engagement and then focus on encouraging organizational engagement by creating working environments that support, value, and reward service quality.
Originality/value
Managers increasingly realize that how firms treat service employees critically affects customer service quality. However, relatively few studies examine service employees' perceptions of their own engagement and their organizations' working environments. This research incorporates social exchange theory and concepts from the fields of strategy and organizational behavior to assess service employees' perceptions of their organizations' strategic profit emphasis and its influence on engagement and service climate.
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Xiaojun Zhan, Wenhao Luo, Hanyu Ding, Yanghao Zhu and Yirong Guo
Prior studies have mainly attributed customer incivility to dispositional characteristics, whereas little attention has been paid to exploring service employees' role in…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies have mainly attributed customer incivility to dispositional characteristics, whereas little attention has been paid to exploring service employees' role in triggering or reducing customer incivility. The purpose of the present study is to propose and test a model in which service employees' emotional labor strategies affect customer incivility via influencing customers' self-esteem threat, as well as examine the moderating role of customer's perception of service climate.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a matched sample consisting of 317 employee-customer dyads in China, multiple regression analysis and indirect effect tests were employed to test our model.
Findings
The study shows that employee surface acting is positively related to customer incivility, whereas deep acting is negatively associated with customer incivility. Moreover, customer self-esteem threat mediates the relationship between both types of emotional labor and customer incivility. Customer perception of service climate moderates the relationship between deep acting and customer self-esteem threat.
Originality/value
The current research broadens the antecedents of customer incivility from the employee perspective and sheds more light on the role of customer self-esteem in the interactions between employees and customers. It also demonstrates a complementary relationship between service climate and individual employees' emotional labor strategies, thereby expanding the existing understanding of the management of employees' emotional labor.
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The domain of digital service not only includes digital service products made available for purchase but also the provision of digital customer service, such as customers seeking…
Abstract
Purpose
The domain of digital service not only includes digital service products made available for purchase but also the provision of digital customer service, such as customers seeking support on brands' social media channels. This type of digital customer service introduces new challenges not found in offline service recovery situations. This research highlights one such occurrence by investigating customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions during digital service recovery. In particular, dysfunctional dialog, such as online incivility (e.g. rude and insulting comments), directed at a complainant by a fellow customer is investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from an online panel are utilized to test the hypothesized relationships between dysfunctional customer behavior (i.e. online incivility), C2C interactional justice, customer perceived service climate and three forms of experiential value using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The results show that customer perceptions of the firm's service climate are negatively affected by online incivility but only when such incivility produces C2C injustice. This outcome is notable due to the strong relationship found between customer perceived service climate and the following three forms of online experiential value: sociability, hedonic and pragmatic value. Thus, a weakened service climate subsequently leads to weakened experiential value for complainants.
Research limitations/implications
The theoretical implications of two nascent constructs, C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate, are further developed with reference to digital customer service situations. In particular, given that prior research has focused on customer perceptions of service climate in core consumption situations of enjoyable face-to-face service experiences, it has only considered optimal or extremely positive service climate assessments in non-digital contexts. This study expands the understanding of the customer perceived service climate construct by examining the implications of a sub-optimal service climate in a digital customer service situation of an unenjoyable service experience. The limitations include a small sample size, the use of hypothetical scenarios and a failure situation limited to a single industry.
Practical implications
Managers who oversee social media channels or online communities must be prepared to act upon C2C online incivility. Deeming such communications as innocent online chatter not worthy of company intervention is a mistake, as the results of this study show that such inaction may lead to negative customer perceptions of the digital service environment and harm the customer experience.
Originality/value
This work develops a greater understanding of the importance of C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate in online customer service situations that prior research has yet to establish. In particular, previous studies have not investigated the negative effects of a situation that produces sub-optimal customer perceptions of a service climate.
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This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role…
Abstract
Purpose
This article overviews some key contributions to service research from the organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) discipline with its strong focus on the role of employees. This focus complements the Marketing discipline’s heavy emphasis on customers, largely true of service research, overall.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten OB/HRM frameworks/perspectives are applied to analyzing the roles of people (with a focus on employees and modest consideration of customers as “partial” employees who co-create value) in a service organization context. Also, commentary is offered on how the frameworks relate to six key themes in contemporary service research and/or practice. The article concludes with five reflections on the role and status of employees in service research—past, present and future.
Findings
Employee roles in evolving service contexts; participation role readiness of both employees and customers; role stress in participating customers; an employee “empowered state of mind”; an emphasis on internal service quality; “strong” HRM systems link individual HRM practices to firm performance; service-profit chain with links to well-being of employees and customers; a sociotechnical system theory lens on organizational frontlines (OF); service climate as an exemplar of interdisciplinary research; emotional labor in both employees and customers; the Human Experience (HX); specification of employee experience (EX).
Originality/value
Service remains very much about people who still guide organizational design, develop service strategy, place new service technologies and even still serve customers. Also, a people and organization-based competitive advantage is tough to copy, thus possessing sustainability, unlike with imitable technology.
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Terje Slåtten, Göran Svensson and Sander Sværi
The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the relationships between empowering leadership and a humorous work climate; and service employees' creativity and innovative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the relationships between empowering leadership and a humorous work climate; and service employees' creativity and innovative behaviour in frontline service jobs.
Design/methodology/approach
A model of causal relationships is presented, along with formulated hypotheses. The data were collected with a survey answered by frontline service employees in hotels.
Findings
The findings indicate a strong relationship between frontline cognitive creativity production of novel ideas and the behavioural implementation of these ideas into their respective work role. Moreover, the empirical findings indicate that both empowering leadership and a humorous work climate are able to trigger frontline service employees' creativity. In addition service employees' creativity appears to be a mediating variable in the relationship between empowering leadership, a humorous work climate, and the service employees' innovative behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
This study limits its focus on two factors: the stimulation of service employees' creativity and innovative behaviour in frontline service jobs, both of which offer opportunities for further research.
Practical implications
This study has indicated that both leadership practice and work climate play important roles in explaining service employees' creativity and innovative behaviour. In particular, managers should be aware of their empowering practices, as well focusing on the degree of a humorous work climate. An important practical managerial implication from the findings is to take humour into account and consequently to develop and implement strategies followed by necessary actions to manage humour in an appropriate manner in service organizations.
Originality/value
The reported study contributes to enhancing the knowledge of the roles of empowering leadership and a humorous work climate for service employees' creativity and innovative behaviour in frontline service jobs.
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