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1 – 10 of 758Anders Gustafsson, Delphine Caruelle and David E. Bowen
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX).
Design/methodology/approach
The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over the meaning of (service) experience. The marketing discipline illuminates the concept of CX, whereas the OB/HRM discipline illuminates the concept of EX. The concept of HX, which transcends CX and EX, is examined in light of its recent development in service research. For each of the three concepts, key themes are identified, and future research directions are proposed.
Findings
Because the goal that individuals seek to achieve depends on the role they are enacting, each of the three perspectives on experience (CX, EX and HX) should have a different focal point. CX requires to focus on the process of solving customer goals. EX necessitates to think in terms of organizational context and job content that support employees. Finally, the focus of HX should be on well-being via enhanced gratification, and reduced violation, of basic human needs.
Originality/value
This paper offers an interdisciplinary perspective on (service) experience and simultaneously addresses CX, EX and HX in order to reconcile the different perspectives on experience in service research.
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Fatemeh S. Shahmehr, Amrik Sohal and Seyed Mohammad Sadegh Khaksar
This study aims to explore how not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) adopt service innovation and improve their employee resilience capabilities as a response to environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) adopt service innovation and improve their employee resilience capabilities as a response to environmental changes arising from marketisation of public services.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a multiple case-study research design, this study involved 32 interviews with frontline employees working in a not-for-profit care-providing organisation.
Findings
This study finds that the development of absorptive capacity can facilitate service innovation adoption in NFPs and improve employee resilience in times of transition.
Originality/value
This study offers theoretical insights on service innovation, absorptive capacity and employee resilience in NFPs. It makes practical recommendations that will enable NFPs to help frontline employees better adopt service innovation practices in business models endorsed by the private sector.
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Nguyen-Hau Le, My-Quyen Thi Mai and Kieu-Giang Le
The work-from-home scheme (WFH) is increasingly being adopted in service firms. However, the blurred border between employees’ work and life can create work–life conflict (WLC…
Abstract
Purpose
The work-from-home scheme (WFH) is increasingly being adopted in service firms. However, the blurred border between employees’ work and life can create work–life conflict (WLC) that negatively affects their well-being. Therefore, identifying factors that help employees overcome WLC and nurture their well-being is imperative. From a transformative service research (TSR) and personal psychology perspective, this study aims to explore the roles of service employee state of mindfulness and resilience in reducing WLC, alleviating its negative effects and ultimately nurturing their happiness.
Design/methodology/approach
A structural model was proposed. Data were collected from 339 WFH employees in various knowledge-based services such as professional services, information, education and training, financial consulting and marketing. Direct, indirect, mediating and moderating effects were estimated using the CB-SEM method.
Findings
Mindfulness is the overarching capability that helps reduce WLC and raise resilience. It nurtures WFH employee happiness not only directly but also via the mediation of resilience and WLC. Resilience, on the other hand, mediates the effect of mindfulness on happiness and moderates the negative impact of WLC on happiness.
Practical implications
Firms are recommended to organize mindfulness and resilience training programs, and encourage organizational- and job-related facilitators. WFH employees should actively participate in such programs and add them to their to-do-list practices.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first empirical studies of employee mindfulness and resilience in the WFH context. It contributes to the TSR research stream and enriches the concepts of mindfulness and resilience by elucidating different mechanisms in which each of these personal qualities operates to help employees nurture happiness in this specific working condition.
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This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and algorithms (STARA) in their job autonomy and proactive service performance and when these relationships can be buffered. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, the study examined the mediating relationship between FSEs’ STARA awareness, job autonomy and proactive service performance and the moderating effects of self-efficacy and resilience on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered two-wave online surveys to 301 South Korean FSEs working in various service sectors (e.g. retailing, food/beverage, hospitality/tourism and banking). The Time 1 survey measured respondents’ STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy, and the Time 2 survey assessed their proactive service performance.
Findings
FSEs’ STARA awareness negatively affected their subsequent proactive service performance through decreased job autonomy. The negative association between STARA awareness and job autonomy was weaker when FSEs’ self-efficacy was high than when it was low. While the authors observed no significant moderation of resilience, the author found a marginally significant three-way interaction between STARA awareness, self-efficacy and resilience. Specifically, STARA awareness was negatively related to job autonomy only when both self-efficacy and resilience were low. When either self-efficacy or resilience was high, the association between STARA awareness and job autonomy became nonsignificant, suggesting the buffering roles of the two personal resources.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the measurement of variables relied on self-reported data, rater biases might have affected the findings of the study. Moreover, the simultaneous measurement of STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy could preclude causal inferences between these variables. The authors encourage future studies to use a more rigorous methodology to reduce rater biases and establish stronger causality between the variables.
Practical implications
Service firms can decrease FSEs’ STARA awareness through training in the knowledge and skills necessary to work with these technologies. To promote FSEs’ proactive service performance in this context, service firms need to involve them in decisions related to STARA adoption and allow them to craft their jobs. Service managers should provide FSEs with social support and exercise empowering and supportive leadership to help them view STARA as a challenge rather than a threat.
Originality/value
Distinct from prior research on STARA awareness and employee outcomes, the study identified proactive service performance as a key outcome in the STARA context. By presenting self-efficacy and resilience as crucial personal resources that buffer FSEs from the deleterious impact of STARA awareness, the study provides practitioners with insights that can help FSEs maintain their job autonomy and proactive service performance in times of digitalization and automation.
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Based on the stimuli-organism-response model and relationship marketing theory, the effect of different dimensions of Servicescape (Ambience, Cleanliness, Functionality, Spatial…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the stimuli-organism-response model and relationship marketing theory, the effect of different dimensions of Servicescape (Ambience, Cleanliness, Functionality, Spatial Layout, Employee Service Quality) on Customer Satisfaction and Behavioral Intention in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic are considered.
Design/methodology/approach
The study takes a quantitative approach, applying structural equation model using partial least square structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. A total of 360 responses were collected using questionnaires distributed to different individuals who visited private hospitals in the past two months in India.
Findings
Contradicting previous research, this study found that among servicescape dimensions, employee service quality had the maximum influence on customer satisfaction and cleanliness does not have any significant impact on customer satisfaction as hypothesized. Mediation results show that customer satisfaction has a partial mediation effect for all servicescape dimensions except ambience, as both direct and indirect effects are significant. Importance-performance map analysis was performed on the responses collected, and it was found that employee service quality is the most important dimension affecting servicescape, followed by functionality and spatial layout. Thus, health-care institutions should focus on these factors to keep their customers satisfied.
Originality/value
Past studies have focused on the roles of servicescape and customer satisfaction separately. The authors have extended the literature by examining the combined effects of both servicescape and customer satisfaction. The findings from the study, therefore, help in developing a deeper understanding of the literature on the behavior intention relationship in the context of health care, as well as in service marketing.
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This paper aims to comment on resilience research within the context of frontline employees in sales and services marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to comment on resilience research within the context of frontline employees in sales and services marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This commentary is a reflection based on my research, extant academic and managerial literature and personal perspectives.
Findings
Research findings show resilience is associated with increased employee effort and reduced turnover intentions in customer-facing roles. In addition, resilience can change over time and is not just a trait the employee is born with (or not). Hence, managers can cultivate resilience in employees.
Practical implications
Resilience cannot be purchased. Instead, managers can inspire resilience in frontline employees by developing their feelings of self-efficacy on the job, a sense of belongingness to the organization and peers and a sense of purpose and relatedness to customers.
Social implications
Resilience is not merely perseverance or grit; it is overcoming adversity and bouncing back to become better in the process. Thus, resilience is an important construct to study, particularly in customer-facing roles.
Originality/value
This commentary offers a unique approach to understanding resilience, its outcomes and its antecedents in customer-facing roles.
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Dorine Maurice Mattar, Joy Haddad and Celine Nammour
This study aims to assess the effect of job insecurity, customer incivility and work–life imbalance on Lebanese bank employee workplace well-being (EWW), while investigating the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the effect of job insecurity, customer incivility and work–life imbalance on Lebanese bank employee workplace well-being (EWW), while investigating the moderating role that positive and negative affect might have.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data was collected from 202 respondents and analyzed using structural equation modeling system through IBM SPSS and AMOS.
Findings
Results revealed that each of the independent variables has a negative, statistically significant effect on Lebanese bank EWW. The positive affect and the negative one are shown to have a moderating effect that lessens and boosts, respectively, these negative effects.
Theoretical implications
The study adds to the literature on EWW while highlighting the high-power distance and collectivist society that the research took place in.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include the sample size that was hoped to be larger, in addition to the self-reporting issue and what it entails in the data collection process.
Practical implications
The study has many practical implications, including the validation of a questionnaire in a developing Arab country, hence providing a reliable tool for researchers. HR specialists should lean toward applicants with positive affect, ensuring that their workplace is occupied by members with enhanced resilience. Furthermore, employers should support their employees’ professional growth, thus, boosting their employability during turmoil and consequently making them less vulnerable in times of economic recession.
Originality/value
The study’s unique context, depicted in the harsh economic and financial crisis, makes the findings on EWW of a high value.
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Upon the premises of social exchange theory (SET), this study aimed at hypothesizing and examining a serial mediation model that investigated the underlying mechanism through…
Abstract
Purpose
Upon the premises of social exchange theory (SET), this study aimed at hypothesizing and examining a serial mediation model that investigated the underlying mechanism through which a high-performance work system (HPWS) affects individuals’ future time perspective (FTP).
Design/methodology/approach
The hypothesized relationships were examined using responses collected from 275 employees from 15 local private banks and 40 established branches through a proportionate stratified sampling technique. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) PROCESS macro 3.0 and analysis of moment’s structure (AMOS) 24.0 were employed for data analysis purposes.
Findings
The study revealed that HPWS is indirectly related to the individuals’ FTP through workplace social courage (WSC) and employee well-being (EWB) sequentially. Prescriptions for theoretical and managerial implications were discussed, and future research viewpoints with limitations were acknowledged.
Originality/value
This study illuminated the underlying mechanism and theoretical logic linking HPWS and individuals’ FTP by proposing the serial mediating effect of WSC and EWB.
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Wim Coreynen, Johanna Vanderstraeten, Joeri van Hugten and Arjen van Witteloostuijn
Despite the increasing attention given to product-service integration (PSI), little is known about this innovation strategy from a key decision-maker’s perspective. To address…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the increasing attention given to product-service integration (PSI), little is known about this innovation strategy from a key decision-maker’s perspective. To address this gap, our study draws from personality psychology and decision-making (DM) logics theory to better understand why and how companies’ decision-makers strategize for PSI.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an abductive, empirics-first approach, we identify the study’s theoretical building blocks, followed by an exploratory quantitative analysis to generate new theory. We propose a fit-as-mediation conceptual framework suggesting that (1) specific personality traits [i.e. honesty-humility (H), emotionality (E), extraversion (X), agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C) and openness to experience (O) (HEXACO)] make decision-makers more likely to include PSI in their company’s strategy and (2) depending on their personality, they apply different DM logics (i.e. causation or effectuation) to do so. To empirically examine this, we use data from 289 SMEs’ decision-makers.
Findings
We report several meaningful relationships among our key theoretical constructs. For instance, we find that conscientious decision-makers are more likely to develop a PSI strategy via causation, whereas extravert decision-makers are more likely to do so via both causation and effectuation.
Originality/value
This service study is the first to apply the well-established HEXACO Personality Inventory to companies’ key decision-makers. Moreover, it contributes to the microfoundations of PSI strategy and DM logic theories.
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Janet Davey, Jayne Krisjanous and Nicholas Ashill
This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to the concept of resilience in the services sector. This editorial aims to identify how…
Abstract
Purpose
This editorial introduces a special issue of the Journal of Services Marketing, dedicated to the concept of resilience in the services sector. This editorial aims to identify how service organizations, networks and systems are resilient in the face of or wake of marketplace disruptions.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on available literature in service research, the authors illustrate how service scholars can better understand the processes, relationships and outcomes that are a crucial part of resilience in service organizations.
Findings
This editorial presents a theoretical framework illustrating interactive, linked and interdependent resource-based resilience practices that enable service organizations and individuals to develop and grow resilience. The special issue papers identified six themes to guide future research: conceptual complexity and challenges of operationalization; culture, context and resilience; antecedents to resilience and outcomes; resilience and the complex world of artificial intelligence and technology; value co-creation; and service ecosystems.
Originality/value
This editorial presents service researchers with an overview of research examining the concept of resilience. It also demonstrates diversity in how the concept is defined and operationalized. Our theoretical framework illustrates a new way of conceptualizing service resilience by identifying three resource-based resilience practices in an increasingly ambiguous, dynamic and complex service world. Together these underpin the six themes for further research.
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