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This paper aims to explore the influence of frontline employees’ (FLEs’) positive psychological capacities (PPCs) (optimism, hope, resilience and self-efficacy) on service recovery.

A model of FLE PPCs is tested using two studies: a field study (N_retail = 205; N_restaurant = 160) and between-subject experimental design (N_education = 206) in three service settings.

Results show that positive emotions mediate the relationship between PPCs and problem-solving adaptability, and that authenticity of positive emotions moderates the relationship between positive emotions and interactional justice. Surprisingly, problem-solving adaptability positively influences perceptions of distributive justice and interactional justice. A small interaction effect between positive emotions and problem-solving adaptability also was found.

The dependent variable (problem-solving adaptability) was measured using an open-ended question evaluated by objective, independent raters rather than a self-reported structured metric, to minimize social desirability bias.

Given that the customer complaints to the Better Business Bureau in 2016 were close to one million, most of them occurring in the service sector, service firms need continuous research into improving service recovery. This study argues that firms can improve FLEs’ problem-solving adaptability behavior by training existing FLEs to strengthen PPCs, hiring FLEs that have strong PPCs and fostering positive emotions.

This is the first study that examines the effect of PPCs on service recovery outcomes. By incorporating PPCs as antecedents of positive emotions, this paper explains how FLEs can offer a better recovery rather than dictating what they ought to display and say. An explanation of how FLE PPCs influence customer outcomes via the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and emotion contagion theory is offered, highlighting a novel path/relationship between FLE positive emotions and problem-solving abilities, and extending emotion contagion to service recovery.

To subscribe: All commands must be sent to LISTSERV@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDULots of enthusiasm is emerging among Comurbanists for urban biking, so I have to pass on a new table I am refining on amenities in cities (county data shown here). It shows that NYC, LA and some other urban locations rank very high nationally, and above many suburban and smaller population counties, even in bike events (for mountain and road bikes).

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/eb024707. When citing the article, please cite: Terry Clark, (1987), “ECHOIC MEMORY EXPLORED AND APPLIED”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 1 Iss: 2, pp. 41 - 48.

We all do it. We label persons or groups as chic, funky, chauvinist, cool, Uncle Tom, nerdy, liberated, Baby Boomers, and more. Political and religious leaders similarly make moral statements, for instance by applying Biblical characters’ names to contemporaries like Bill Clinton or Saddam Hussein – as Satanical or a Good Samaritan. Muslims analogously invoke the Koran.

Studies of the city traditionally posit a division between a city’s economy and its culture, with culture subordinate in explanatory power to “work.” However, post-industrial and globalizing trends are dramatically elevating the importance of culture. Cultural activities are increasingly crucial to urban economic vitality. Models to explain the growth of cities from the era of industrial manufacturing are outmoded. Loss of heavy industry impacts the dynamics of urban growth, increasing the relative importance of the city both as a space of consumption and as a site for “production” which is distinctly symbolic/expressive. Some have seen globalization, the wired city, and electronic communication as destroying cities as proximity should decline in importance. This may be correct for some production concerns, but this in turn raises questions about consumption versus production decisions affecting urban growth and dynamics. Even in a former industrial power like Chicago, the number one industry has become entertainment, which city officials define to include tourism, conventions, restaurants, hotels, and related economic activities. Citizens in the postindustrial city increasingly make “quality of life” demands, treating their own urban location as if tourists, emphasizing aesthetic concerns. These practices impact considerations about the proper nature of amenities that post-industrial cities can sustain. The city increasingly becomes an Entertainment Machine, leveraging culture to enhance its economic well being. The entertainment components of cities are actively and strategically produced through political and economic processes. Entertainment becomes the work of many urban participants. We elaborate this theme in general and illustrate its force with case study materials from Chicago and a national study of U.S. mayors in cities over 25,000 in population.

Consumption is a new central issue, globally, driven by more visible consumption concerns of citizens. For instance, entertainment and the environment rise as political issues, while workplace issues decline. To link individual choice with public and urban context, we outline a theory of consumption in specific propositions. They start with individual and personal influence characteristics in shopping and political decisions, then add socio/cultural characteristics. Three cultural types adapted from Elazar are Moralistic, Individualistic, and Traditional – which shift individual patterns. For instance moralistic persons favor more environmentally sensitive consumption, even boycotting cars, TV, and paper towels, backing green groups and parties. Such protest acts via personal consumption are ignored by many past theories. Individualists instead favor more conspicuous, status-oriented consumption, à la Veblen, or the modernism of Baudelaire and Benjamin. For traditionalists, consumption reinforces the past, via family antiques and homes, ritualized and less individualized. The three types help interpret differences in consumption politics by participants in different social movements, cities, and countries.

This book facilitates the existing dialogue between community sociologists and environmental sociologists on the ecological and social significance of place, the challenges of local sustainability, and local environmental politics. Even after many years into this general intellectual discussion, much remains to be clarified, defined, explained, and understood if we are to provide other concerned actors with meaningful social scientific insights. As such, we conclude this chapter by briefly identifying seven fruitful avenues for future research that follow directly from the contributions to this book.