Antecedents of Retail Employees’ Service Performance: A Store-Level Exploration of a Climate-Centric versus an Engagement-Centric Approach

Abstract

This paper compares two store-level models of the antecedents of frontline employees’ in-role and extra-role service performance in a retail setting. In the climate-centric research model, service climate serves as a direct antecedent of in-role and extra-role service performance, while in the engagement-centric rival model, work engagement directly predicts in-role and extra-role service performance. The two competing models were assessed at the store-level of analysis on data collected from 781 frontline employees and 70 managers. Results indicate that service-oriented high-performance work systems and work engagement both predict service climate which, in turn, predicts employees’ in-role and extra-role service performance.