Building Employee–Customer Relationship Quality and Engagement Strategies: A Stakeholder Framework

Abstract

In Chapter 5, we first provide a stakeholder-based framework that examines the criteria, pillars, and dimensions of relationship quality for employees and customers. Our stakeholder framework is consistent with established theoretical perspectives on organizations. In advancing this framework, we intersect the multiple views of stakeholder management and relationship quality. We argue that effective management of relationships is a function of understanding the appropriate stakeholder relationship criteria (i.e., descriptive, instrumental, and normative) for each stakeholder type (i.e., employees and customers) and how these influence the foundational pillars of relationship quality and, consequently, the dimensions of relationship quality. Next, we discuss employee–customer engagement theories, particularly the service-profit chain (SPC) paradigm, a set of moderating factors, and finally employee–customer engagement strategies. At the end of the chapter, we provide key takeaways and conclude with HBS and Ivey cases. But first, to give a flavor of customer relationship marketing (CRM) employee–customer relationship and engagement strategies, we provide some real-life vignettes.