Customer service employees’ behavioral intentions and attitudes: an examination of construct validity and a path model

Abstract

Customer service employees ( N=386) from a variety of service-based organizations (e.g., hotels, restaurants, and retail stores) were sampled in a cross-sectional design to assess the construct validity and predictive utility of measures of: (a) perceptions of organizational support, (b) organizational commitment, (c) job satisfaction, (d) intent to quit, and (e) life satisfaction and to assess the appropriateness of use and the impact of these scales within a service-based context. The construct validity of the measures was assessed through the application of confirmatory factor analysis, while the predictive character of the proposed path models was assessed using path analysis. Results indicated that the measures of job satisfaction, intent to quit, and life satisfaction demonstrated acceptable construct validity within the service context sampled, while the measures of organizational support and commitment received mixed support due to problems with measurement error and item specification. The analyses of the path models revealed that: (a) perceived organizational support strongly and significantly influenced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, (b) job satisfaction had a unidirectional impact upon life satisfaction, (c) despite a strong correlation, job satisfaction displayed a limited predictive impact on organizational commitment, and (d) intent to quit was influenced by both job satisfaction and organizational commitment.