The impact of service worker personal resources on relationship quality in business solutions

Abstract

Service workers are vital in business solution implementations due to their importance to customer outcomes. However, service workers face time and resource constraints that limit their ability to address the multiple requirements of individual customer firm members. Therefore, achieving relationship quality can be stressful. Surprisingly little research exists in this area, so it is, therefore, the focus of the present study. Drawing on the results of a survey of 220 members of customer firms, the study first explores the impacts of three types of personal resources (flexibility, reputation and empathy) on relationship quality. The results suggest all three personal resources have positive effects. The study also considers the mediating effects of task alignment (i.e. when personal resources are appropriate for specific job demands) and the moderating effects of team membership (customer delivery team versus customer management team). The results suggest task alignment dampens the effects of the three personal resources on relationship quality, which implies that specific tasks do not necessarily affect relationship quality as a whole. Team membership moderates all hypothesized effects, suggesting a more operational focus for customer delivery team members and a more strategic focus for customer management team members.