When Does (Mis)Fit Between Customer Service Orientation and Internal Service Qualities Matter for Frontline Employees’ Pride in Membership and Their Behaviors?

Abstract

The literature has paid little attention to the (mis)fit effect between customer service orientation (CSO) and internal service qualities (ISQ). Unlike past studies, we use a non-commensurate and complementary fit approach by adopting a distinctive CSO as a need dimension at the individual level and ISQ as a satisfaction dimension provided by the organization. We test a CSO–ISQ (mis)fit model and include pride in membership and internal ethics training programs as supplementary activators for frontline employee turnover intentions and affective commitment. Based on the polynomial, mediation, and moderation analyses, we found that enjoyment service orientation–ISQ (mis)fit effects on pride in membership show complete and partial mediation effects on turnover intentions and affective commitment, with a significant joint effect of the training program. We discuss the theoretical contributions of our findings. Findings suggest that enhancing pride in membership can buffer the misfit between frontline employees’ needs and their satisfaction with ISQ, leading to a lower turnover intention and a stronger affective commitment. Furthermore, this study suggests that internal ethics training programs can enhance the positive effect of pride in membership on turnover intentions and affective commitment.