Contact Employees Research Articles

The edifying body: the role of embodied practices in the social production of servicescapes

PurposeThis research aims to explore and theorize the role of embodied practices – orchestrated by service providers – in the social production of servicescapes. It is claimed that the social character of the servicescape is shaped not only by narratives and materialities but also through the body. Bodily physical behaviors like physical movements in space, gestures, facial expressions, postures and tactile engagements with the surrounding materiality constitute a body language that conveys information and expresses meanings. In this kinetic capacity, the body becomes a building agent in the social constitution of the servicescape. As the author empirically demonstrates in the context of city tourism with diverse experiential opportunities, it is due to the body’s discriminatory orientation, walking, looking, pointing and acting in selective ways that the city emerges as a servicescape of particular kind.Design/methodology/approachMarket-oriented ethnography was conducted in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the author observed the guiding practices of tour guides leading international tourists during two-day city excursions.FindingsThis research identifies and unpacks three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers as they guide customers at the servicescape: spatializing, emplacing and regulating. The role of the body and its association with narratives and materialities is identified in each cluster.Practical implicationsA number of embodied practices are provided for use by contact employees as they guide customers in the servicescape. Specific guidelines are also offered to service providers for the strategic employment of body language, their training is navigational skills and the coordination of body, narratives and materialities.Originality/valueThis study extends current materialistic and communicative approaches on the construction of servicescapes by claiming that the servicescape in not only a physical and narrative construction but something that is also configured through the body; provides three clusters of embodied practices deployed by service providers; theorizes the intertwined nature of narratives, materiality and the body; defines servicescapes as dynamic socio-spatial entities emerging from the constant {narrative-material-body} arrangements orchestrated by service providers; and sheds light on the mediating role of the body in the social production of servicescapes.

Influence of customer contact employees (CCEs) competencies on their service recovery performance: a moderated-mediation approach

Purpose This study aims to explore the influence of customer contact employees (CCEs) competencies (social, emotional and professional) on their service recovery performance (SRP) with mediation effect of internal marketing and moderation effect of industry/sector. Design/methodology/approach This study used survey-based dyads of 210 CCEs and their managers/supervisors in three service sectors (hotel and hospitality, automobile service centers and organized retail stores). Repeated-measures analysis of variance, confirmatory factor analysis and PROCESS macro of Hayes (2013) was used to assess reliability, validity and to test mediation, moderation and moderated-mediation. Findings CCEs competencies influenced SRP. The relationship between CCEs competencies and SRP was mediated by internal marketing. The industry/sector was found to be a significant moderator between the internal marketing and SRP. Additionally, a significant moderated-mediation effect was found between CCEs competencies and SRP. Research limitations/implications Longitudinal studies could be particularly helpful to evaluate the impact of internal marketing on SRP. The future researcher may benefit from replicating and extending the model in different industries or can study other factors as mediators or moderators for further contribution to the SRP literature. Practical implications Firms striving for consumer retention and aiming to extend their consumer life cycle can greatly benefit from the results of this study to provide effective SRP. The study also suggests that policymakers and management should adopt properly designed and well-articulated human resource management practices for excellence in SRP in their organizations. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no study in the past which has addressed employee and organizational factors with the dyadic sample. In addition, it has used a moderated-mediation model in the context of SRP and also contributes to the extant literature by researching in a non-Western setting like India.

Investigating the Nexus: Organizational Commitment among MZ Generation Service Contact Employees and its Influence on Positive Psychological Capital and Service

Investigating the Nexus: Organizational Commitment among MZ Generation Service Contact Employees and its Influence on Positive Psychological Capital and Service

Managing burnout from engagement-derived acting strategy

PurposePerforming emotional labour is required of customer-contact employees (CCEs) to regulate their emotions through acting to conform to organisational display rules. Prior research is focused on investigating the detrimental outcomes of CCEs engaging in emotional labour acting to meet these display rules and organisational-related antecedents. This study takes a fresh perspective to propose how acting deriving from job engagement is related to employee burnout. Emotional intelligence is modelled as a moderator in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe current study focuses on customer contact employees who are currently employed within the banking industry located in the United States of America. Participants of the study were recruited using panel data through Qualtrics both symmetrical and asymmetrical methods were employed in this study to test the proposed relationships.FindingsThe findings show that, prior to including EI in the analysis, job engagement was negatively related to surface acting but positively related to deep acting. However, when EI was entered in the equation, the relationship between job engagement and deep acting became negative. EI was also negatively related to both surface and deep acting. EI significantly strengthens the emotional labour process of engagement towards emotional labour strategies as well as lessening burnout. The asymmetrical analysis offer more insights to the proposed relationships.Originality/valueThis study employs both symmetrical and asymmetrical methods to examine emotional labour, emotional intelligence and employee burnout. In particular, job engagement proposed as an antecedent to acting strategy is novel. The study offers some novel insights into emotional labour and emotional intelligence research. The findings have practical implications for HR practitioners and management in the service organisations.

How Cultural Intelligence Facilitates Employee Voice in the Hospitality Industry

Drawing upon person-environment fit, specifically demands–abilities fit, this paper examines the impact of hospitality employees’ cultural intelligence (CQ) on their voice behavior and job satisfaction. Data were collected from domestic contact employees working for restaurants in three major cities in the United States. The results of the PLS-SEM model show that CQ has a positive effect on employees’ voice behavior through self-efficacy. Further, CQ has a positive effect on job satisfaction through a sequential mediation of self-efficacy and voice. This study contributes to the CQ and voice literature, utilizing CQ as a person’s ability to meet job requirements. This study also has important practical implications for hospitality practitioners who depend on employee voice for the success of organizations in today’s ever-changing global environment.

Fungsi Badan Kepegawaian dan Pengembangan SDM dalam Melakukan Mediasi pada Proses Perceraian PNS di Lingkungan Pemerintah Kabupaten Tana Tidung

Marriage according to Law Number 1 of 1974 is an inner and outer bond between a man and a woman as husband and wife to live a perfect, happy, and eternal life. Not all marriages can run as expected because there is no agreement or conflicting behavior that results in divorce in both the general public and civil servants. This study aims to describe and analyze staffing policies in fostering household harmony and support improving employee performance, analyze the factors causing civil servant divorce, analyze the mediation process carried out by BKPSDM as a form of regional organizational function in the civil servant divorce process and analyze obstacles and solutions. In mediating the divorce process for civil servants within the Tana Tidung Regency Goverment. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method with data collection techniques through interviews, observation and documentation. This study concludes that the government policy of Tana Tidung Regency in fostering household harmony is carried out through religious activities, giving leave, counseling guidance, and socialization about household harmony. Factors causing civil servant divorce include infidelity, economy, one party being a drug addict, and differences in principles, ideology, and religion. BKPSDM as a mediator uses the 5 mediation principles of David Spencer and Michael Brogan in the civil servant divorce apllication process. The obstacles faced werw that one of the parties was unable to attend, and parties were uncooperative, unable to accept suggestions, and incomplete administrative requirements. The solution is to make a summons to the parties concerned, bring other parties to obtain additional information, and contact employees to complete the requirements for submitting a divorce permit so that the next process can be carried out.

Understanding the Negotiation and Performance Effects of Idiosyncratic Deals

A growing body of research has sought to illuminate our understanding of the negotiation and implementation of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) as an adaptive HR response to the changing needs and expectations of employees. Contributing to this research stream, this study uses multi-source and multi-wave data obtained from customer contact employees and their supervisors from manufacturing and service organizations in China to examine a cross-level model of the antecedents and outcomes of i-deals. Results of multilevel path analysis reveal that both employee approach motive and supervisor interpersonal competence relate to i-deals. However, high-commitment HR system moderates the relationship between supervisor interpersonal competence (but not employee approach motive) and i-deals such that this relationship is stronger when high-commitment HR system is high but not low. Additionally, i-deals relate to service creativity but indirectly through personal learning suggesting a potential human capital (relative to the predominantly motivational) explanation of the performance implications of i-deals.

Эмоциональное выгорание HR-специалистов

Conducted studies and reports by The Hartford, State of People Strategy, Paychex Pulse of HR revealed an acute problem of burnout in the field of HR. The transformation of personnel management functions, maintaining a balance of interests between the organization and employees, management and services are regular sources of stress for HRD. Significant changes in the work environment, in labor legislation, compensation, benefits and forced mass layoffs are reflected in the emotional background of HR professionals. The purpose of the study is to analyze the main stress factors of a modern HR professional and formulate recommendations for preventing stress, professional and emotional burnout syndrome.
 The article focuses on the classification of burnout as a professional phenomenon as defined by the World Health Organization. The analyzed reports showed that almost 60% of HR professionals consider emotional exhaustion to be their main problem. The French government is noted for passing a law requiring employers not to contact employees after hours and not punishing employees for not answering calls or emails after leaving work. The British government has passed a law called "Prosperity at Work", which aims to eliminate cases of mental health problems and other manifestations of stress and burnout in organizations.

How Does Customer Personality Shape Customer-Employee and Customer-Firm Interactions?

In recent decades, the banking industry has undergone several changes implying the need for banks to differentiate themselves This research examines the effect of the Big Five on relationship quality and customer loyalty on both employee and firm levels in retail banks. A total of 210 online surveys were collected via the convenient sampling method. The findings showed that openness to experience, extroversion and neuroticism influence relationship quality on both levels. Conscientiousness affects relationship quality at the bank level while agreeableness affects relationship quality at the customer contact employee level. Relationship quality displayed significant influence on customer loyalty on both levels. Several implications are derived for service research and service encounter management. The findings provide valuable insight for matching retail bank customers and customer-contact employees based on their personality profiles to ensure long-term relationship quality and customer loyalty. Insights into the relationship quality-customer loyalty link can act as a starting point for academics who are interested in understanding the role of frontline employees in services management.

Error Aversion Versus Error Management: Does Organizational Error Culture Affect Employees’ Customer Orientation?

This study examines how two error cultures (error management and error aversion) influence customer-oriented behavior through negative affectivity and job satisfaction. We collected two samples: one for the error-aversive scale validation ( n = 140) and the other for the conceptual model ( n = 381). All responses are from contact employees working for mid-scale to luxury hotels in a metropolitan city in China. The findings reveal that mid-scale hotels are more error-averse than upscale hotels; upscale and luxury hotels are more inclined to error-management than mid-scale hotels. Further, error strains and error cover-up do not converge as lower-order constructs for error aversion; cover-up appears to be the truly opposite of error management. Cover-up along with strains decreases customer-oriented behavior through negative affectivity. In contrast, error management increases customer orientation through job satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature of organizational error culture by incorporating two opposite error cultures into the proposed model.

Corporate Brand Experience as a New Construct and Its Effects on Employees’ Corporate Brand Pride and Brand-Supporting Behaviours

Employee corporate brand experience is conceptualised as any contact employees have with a corporate brand along the wide range of brand touch-points. To investigate this topic, this paper provides two studies. In Study 1 (n = 195), an employee corporate brand experience scale for direct and indirect corporate brand experiences (DCBEs and ICBEs, respectively) has been developed and validated. In doing so, this paper shows that these scales are distinct from existing experience measures in consumer and organisational behaviour research. Study 2 investigates how these different types of brand experiences generate employee corporate brand pride and turn employees into brand champions. A multivariate data analysis technique (partial least squares) is used to analyse data from 283 employees in Germany. By building on and advancing the assumptions of affective events theory, Study 2 shows that only ICBEs trigger emotional and attitudinal brand pride in turn affect brand-supporting behaviours.

Evaluasi Kinerja Karyawan Kontrak Menggunalan Metode Fuzzy Tsukamoto

Contract employees are employees who work in contact with a certain time agreement. However, there are times when contact employees with good performance will change their status to permanent employees. To determine whether an employee is a permanent employee, an evaluation of whether the employee's performance is worthy of being appointed as a permanent employee is required. However, to carry out this evaluation, a variable is needed to make an assessment. In the performance evaluation it is not easy to determine the value of each variable. To assist an HRD in determining the appointment of a contact employee to become a permanent employee, a decision support system is needed to facilitate HRD work. The decision support system is made using the Tsukamoto fuzzy logic method because the Tsukamoto fuzzy has a tolerance for value data. The result of the research is that the employee can be appointed as a permanent employee with a value of 93.4. The purpose of this decision support system is to determine whether or not contract employees are eligible to become permanent employees based on alternative disciplines, ways of working and behavior.

Internal branding, employees' brand commitment and moderation role of transformational leadership: an empirical study in Indian telecommunication context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between internal branding (IB) and employees' brand commitment and analyze how transformational leadership (TFL) moderates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through structured questionnaires from 394 employees in Indian telecommunication sector. The hypotheses and conceptual model were tested by structural equation modeling (SEM), using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS).FindingsThe results suggest that employees' brand commitment is higher when organizations implement IB supported by transformational leaders. Results also indicate that impact of IB on affective commitment (AC) and normative commitment (NC) is greater than its impact on continuance commitment (CC).Research limitations/implicationsConsistent with the brand commitment dimensions, the findings present an empirically tested comprehensive and integrative model of IB moderated by TFL. This study provides scholars a deeper understanding of relationship among IB, employee's commitment and TFL. Though multicollinearity is addressed, presence of cross-sectional data is a limitation in the study.Practical implicationsThe study would help practicing managers to gain a new perspective to manage their internal brand mechanisms through TFL style by stimulating change among employees and create emotionally committed brand advocates.Originality/valueThis paper suggests an empirically validated framework of IB tested for moderation effect by TFL. It adds value to literature by reinforcing the effect of IB employees' AC and NC, especially among customer contact employees who represent brand during customer service delivery in telecommunication sector.

워터파크의 본원적, 보완적 서비스 요소가 고객만족 및 재방문 의도에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study were the effects of servicescape, products and contact employees on customer satisfaction, which is the main service of water park. Moreover we reached the effects of the complex cultural space and membership system, which are primary and complementary services of water park, customer satisfaction and revisit intention in this study, a analized model and hypothesis were fixed up based on the theoretical reasearch of the former study, multiple regression analysis was conducted for frequency analysis, multiple response analysis, feasibility and reliability analysis of measurement tools, and correlation analysis hypothesis verification. The analysis results were as follows. First, the results of the analysis showed that primary and complementary service had a positive(+) effect on satisfaction. Second, the results of the analysis showed that primary and complementary service had a positive(+) effect on revisit intention. However only products did not have a significant effect on revisit intention. Third, the results of the analysis showed that customer satisfaction had a positive(+) effect on revisit intention.

Effect of Remuneration on Employee Commitment: Empirical Evidence from Hotel Industry

The purpose of the research is to evaluate the effect of remuneration on employee commitment. It explores how remuneration of employees can affect the employee’s commitment. A self-administered questionnaire based upon previously validated instrument was completed by 165 customer contact employees. Pearson correlation and Simple Regression techniques were employed to ascertain the relationship between remuneration and commitment. Consistent with Gift Exchange Model of Adams and Jacobsen (1964),the statistical analysis confirms that remuneration has positive and significant effect on employee commitment. This study provides implications and future research directions.

The Effect of Service Orientation of Vietnamese Beauty Workers on Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty

This study aims to provide the status of the local beauty service market to Korean companies seeking to enter Vietnam by identifying the route that the service orientation of beauty service workers in Vietnam leads to customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The survey targets distributed 260 copies of employees working for beauty service companies in Vietnam and 270 copies to visiting customers in their 20s or older and the survey period was translated into Vietnamese for three months from January 2020 to conduct self-report survey. The distributed questionnaire used 503 (employee 251 and customer 252) copies, excluding unfaithful responses as data for the final analysis. The method of analysis was explored and confirmed factor analysis and correlation analysis, and path analysis was performed using AMOS 2.0 to verify the suitability and hypothesis of the research model. According to the analysis service orientation has a significant impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction was found to have no significant impact on customer loyalty. The survey questions used in this study were modified to suit the purpose of the study, and it is believed that there was a lack of content that exactly matched the environment and characteristics of the Vietnamese region. Service orientation is a factor that has a significant impact on performance, so employee satisfaction should be considered for performance of customer satisfaction, as well as training on support and research on its relevance to compensation. Future studies suggest that new factor exploration and more sophisticated application of measurement questions are needed. We hope this study will provide information on which sectors more resources should be invested with limited resources that take into account Vietnam’s regional characteristics to help customers make wise decisions and meet their long-term needs. This study is meaningful in that it confirmed the customer’s accurate assessment of employees by identifying the mutual impact relationship between beauty workers and customers in Vietnam. The greater the interest in individual needs, the greater the potential for development of the beauty service market, and the service orientation of contact employees who provide services will be able to secure loyal customers and continue to grow and develop companies

Encouraging Patient Engagement Behaviors from the Perspective of Functional Quality.

Despite extensive research on how patient engagement behaviors (PEBs) are facilitated though explicit technical interventions in medical services, research on the encouragement of PEBs from the perspective of the service process is lacking. This study explores how functional quality dimensions (responsiveness, empathy, surroundings, and access) affect PEBs (compliance and loyalty) through a two-channel psychological mechanism (trust and satisfaction). This study tests the proposed model using survey data from two public hospitals in southeastern China and employs the partial least square (PLS) technique of structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the data. The results show that service providers’ responsiveness, empathy, and access affect patient compliance and loyalty through patient satisfaction; however, the effect of surroundings is not significant. The responsiveness and empathy of service staff affect PEBs through patient trust. Considering the high-contact professional nature of medical services, we call for more efforts toward improving service processes rather than simply relying on technical interventions. Specifically, hospitals and contact employees should devote time and effort to functional quality management in three dimensions, namely responsiveness, empathy, and access, to secure patient trust and satisfaction.

Turnover Intention of Employees, Supervisor Support, and Open Innovation: The Role of Illegitimate Tasks

Recently, the small and micro enterprises have earned significant fame in the management and entrepreneurship discipline. Researchers have examined the turnover intention of employees working within formal organizations, but ignored the employees working within small and micro enterprises. The aim of this study is to analyze the moderating effects of supervisor support on the relationship between illegitimate tasks and turnover intention of the employees of small and micro enterprises. An interview-administered questionnaire approach was used for data collection, and the snowball sampling technique was employed in this study to contact employees who were working within small and micro enterprises. The sample size was 420 employees from Lahore city (the provincial capital city of Punjab, Pakistan). Results showed that supervisor support would moderate the impact of illegitimate tasks on turnover intention, and a high level of support available from supervisor to the employee at the workplace would make them less likely to leave the organization as opposed to an employee who has less supervisor support at the workplace. The study reveals that supervisor support in small and micro enterprises is necessary to reduce or eliminate stress in the environment. Consequently, this study implies that the managers and supervisors of small and micro enterprises should provide logic and explanation to their subordinates and motivate their subordinates as to why they are assigned that particular task instead of any other employee and how important it is. This study contributes to the field of small and micro enterprises by evaluating the relationship between illegitimate tasks and turnover intention. This study is unique because management scholars have more often studied employees’ behavior in large corporations rather than in small and micro enterprises.

외식산업 서비스제공자의 언어적 커뮤니케이션이 자기자각을 통하여 직무성과에 미치는 영향

Purpose - This study can provide practical guidance to service contact employees who directly affect job performance, focusing on the awareness of service providers in the catering industry for linguistic communication that was applied separately in previous studies. As a result, the direction of the food service industry that can lead to higher customer satisfaction can be suggested. Therefore, this study intends to empirically examine the effect of verbal communication of service providers in the food service industry on self-awareness and the effect of self-awareness on job performance. Design, data, and methodology - Employees from the food service industry in Daegu and Gyeongbuk were surveyed from their 20s or older from December 1 to December 30, 2019 (about 4 weeks). A total of 200 people were surveyed, and 189 sincere respondents among the collected responses were used for analysis. Result -First, verbal communication showed that empathy had an effect on the negative emotions of self-perception, but response and trust did not. Second, verbal communication was found to have a positive (+) effect on empathy, response, and trust in positive emotions of self-perception. Third, in self-perception, negative emotions did not affect job performance, and positive emotions were found to have a significant positive (+) effect on job performance.

Impact of Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Perceived Service Quality in Hotel Industry

Though the prior studies have examined the service quality and organizational citizenship behavior in hotel industry, limited understanding exists on how the service quality could be enhanced by effective organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of customer-contact employees of unclassified hotels. This study concerns about how OCB of customer-contact employees would impact the perceived quality of the customers. Accordingly, it is endeavored to empirically examine the impact OCB of customer contact employees on the service quality in hotel industry. A total of 70 unclassified hotels were selected randomly from the Southern Province, Sri Lanka. The sample consisted of 215 customer-contact employees and 375 customers of these hotels. Structured questionnaires were administered for data collection. Smart-PLS 3 package was used for running the analysis of SEM. The results indicate that the impact of service oriented organizational citizenship behavior on service quality is statistically significant (β = 0.444, p < 0.01) and it is important to note that service-oriented loyalty on service quality appear to be strong. A conceptual and empirical link between OCB and perceived service quality (SQ) of customers is examined. The critical roles of the customer contact employees in ensuring high level of customer services in hotel industry is established.