Customer-facing Employees Research Articles

Influence of meaningfulness of work and leadership characteristics on customer-directed counterproductive work behavior resulting from customer mistreatment

ABSTRACT This study explored the impact of customer mistreatment on counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and the moderating role of supervisor responses (self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership) to clarify why customer-directed CWB occurs and how it can be reduced. A sample of 392 customer-facing employees in the USA completed measures assessing the meaningfulness of work and self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership experiences. The meaningfulness of work moderated the relationship between customer mistreatment and employee anger, and a three-way interaction was found between employee anger and self-sacrificial and self-serving leadership on customer-directed CWB. Implications for managing customer mistreatment and fostering meaningful work to promote employee well-being are discussed.

Heritage hotels: An exploration of staff experiences in these unique hospitality environments

Heritage hotels play a significant role in the hotel sector, preserving cultural heritage and delivering authentic and unique guest experiences and economic value to destinations. As such, they are an important but under-researched hotel operation. They range in size and star rating and can be boutique and/or upscale luxury hotels, independently owned and operated or managed by one of the large international hotel chains. There are three types of heritage hotels: original, simulated, and converted. The first are hotels whose purpose has remained unchanged since their inception and, despite modernization, retain their originality. The second are simulated heritage hotels, which are associated with symbolic heritage elements. The third are historic structures (castles, cathedrals, palaces, etc.) that have been repurposed and converted into hotels, imbuing them with new symbolic and economic meanings. This research note investigates the third type of heritage hotels. These are buildings rich in history, a sense of place and hold cultural meanings for their localities and communities. The note employs an exploratory, qualitative research strategy and reports data from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 customer-facing employees and managers in three independently owned and operated United Kingdom (UK) rural boutique heritage hotels. This qualitative approach provided an opportunity to attain depth in revealing the participants’ service experiences and encounters. The research note advances extant scholarship, which has examined employee interactions in small heritage accommodations as emotional and individualised guest experiences. It suggests that historic sites repurposed as heritage hotels have distinctive qualities, setting them apart from other hotels as hospitality environments. As such, their staff regard themselves as stewards and storytellers of local culture as much as receptionists, servers, etc. It concludes by advancing possibilities for further research on this conceptualization of heritage hotel employees.

Determining the ease of managing emotional labour: Its impact on turnover intentions among customer-facing retail employees

Determining the ease of managing emotional labour: Its impact on turnover intentions among customer-facing retail employees

Community Workforce Differences in Mental Health Across Gender and Job Description in Southwest Indiana

Background and Hypothesis: In May 2020, a community partnership was built in Southwest Indiana to determine the local prevalence of COVID-19 to guide reopening in the region. One year later, a follow-up survey study was launched to address new, pressing questions related to mental health in the community workforce. We hypothesized that adverse mental health symptoms would be disproportionately experienced by specific worker groups based on degree of in-person contact over the past year and demographic characteristics such as age and gender. 
 Methods: For the 2021 survey, participants were invited through their place of employment or via phone to participate in a short online survey consisting of questions related to demographics, general work roles, company policies over the past year, and wellness. When examining mental health, the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and General Anxiety Disorder-2 (GAD-2) were used to determine feelings of depression and anxiety, respectively. 
 Results: 480 participants filled out the 2021 online survey (73% of which were returning). 442 of these responses were complete and eligible for analysis of mental health and degree of in-person contact. 345 responses were complete and eligible for information regarding age. No correlation was found between age and mental health. However, differences were observed based on gender and job description. Women (n=244) and customer-facing employees (n=99) reported more frequent symptoms of anxiety and depression, with customer-facing women reporting the most. Comparing only employees that did not work remotely during the pandemic, customer-facing employees still reported more frequent symptoms of anxiety and depression. 
 Conclusion and Potential Impact: The impacts of COVID-19 on the workforce are still being studied, but the pandemic continues to take its toll. These mental health trends will help guide future policies to support and improve employee wellbeing, both within participating companies and the workforce at large.

How LMX and marketing capabilities guide and motivate customer-facing employees’ learning

Employees’ learning orientation represents their level of motivation to learn at work and improve their job performance. This may be an important success factor for firms that are encountering competitive market conditions. This paper draws on social learning theory to predict that leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceptions among customer-facing employees of the marketing capabilities of their own firm are antecedents of the employees’ learning orientation, which in turn leads to their improved job performance. We further hypothesize the positive impact of LMX and perceived marketing capabilities on job performance. Data from 224 employees in China were used to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that LMX and perceived marketing capabilities promote employees’ learning orientation and that LMX leads to improvements in employees’ job performance. Practical implications for increasing employees’ learning orientation are explained.

Effects of Training on Organizational Performance

Training is one of the Human Resources functions of the organization. When employees are recruited into the organization, they may not come with all the required skill set to discharge fully their roles in the organization. Hence, the one to equip such new employees with relevant skill set for the good of the organization. Also, the business world is very dynamic and ever changing. Organizations keep innovating making it imperative or organizations to keep training and learning. The rate technological advancement has made it almost impossible for any forward looking organization not to flow with the competition is cut throat. Customers keeping raising expectations which every bank which want to remain in business will necessarily have to meet. The Customer-facing employees will need the right skills, knowledge and attitude to manage the customers with their high expectation. The right skill, knowledge and attitude can be acquired through training. The research attempts to find out the impact which training has employee performance bearing in mind that the aggregate of individual performance will culminate to organizational performance. The study considered the microfinance bank sub-sector from which three banks were selected. Data was collected from 304 respondents who were drawn using Taro Yamane sample size determination technique through structured questionnaire. The data collected was subjected to both descriptive and inferential techniques were used to test formulated hypotheses. The study showed that employee skill, knowledge and ability gained from training has significant effect on productivity. Further findings reveal that training has effect on employee commitment to the organization. The conclusion is that training enhances employee performance as well as employee commitment to the organization. It is therefore, recommended that microfinance banks and all organization should take more active interest in the training of its employees.

Measuring job satisfaction of customer-facing employees: scale development and validation in the context of organised retail sector

A very short multidimensional scale consisting of 18 items has been developed for measuring the job satisfaction of customer-facing employees, so that its length would not be deterrent for practical applications. Using a sample of 632 customer-facing employees working with organised retail stores in the Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR), India, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has been conducted with a subsample of 200 respondents and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has been conducted with a subsample of 432 respondents. A series of EFA and CFA have resulted in 18 items categorised under five factors namely - working conditions; interpersonal relationships with co-workers and supervisor/manager; compensation; career advancement and growth opportunities; and training and development. The stability of the factor structure was assessed by again conducting CFA on a validation sample of 329 respondents. The overall measure has demonstrated construct validity and each of the five subscales has exhibited high internal consistency.

Measuring job satisfaction of customer-facing employees: scale development and validation in the context of organised retail sector

Measuring job satisfaction of customer-facing employees: scale development and validation in the context of organised retail sector

When do corporate social responsibility initiatives impact on customer-facing employees? Evidence from India and the Netherlands

The vast majority of the extant literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has focused on the macro (firm) level of analysis by examining the linkage between CSR and firm-level outcomes. As such, very few studies have focused on the micro (individual) level of analysis. Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on the individual level of analysis thereby contributing to the emerging psychology of CSR literature, which considers employees' perceptions of their employing organizations' social actions as more important than organizations' objective CSR performance (Rupp, Shao, Thornton and Skarlicki (2013), ‘Applicants’ and Employees’ Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Effects of First-Party Justice Perceptions and Moral Identity,’ Personnel Psychology, 66, 895–933). Moreover, the study is one of the first examining the role of context in employee attitudes toward CSR. In particular, it builds on the psychology of CSR (e.g. Rupp et al. 2013) literature to propose a research framework that delineates the moderating effects of satisfaction with payment, satisfaction with the job itself and individualism in the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) perceptions and customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes. Data are collected from customer-facing employees in two major organizations in the Netherlands and India. Results suggest a complex interplay between CSP perceptions and the two facets of job satisfaction, and that national context is likely to moderate the contingent effects of CSP perceptions on customer-facing employees' behavioral outcomes.

More Than Meets the Eye: A Closer Look at Front-line Service Management

This symposium will present four papers that focus on the front- line service management. As service sector continues to thrive, its effective and efficient management emerges as a key issue for both organizations and the economy as a whole. However, as the included papers indicate, reaching this goal may be more difficult and complex than it initially appears. Given the importance of front-line or customer-facing employees in the creation, provision, and delivery of services, this symposium brings together a series of papers that examine the management of such employees and its relationships with key organizational variables including employee attitudes, unit-level turnover, human resource practices, customer satisfaction, and ownership structure. Together, this collection of research suggests that successful management in a front-line service context often entails more than meets the eye and furthers our understanding of the intricacies and nuances surrounding the management of this integral sector and its employees.

“The People Make the Brand”

Fit between an organization's brand and its employees, sometimes referred to as employee brand identification, has been highlighted as an important element in delivering service quality. This article examines the people management practices directed both at potential and current employees which enhance this “person-brand fit” and proposes that effective management of this can help reduce the persistent problem of social skills gaps in service organizations. A study of managers and customer-facing employees in two hotel case studies—one reporting significant social skills gaps and the other reporting few gaps—showed that the hotel reporting fewer gaps had achieved greater employee identification with the brand. This hotel conducted recruitment and selection around person-brand fit, while the other hotel did not. The hotel reporting fewer social skills gaps also allowed greater employee agency in brand socialization, training, and in the enactment of the brand on the job. The article discusses the relevance of these findings for theory on how human resource management practices may be linked to service brands in order to reduce social skills gaps.

The Identification of Critical Success Factors for Quality Internal IT Services in Public Sector Organisations in Hong Kong

Customer satisfaction and cost saving are the benefits of quality service, whether in private sector firms or public sector organisations. Since customer-facing employees are supported by a chain of internal work units, quality improvement in internal services has a positive influence on external customers. Better management of critical success factors is believed to yield direct improvements in service quality. The identification of critical success factors for quality internal IT services would, therefore, be an important step towards public sector improvements in Hong Kong. The methodology used in this research was an exploratory case study with three Delphi cycles. A list of 13 critical success factors identified in prior private sector research was presented to participants to rank according to these factors’ criticality and relevance in the public sector. Participants were interviewed to ensure that their views were understood. The results were then presented to a smaller group of participants in the first Delphi cycle to explore the meaning of the displayed patterns and for possible classification according to criticality. The proposed criticality was presented in the second Delphi cycle to form coherent views. The results suggest that some of the 13 critical success factors are transferable from private sector firms to public sector organisations, namely Management Commitment, Customer Management and Corporate Culture. The results also reveal that the two factors of Organisational Structure and Employee Empowerment are incompatible with public sector culture and therefore non-critical. The criticality of the other eight factors was found to be inconclusive as participants generally agreed that the number of critical success factors should be kept low to be manageable. In addition, participants agreed that whether internal quality service was required by the management of public sector organisations should also be considered as a critical success factor. This is in contrast with the private sector where quality would normally be considered as a key objective by default. The question of finding an alternative to the traditional cost model of internal service, where those who receive the services are not those who pay for them, was debated extensively between participants. This controversial issue was found to warrant further study. Finally a model for how to apply critical success factors is proposed for further investigation. The results of this research are significant because there was no prior research into the identification of critical success factors in internal services of the public sector. The results provide first-time insights and will help administrators to better understand critical success factors and quality internal services for improving and delivering public services.

Influences of organizational investments in social capital on service employee commitment and performance

Improving customers' service experiences by identifying ways to develop organizational cultures that better motivate and engage service employees is an important issue for service organizations and a top priority in services research. However, extant services research focuses far more on managing customer relationships than on the dynamics of effectively supporting and developing the service personnel who interact with customers. This study assesses the influence of an organizational human resource developmental initiative on service employees. The authors utilize social capital theory and the theory of reasoned action to propose and test a model that examines relationships between organizational investments in social capital and service employees' work-related attitudes, norms, and behaviors. Results from a field study of 407 customer-facing employees from multiple service organizations suggest that making organizational investments in social capital favorably influences service employees' commitment, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior.

THE CREATION OF NOVEL AND MARKETABLE SERVICE IDEAS

Novel and marketable service ideas are useful to most service enterprises. However, the literature has identified several reasons for innovations in services as lagging behind those in manufacturing. Some service enterprises believe that service ideas and innovations are readily imitated by competitors. Others view the impact of service innovations on profitability difficult to assess because specific innovative service elements are typically bundled with many other service elements when delivered to or used by customers. Some service enterprises do not have in-house groups specifically dedicated to innovative pursuits, making it difficult for them to systematically produce new service ideas. Furthermore, because services are usually produced and consumed concurrently, any failure tends to expose the service enterprise immediately, unlike the manufacturing companies which can minimize such risks of exposure by conducting pilot testing away from the marketplace. As a result, many service enterprises are said to shy away from aggressively pursuing new service development projects. It does not have to be this way. This paper describes the combinatorial, heuristic, and normatively guided method, which when correctly applied to a service enterprise enhances the generation of new service ideas in a systematic, speedy, and cost-effective manner, and without requiring the creation of a dedicated and rigid organizational structure. Virtual teams of the "stealth" type are set up to address innovation needs related to marketability and cost competitiveness. These teams may include frontline customer-facing employees as well as customers, suppliers, and other external experts, who can work together despite geographical and time-zone constraints. The application of this method toward developing a specific new service idea is discussed in greater detail. The integration of a "stealth" team can also be readily applied to the front end of a typical stage-gate service development process, whereby parallel teams are engaged to address critical issues and steps needed to successfully market a service idea before initiating costly development, thereby raising the service enterprises' overall probability of developing commercially successful new services over time.

The Moderating Role of Job Satisfaction Facets on Customer-Facing Employees’ Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: Preliminary Results from India and the Netherlands

The vast majority of the extant literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has focused on the macro (firm) level of analysis by examining the linkage between CSR and firm-level outcomes. As such, very few studies have focused on the micro (individual) level of analysis. Against this backdrop, the present study focuses on the individual level of analysis thereby contributing to the emerging psychology of CSR literature, which considers employees' perceptions of their employing organizations' social actions as more important than organizations' objective CSR performance (Rupp, Shao, Thornton, & Skarlicki, 2013). Moreover, the study is one of the first examining the role of context in employee attitudes towards CSR. In particular, it builds on the psychology of CSR (e.g., Rupp et al., 2013) literature to propose a research framework that delineates the moderating effects of satisfaction with payment, satisfaction with the job itself, and individualism in the relationship between Corporate Social Performance (CSP) perceptions and customer-facing employees’ behavioral outcomes. Data are collected from customer-facing employees in two major organizations in the Netherlands and India. Results suggest a complex interplay between CSP perceptions and the two facets of job satisfaction as well as that national context is likely to moderate the contingent effects of CSP perceptions on customer-facing employees’ behavioral outcomes.

Coca‐Cola Enterprises invests in on‐boarding at the front lines to benefit the bottom line

AbstractThe world's largest bottler of nonalcoholic beverages has made a training investment in new customer‐facing employees as a strategy for reducing turnover, improving productivity, and increasing employee engagement. The CCE Pathway, a structured program of daily self‐study, on‐the‐job learning, peer coaching, reflection, and weekly manager assessments, accelerates learning so that new frontline employees know everything they need to keep customers happy. The authors explain the two‐to‐four‐week program's structure for experiential learning tailored to each position's requirements. Learning objectives for each day focus questions, conversations, and feedback on the knowledge and actions important for individual success and business results. Ongoing coaching and evaluation ensure that learning translates into performance. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Time Warner Cable Kansas City looks beyond the usual suspects for ways to retain and engage customer-facing employees

When too many new hires are leaving after just a few months on the job, despite effective recruitment and on-boarding programs, it is time to look for answers in new places. This company set out to strengthen the relationship between frontline supervisors and their new—mostly Generation Y—customer care specialists, and found it's never too early to start building engagement. Keys to early development of a strong supervisor-employee bond include beginning relationship building during the hiring interview; supervisor participation in new-hire training; learning the individual's personal drivers of engagement; 30-/60-/90-day assessments with coaching and mentoring; and exposing the new hire to positive high-performing peers (while buffering them from negative influencers). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The CRM imperative — Practice vs theory in the telecommunications industry

This paper examines various issues raised by the idea of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and how it has affected traditional views on marketing. It uses three case studies from European telecommunications companies to illustrate the points made, focusing on how information technology in the form of the Internet and business intelligence solutions have enabled large businesses to focus on the customer as well as on their products and sales levels. CRM is a attitude that needs to pervade the company, but it needs a solid foundation of knowledge of customers. This knowledge comes not only from customer-facing employees but also from the vast amounts of data collected by companies today. It is the technological infrastructure that allows this knowledge to be distilled from data about customers and their interactions with the company, facilitates better business decisions and encourages customer loyalty and retention.