Employee Customer Orientation Research Articles

The Influence of Service Quality, Customer Orientation of Service Employees and Perceived Price on Customer Loyalty with Customer Satisfaction as Mediation

This research aims to determine the influence of service quality, customer orientation of service employees and perceived price on customer loyalty with customer satisfaction as a mediating variable at the Honda Gajah Motor Bypass Dealer Workshop. The method used in this research is causality. The number of samples used was 250 samples. Sampling was carried out using purposive sampling technique. Sample collection was carried out using a questionnaire via Google Form. The data analysis method used to prove the truth of the hypothesis was carried out using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via Smart PLS version 4 software. From the results of hypothesis testing it was found that service quality, customer-oriented employees and perceived price had a significant effect on customer satisfaction at the Gajah Moor Honda Workshop Shortcut. The results of this research also found that customer satisfaction and perceived price have a significant effect on customer loyalty. However, service quality does not have a significant effect on customer loyalty. Apart from that, customer satisfaction is indirectly able to mediate the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, customer satisfaction is also indirectly able to mediate the relationship between perceived price and customer loyalty at the Honda Gajah Motor Bypass Dealer Workshop

Internal marketing analysis for improving the internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation of employees in private-owned sports center.

With the concept of "healthy lifestyle" deeply rooted in people's minds, the sports service industry is thriving, which has resulted in intense competition. The sports service industry must improve its service quality to be competitive. Customer orientation is the key factor for enterprises to gain competitive advantage. With the in-depth understanding of internal marketing in the service industry. Managers have realized that treating employees as internal consumer is a good way to improve their satisfaction and gain customer orientation. However, what internal marketing strategies will have a positive effect on internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation of private-owned sports center employees are still unclear. In this investigation, a total of 326 employees from the private-owned sports center were used to investigate the effects of internal marketing strategies on internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation. All employees were asked to complete a questionnaire on 5-point scale. A path model was used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of hypothetical measurements on internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation. The findings suggested that internal communication, administrative support, and educational training were important factors affecting internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation. We concluded that the implementation of internal marketing strategies could improve internal consumer satisfaction and customer orientation, and higher levels of internal consumer satisfaction will encourage employees to have higher degrees of customer orientation. Therefore, the implementation of internal marketing strategy was beneficial to the development of private-owned sports centers.

Some agents are more similar than others: customer orientation of frontline robots and employees

PurposeThe impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and cost-cutting, such that they may not fit firms that aim to be customer oriented.Design/methodology/approachIn four experiments, data are collected from customers interacting with frontline employees (FLEs) and FLRs in different settings.FindingsFLEs are perceived as more customer-oriented than FLRs due to higher competence and warmth evaluations. A relational interaction style attenuates the difference in perceived competence between FLRs and FLEs. These agents are also perceived as more similar in competence and warmth when FLRs participate in the customer journey's information and negotiation stages. Switching from FLE to FLR in the journey harms FLR evaluations.Practical implicationsThe authors recommend firms to place FLRs only in the negotiation stage or in both the information and negotiation stages of the customer journey. Still then customers should not transition from employees to robots (vice versa does no harm). Firms should ensure that FLRs utilize a relational style when interacting with customers for optimal effects.Originality/valueThe authors bridge the FLR and sales/marketing literature by drawing on social cognition theory. The authors also identify the product categories for which customers are willing to negotiate with an FLR. Broadly speaking, this study’s findings underline that customers perceive robots as having agency (i.e. the mental capacity for acting with intentionality) and, just as humans, can be customer-oriented.

The Role of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in The Context of The Fourth Industrial Revolution and The Need for Higher Education to Adapt to It

It is believed that marketing principles can help educational organizations fulfill their social mission. This qualitative research has been conducted in view of the integration of integrated marketing communication (IMC) and industrial revolution 4.0 as an adaptive step for City University Malaysia (City-U), a private university in Malaysia, in developing an integrated marketing communication strategy. The community needs a sensitive organization that uses the media to communicate the identity and values of Malaysia’s tertiary institutions. From the viewpoint of private intuition, this study of IMC gives ideas on how to train customer-oriented employees and explains more on how IMC can be implemented in higher education institutions.

Frontline employees' performance in the financial services industry: the significance of trust, empathy and consumer orientation

PurposeBased upon social exchange theory, this study investigates the mediating effect of consumers' trust in banking industry frontline employees on two relationships: (1) the relation between consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' performance, and (2) the relation between consumers' perception of frontline employees' customer orientation and consumers' perceptions of frontline employees' performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a time-lag research design to collect data through online questionnaires distributed in two waves. The sample comprises 375 respondents having experience and interaction with banking frontline employees.FindingsResults confirm the mediating effect of consumers' trust in the banking industry on the relationships between their perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumer orientation on the one hand and their perceptions of frontline employees' performance on the other hand.Practical implicationsResults may be helpful to policymakers and managers in the service industries, prompting them to adopt approaches and strategies designed to build strong relationships with consumers, thus increasing consumers' trust and frontline employees' performance.Originality/valueThis study confirms the relevance of social exchange theory in understanding the role of consumers' trust and perceptions of frontline employees' empathy and consumer orientation in understanding their perception of frontline employee performance in the banking industry.

Employee Effects on Organizational Outcomes: Korean Travel Industry

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the structural relationships among the self-efficacy, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and customer orientation of travel agency employees in Seoul, Korea.
 Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaires were distributed to 250 potential respondents between February 1 and February 20 of 2020. The 225 valid cases were employees at travel agencies in Seoul. Data from the self-ad- ministered questionnaires were used to perform frequency, factor, and regression analyses.
 Findings: The study devised six hypotheses based on a review of the previous literature. The results found that self-efficacy positively influenced organizational commitment and job satisfaction, job satisfaction positively influenced customer satisfaction and organizational commitment, and self-efficacy and organizational commitment positively influenced customer orientation. Unlike previous studies, the validity and reliability of the constructs measuring the underlying factors were tested, and new measurement items were developed. The variation found among the statistical relationships provides support for strategic implications and fundamental data for personnel policies in the travel industry.
 Research limitations/implications: This study’s respondents’ self-efficacy was positively influenced by job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and customer orientation. Future studies may extend samples across the provinces in Korea for a comparative assessment of the results. Also, because the study focused on emotional commitment and do not consider other types of commitment, future studies should include measures of more of the dimensions of commitment to analyze relationships between organizational effectiveness and organization achievements.
 Originality/value: This study provides original and important results on the relationship between organizations and their employees.

The Impact of Employees’ Perceived Customer Citizenship Behaviors on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Roles of Employee Customer-orientation Attitude

ABSTRACT Drawing on social exchange theory and affective events theory, this study argues employees’ perceived customer citizenship behavior (CCB) as positive affective events at work influences employees’ organizational citizenship behavior toward customers (OCB-C). Further, the current study examines the process of CCB leading to OCB-C with employees’ customer-orientation attitude as a mediator and service climate as a moderator. The results of a survey reveal that when employees perceive customers perform CCB, employees are more likely to have customer-orientation attitude, which leads to the display of OCB-C. This study serves as one of the first to shed light on the positive impact of customer behaviors on employees and advances both streams of research on CCB and OCB-C by proposing CCB as a potential yet untapped source of OCB-C.

스포츠 기관 종사자의 성격유형(BIG5)과 고객지향성 및 경영성과 간의 관계

The purpose of this study was to verify the relationship between the Big five personality type and customer orientation and firm performance of sports company employee. To achieve the goal of these studies, collected 243 copies of data from sports company employees and conducted statistical verification through SPSS 23.0. The results are as follows, First, all sub-factors except extroversion among the Big five personality types of sports company employee were shown to have a significant impact on customer orientation. More specifically, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness have been shown to have a positive effect on customer orientation, and neurosis has a negative effect. Second, all sub-factors except extroversion among the Big five personality types of sports company employee were shown to have a significant impact on firm performance. More specifically, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness have been shown to have a positive effect on customer orientation, and neurosis has a negative effect. Third, customer orientation of employees has been shown to have a positive effect on firm performance.

Service-oriented high-performance work systems and service role performance: Applying an integrated extended self and psychological ownership framework

How do organizations build an internal capability or processes to implement a service excellence strategy and thereby create sustained competitive advantage? Drawing on an integrated extended self and psychology of ownership framework as well as Bowen and Ostroff’s human resource (HR) system strength perspective, this study examines processes linking perceived service-oriented high-performance work systems (HPWS) and overall service role performance. Multi-wave data obtained from 530 employees and 53 supervisors in the hospitality industry were used to test our hypotheses. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) results revealed that higher levels of supervisor customer orientation strengthened the perceived service-oriented HPWS-employee customer orientation relationship leading to job-based psychological ownership. In turn, job-based psychological ownership related to overall service role performance and together with employee customer orientation, sequentially mediated the influence of perceived service-oriented HPWS on overall service role performance. We interpret our findings as providing initial evidence of an alternative motivational pathway through which an HR system influences performance in a frontline service role.

Perceived Service-Oriented High-Performance Work Systems and Global Service Performance

Despite its role in building an internal capability to implement a service excellence strategy, research has yet to examine whether perceptions of a strategically-focused human resource (HR) system instills customer orientation in frontline employees and ultimately, enhance their service role performance. Drawing on an integrated extended self and psychology of ownership framework, this study examines processes linking perceived service-oriented high-performance work systems (HPWS) and global service role performance. Multi-wave data obtained from 530 employees and 53 supervisors in the hospitality industry were used to test our hypotheses. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) results revealed that higher levels of supervisor customer orientation strengthened the perceived service-oriented HPWS-employee customer orientation relationship leading to job-based psychological ownership. In turn, job-based psychological ownership related to global service performance and together with employee customer orientation, sequentially mediated the influence of perceived service-oriented HPWS on a broader conceptualization of service role performance.

골프리조트의 내부마케팅, 조직신뢰, 조직시민행동 및 고객지향성 간 영향관계 연구

This study was performed to suggest the practical measures regarding the management strategy and development direction of the general internal marketing a golf resort by understanding the influence relationship between internal marketing, organizational trust, organizational citizenship behavior, and the customer orientation of employees at a golf resort in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. The empirical research was carried out from May 17 to May 31, 2021, to code 200 copies of data. The SPSS ver.18.0 program was used to perform frequency analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and regression analysis. The following are the research results. Hypothesis 1. Among the factors related to internal marketing, it was shown that education training, empowerment, management support, and internal communication except for the compensation system had a significant impact on organizational trust. Hypothesis 2. The organizational trust had a significant impact on the organizational citizenship behavior. Hypothesis 3. The organizational trust had a significant impact on customer orientation. Hypothesis 4. The organizational citizenship behavior had a significant impact on customer orientation. From the research, a positive influence relationship was identified among the variables including internal marketing, organizational trust, organizational citizenship behavior, and the customer orientation of a golf resort. If the golf resort establishes and carries out the appropriate plans to improve the internal marketing activities and organizational trust of the employees from various perspectives, it is considered to be helpful to enhance the company’s service quality through a favorable business flow and the advanced customer service within the organization that is achieved by the employees who are the internal customers of the facility.

How and when servant leadership promotes service innovation: A moderated mediation model

Based on social learning theory, the current study examined how and when servant leadership could promote employee service innovative behavior (SIB) in the hospitality setting. Survey data collected from 1021 service employees and their 229 direct supervisors at 54 hotels showed that servant leadership was positively related to employee SIB, and employee customer orientation mediated such effect. Results also showed that employee age moderated the effect of servant leadership on customer orientation, as well as the indirect effect of servant leadership on SIB via customer orientation, such that these effects were stronger for younger employees. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

How and when does multitasking affect customer orientation of hotel employees?

This research aims to investigate how and when multitasking affects customer orientation of hotel employees by examining the mediating role of work engagement and moderating roles of polychronicity and employee voice. The survey was conducted on 536 hotel employees in China and SPSS macro PROCESS was employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that work engagement fully mediates the association between multitasking and customer orientation; polychronicity boosts and employee voice buffers the mediating process. While prior studies have overwhelmingly reported the detrimental effect of multitasking on task performance, this study empirically reveals the motivational merit of multitasking to contextual performance and demonstrates how and when this favorable impact is stronger and weaker. The findings provide both theoretical and practical implications.

When and How Does Sustainable HRM Improve Customer Orientation of Frontline Employees? Satisfaction, Empowerment, and Communication

This study investigated the relationship between sustainable human resource management (HRM) practices, employee satisfaction, and customer orientation of frontline employees (FLEs) in the hotel industry from the perspective of internal marketing. Specifically, the study focused on three facets of sustainable HRM practices (i.e., training, reward, and benefit) as well as organizational empowerment and communication as FLE-supportive contexts. Although some studies have examined the relationship between HRM practices and customer orientation, they overlooked the importance of service context in facilitating FLE customer orientation. Thus, this study developed a comprehensive framework based on social exchange theory and self-determination theory. The results show that all three facets of the sustainable HRM practices were positively related to FLEs’ satisfaction. FLEs’ satisfaction was also positively related to their customer orientation. Furthermore, both organizational empowerment and communication moderated the relationship between FLEs’ satisfaction and customer orientation, which showed a positive relationship only when FLEs perceived high organizational empowerment or communication. The research findings provide beneficial theoretical and practical implications.

Customer orientation and e-WOM in the hotel sector

Customers frequently engage in electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) to share their service experience. This is particularly important in hospitality where the role of front-line employees and their level of customer orientation are critical. However, it has not yet been studied how the customer orientation of service employees (COSE) influences e-WOM. This study addresses this gap. Qualitative data were collected from family-run hotels through three independent studies with 25 different participants: focus group, in-depth interviews and an online focus group. This research provides novel findings that contribute to a deeper understanding of how the COSE dimensions play different roles in the three types of customers' e-WOM (positive, neutral and negative). This investigation also contributes to the literature by identifying new factors that could be incorporated in the COSE model, such as attitude, customisation and extra role performance. Some managerial contributions regarding COSE and a future research agenda are proposed.

호텔종사원의 감성지능이 조직몰입과 고객지향성에 미치는 영향: 직무만족의 매개효과를 중심으로

This study identified the influence relationship between emotional intelligence, organizational commitment and customer orientation of hotel employees, and established a research theory on the mediating effect of job satisfaction among relationship between them in order to conduct empirical analysis.<BR>All four factors of emotional intelligence (emotional utilization, self-sensitivity, emotional control, and other sensitivity) have significant effects on organizational commitment, and three factors of emotional intelligence (self-sensitivity, emotional control, and other person-sensitivity) have been shown to have significant effects on customer orientation. It is meaningful that this study helped generalize the research model that established the structural relationship between concepts by checking the influence relationship between emotional intelligence, organizational commitment and customer orientation of hotel employees, and confirmed the mediated effect of job satisfaction on the influence relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment and customer orientation.

Customer orientation and e-WOM in the hotel sector

Customers frequently engage in electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) to share their service experience. This is particularly important in hospitality where the role of front-line employees and their level of customer orientation are critical. However, it has not yet been studied how the customer orientation of service employees (COSE) influences e-WOM. This study addresses this gap. Qualitative data were collected from family-run hotels through three independent studies with 25 different participants: focus group, in-depth interviews and an online focus group. This research provides novel findings that contribute to a deeper understanding of how the COSE dimensions play different roles in the three types of customers' e-WOM (positive, neutral and negative). This investigation also contributes to the literature by identifying new factors that could be incorporated in the COSE model, such as attitude, customisation and extra role performance. Some managerial contributions regarding COSE and a future research agenda are proposed.

The effect of managerial coaching on salesperson's relationship behaviors: new evidence from frontline bank employees in China

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to test the effect of relationship managerial behavior (i.e. managerial coaching) on frontline employee performance (i.e. sales performance) and the mediating effect of employee's relationship behaviors (i.e. customer orientation and adaptive selling) in a Chinese banking environment.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a survey from 242 frontline employees working at a large commercial bank in Dalian (China). Measures on managerial coaching, customer orientation, adaptive selling and sales performance were adapted from the literature. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in AMOS 26.FindingsResults indicate that (1) managerial coaching positively affects employee customer orientation, (2) employee customer orientation positively affects employee adaptive selling behavior and (3) adaptive selling behavior positively affects sales performance. Bootstrap analysis confirmed the significance and stability of all the direct paths (suggesting that every mediator fully mediates the effect of its antecedent on the criterion) but none of the indirect paths found support (full mediation model).Research limitations/implicationsThe study makes a contribution to the nomological network of managerial coaching by introducing a construct that has not been used previously (i.e. employee adaptive selling behavior) and testing its relevance in a commercial setting.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that (1) managerial coaching is a central managerial behavior for companies that would like to implement a relationship marketing strategy because it helps promote specific employee relationship behaviors like customer orientation and adaptive selling, (2) there seems to be little cultural differences in the banking industry between the Chinese and the Western banks, suggesting that coaching and other management tools can be transferable from one culture to the other and (3) that coaching is an effective tool to help employees achieve higher sales performance.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature on the use of managerial coaching in commercial areas to increase frontline employee relationships behaviors. The identification of adaptive selling as a mediator is an original contribution because it has received little attention in scientific research. Additionally, the use of a Chinese sample of bank employees responds to recent call for more research in cross-cultural settings.

The Moderating Effect of Leadership on the Relationship of Employee Satisfaction, Customer Orientation, and Organization Performance

The purpose the current study is to investigate the moderating impact of leadership on the association of customer intention, employee satisfaction and organizational performance in the pharmaceutical industry of Thailand. For this purpose, data was collected from managers of pharmaceutical industry by using a self-administered questionnaire. The SEM analysis of the study has shown that there is a positive and significant relationship between the customer orientation and organizational performance. The employee satisfaction has an insignificant relationship with the organization. The indirect effect of the study has shown that the leadership has positive and significant moderating effect among all the exogenous and endogenous variables in the pharmaceutical industry of Thailand. These findings have shown that these variable does not only have a direct effect on organizational performance but also indirectly effect to the organizational performance. These findings, therefore, could provide help to business owners to know the importance of good leadership to increase the performance of the organization. The research limitations and future direction are also discussed at the end of the study.

Personality trait determinants of frontline employee customer orientation and job performance: a Russian study

PurposeDespite major market-orientated reforms to enhance the competitive advantage of Russian domestic firms, the antecedents and consequences of frontline employee (FLE) customer orientation (CO) remain poorly understood. Acknowledging this paucity of research, the authors draw upon a hierarchical model of personality to examine personality trait determinants of CO and job performance in the context of the Russian financial services sector.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 186 FLEs using a self-administered survey questionnaire and analyzed using AMOS.FindingsThe results identify which basic personality traits matter in translating FLE CO behavior into higher job performance in the Russian retail-banking sector.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the study include the generalizability of the findings within one organizational context. Future research should examine whether the found associations hold true for FLEs working in other service sectors in other parts of the country.Practical implicationsStudy findings differ significantly to Western-based research and provide valuable insight into the process that motivates Russian FLEs in a commercial retail setting to perform better in their jobs.Originality/valueThis is the first empirical study that employs a hierarchical model of the effects of basic personality traits on FLE CO and job performance in a former socialist/communist economy. We also advance existing research on FLE CO by distinguishing between two types of CO behavior. Findings provide an understanding of those personality traits that affect the ability of Russian FLEs to better satisfy customer needs and to interact and serve customers in an enjoyable way.