Frontline Bank Employees Research Articles

The effects of organization mission fulfillment and perceived organizational support on job performance

Purpose – Drawing from Bagozzi’s (1992) reformulation of attitude theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual model that links organization mission fulfillment (OMF) and perceived organizational support (POS) to job performance (JP) via work engagement (WE). Design/methodology/approach – Data gathered from frontline bank employees with a time lag of two weeks and their supervisors in Northern Cyprus were utilized to test the aforementioned relationships. Findings – The results from structural equation modeling suggest that OMF and POS foster WE. WE in turn stimulates employees’ JP. In short, WE fully mediates the effects of OMF and POS on JP. Research limitations/implications – Incorporating creative performance into the conceptual model would shed further light on WE as a mediator of the effects of OMF and POS on various performance outcomes. Gathering data from frontline bank employees in similar islands would allow conducting a cross-national study. Practical implications – Management of banks can organize workshops where frontline employees can contribute to the preparation of the mission statement. Employees making such contribution will display elevated levels of WE, because they contribute to something which is significant and meaningful. Management should also use selective staffing procedures to hire individuals who are customer oriented and therefore feel energetic and dedicated and are engrossed in their work. Originality/value – This study contributes to the current knowledge base by linking OMF and POS to JP via WE in frontline service jobs in the retail banking industry.

융·복합 시대의 은행 종업원의 종업원창의성에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구

본 연구의 목적은 고객과의 접촉이 잦은 은행종업원들을 대상으로 감정노동전략 즉 내면행동과 표면행동, 종업원창의성 및 서비스성과 간 상호 관련성과 감정노동전략-서비스성과 관계에서 종업원창의성의 매개효과를 검증하고자 하는 것이다. 자료 수집은 대구와 경남 지역에서 은행에 근무하는 일선종업원을 모집단으로 하여 총 500부를 배포하여 불성실하게 응답한 설문지를 제외하고 최종 분석에는 484부를 사용하였다. 가설검증은 AMOS를 이용하였다. AMOS 분석 결과, 일선 서비스종업원의 감정노동전략 중 표면행동은 종업원창의성에 부의 영향을, 내면행동은 종업원창의성에 정의 영향을, 그리고 종업원창의성은 서비스성과에 정의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 감정노동전략 즉 표면행동과 내면행동-서비스성과 관계에서 종업원창의성의 매개효과 분석에서 부분매개효과를 가지는 것으로 나타났다. 마지막으로 이러한 조사결과를 바탕으로 이론적 및 실무적 시사점을 제시하였다. The aim of this research is to investigate empirically the interrelationship among emotional labor strategies, frontline employee creativity, service performance, and specifically examines the mediating effect of employee creativity in the relationship between emotional labor strategies and service performance in the context of bank industry. The data were collected from frontline employees of banks in Daegu and Gyeongnam. A total of 484 questionnaires were used for the final analysis. Consistent with hypotheses, the results of analysis show that surface acting has a negative effect on employee creativity, while deep acting has a positive effect on employee creativity, and employee creativity has a positive effect on service performance. Furthermore, employee creativity has mediating effect in the relationship between emotional labor strategies-performance.

Interactive effects of personal and organizational resources on frontline bank employees’ job outcomes

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of person-job (P-J) fit on the impact of organizational resources (training and service technology), and a personal resource (customer orientation) on frontline bank employees’ job performance and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approach– A large-scale survey of 530 frontline employees of a national bank in New Zealand serves as the study setting.Findings– Among others, results show that P-J fit fully mediates the impact of training on turnover intentions and job performance.Research limitations/implications– The cross-sectional nature of the study does not allow causal inferences. Therefore, future studies should adopt longitudinal designs.Practical implications– Management should be careful in planning and providing organizational resources to frontline employees to enhance their perception of P-J fit. Also investing in the recruitment and selection of customer-oriented frontline employees would be a prudent course of action.Originality/value– Empirical research in the banking services literature pertaining to the mediating role of P-J fit is scarce. There is also a lack of research regarding the interaction between personal and organizational resources resulting in complementary or supplementary effects on frontline employees’ fit perceptions. This study fills in the void in both areas.

Relative Effects of Leadership and Technology on Bank Employees’ Job Outcomes

This study examines the effects of servant leadership and service technology on frontline bank employees’ turnover intentions, mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. A conceptual framework is developed based on the tenets of the resource-based view of the firm and the self-determination theory to test the hypothesized relationships. Frontline employees of a bank serve as the study setting. The results indicate that servant leadership and service technology affect employees’ turnover intentions through job satisfaction and organizational commitment where servant leadership plays a stronger role. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer future research avenues.

Investigating role stress in frontline bank employees: A cluster based approach

Investigating role stress in frontline bank employees: A cluster based approach

Investigating role stress in frontline bank employees: A cluster based approach

An effective role stress management programme would benefit from a segmentation of employees based on their experience of role stressors. This study explores role stressor based segments of frontline bank employees towards providing a framework for designing such a programme. Cluster analysis on a random sample of 501 frontline employees of commercial banks in Jammu and Kashmir (India) revealed three distinct segments – “overloaded employees”, “unclear employees”, and “underutilised employees”, based on their experience of role stressors. The findings suggest a customised approach to role stress management, with the role stress management programme designed to address cluster specific needs.

The effect of job resourcefulness on role stress, emotional exhaustion and overall performance: A study of frontline bank employees

This article develops and tests a conceptual model that examines the effects of co-worker support and job resourcefulness on role stress, emotional exhaustion and job performance. The data obtained from frontline bank employees with a time lag of two weeks in Northern Cyprus were used to test these relationships. The results of structural equation modelling suggest that the partially mediated model seems to have a better fit than the fully mediated model. The results further suggest that job resourcefulness partially mediates the effect of co-worker support on role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion. However, there is no empirical support for job resourcefulness as a mediator of the impact of co-worker support on role conflict and job performance. The implications of the results are discussed and their future research directions are offered.

Exploring the Impact of Social Undermining on Salesperson Deviance: An Integrated Model

While most scholars debate the importance of doing things to improve the quality of the buyer–seller relationship and investigate the positive side of salesperson’s behavior, little is known about salesperson’s negative behavior or what causes it. In this study, social undermining theory is employed to investigate how a variety of social undermining behaviors influence salesperson deviant behavior. A sample of 469 frontline bank employees responded to a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and moderated regression were used to test the model, which produced results suggesting that various types of social undermining affect deviant behavior by influencing employee emotional exhaustion. The results also show that salesperson motivation moderates the effect of emotional exhaustion on deviant behavior.

A Study of Work Exhaustion in Frontline Bank Employees

Today’s business environment, characterized by rapid change, knowledge explosion, technological advancement and intense competition, has given birth to a serious psychological menace in terms of work exhaustion. This article analyzes the antecedents of work exhaustion among employees working in banks. It is based on the structured survey through a questionnaire with frontline bank employees working in Ludhiana. A comparative study of bank employees working in public and private sector banks has also been made with respect to various organizational variables influencing work exhaustion. The results indicate that the strain arising from managing a professional career and family responsibilities results in a lot of stress for the bank employees. The findings have significant implications for the employers in terms of retaining a consistent workforce by revising its work schedules and introducing family-friendly policies to accommodate the personal roles and responsibilities of bank employees.

Does hope moderate the impact of job burnout on frontline bank employees’ in‐role and extra‐role performances?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether hope as a personal resource moderates the relationships between job burnout and frontline bank employees’ in‐role and extra‐role performances.Design/methodology/approachFrontline employees of several banks throughout the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus serve as the study setting.FindingsResults of the study reveal that burnout is significantly related to frontline employees’ in‐role and extra‐role performances and that hope moderates these relationships.Research limitations/implicationsThough common method bias does not appear to be a potential threat to the magnitude of relationships, in future studies using multiple‐informants (e.g. performance data from supervisors or customers) would be useful. In addition, replication studies among front employees in other countries would be beneficial for further generalizations.Practical implicationsManagement of the banks should consider the personality traits of the individuals during the selection process. This is important, since hope reduces the detrimental impact of burnout on performance outcomes. Management should also retain employees high in hope, because such employees can create a positive work environment and serve as role models to their colleagues with low hope.Originality/valueEmpirical research in the banks services literature pertaining to the effect of hope on extra‐role performance and hope as a moderator of the impact of burnout on in‐role and extra‐role performances is scarce. Therefore, this study adds to the literature in this research stream by investigating the aforementioned relationships.

Role stress as a barrier to service quality in Indian banks: SEM approach

By and large, service quality is thought as something abstract; ignoring the very basic human emotions and experiences of the employees who deliver the services. These employees experience stressful events which in turn have a direct bearing on quality of service offered by them. This study examines the relationship between role stress and service quality in front-line bank employees (FLBE) of Indian retail banks. A structured questionnaire in English was administered on 350 FLBE of public and non-public banks, out of which 232 filled questionnaires were returned. Relevant statistical techniques were used to examine construct reliability and validity, dimensional analysis and relationship between the variables under the study together with fitness of the proposed model through SEM. Results show that role stress has negatively impacted the performance of FLBE. Of the four stressors, role overload and resource inadequacy emerged as potent stressors.

Work Engagement as a Mediator of the Effects of Personality Traits on Job Outcomes: A Study of Frontline Employees

A research model investigating work engagement as a mediator of the effects of job resourcefulness and customer orientation on job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and turnover intentions is developed and tested. Data were obtained from a sample of frontline bank employees with a time lag of 2 weeks in Northern Cyprus. The relationships were tested using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling. The results provide empirical support for all hypotheses. The results suggest that work engagement functions as a full mediator of the impacts of job resourcefulness and customer orientation on job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and turnover intentions.

The Influence of Employee Emotional Intelligence on Coping with Supervisor Abuse in a Banking Context

Employee emotional intelligence (EI) was examined in relation to how it influences perceptions of abusive supervision (ASP), psychological distress (PD), and emotional labor burden (ELB). The sample consisted of 372 frontline bank employees in Taiwan. It was found that PD fully mediated the relationship between ASP and ELB, and EI moderated the relationship between ASP and ELB, weakening the relationship between ASP and ELB for employees with higher EI. PD also partially mediated the interaction of ASP and EI in the prediction of ELB. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are identified and discussed.

Customer orientation as a buffer against job burnout

This study examines the role of service worker customer orientation (CO) as a buffer against the detrimental effects of job burnout on job performance and turnover intentions. Data collected from frontline bank employees serve as the study setting. The tenets of the attribution theory are used in developing the study hypotheses. Results show that CO moderates the detrimental effects of job burnout on both job performance and turnover intentions, where the effects of job burnout on both outcomes are weaker for frontline employees with higher CO. Hiring employees high on CO for frontline positions should pay dividends in managing burnout and its negative consequences on job performance and turnover intentions.

Job Demands, Resources, Burnout, and Coping Mechanism Relationships

This study seeks to determine which job demands (role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload) and work or job resources (training, rewards, supervisory support, and service technology) are most closely associated with the three major components of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment). A related objective of the study is to ascertain which coping mechanisms seem to be relied on by frontline employees in dealing with the dysfunctional effects of burnout. Frontline bank employees in New Zealand serve as the study setting. Results and their implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.

Service Worker Burnout and Turnover Intentions: Roles of Person-Job Fit, Servant Leadership, and Customer Orientation

This study examines the effects of customer orientation and servant leadership on frontline employees' burnout and, subsequently, on their turnover intentions. Also investigated in the study is the intervening role of person-job fit in the process. Data collected from 530 frontline bank employees in New Zealand serve as the study setting. Results show that both customer orientation and servant leadership significantly reduce burnout and ultimately turnover intentions. Results also show that person-job fit mediates the influences of customer orientation and servant leadership on burnout and turnover intentions. Implications of the results are discussed and future research avenues are offered.

The impacts of core self-evaluations on customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion

Based on data collected from frontline bank employees in Northern Cyprus as the study setting, the authors developed and tested a model, which investigated the effects of core self-evaluations on customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion. The researchers' model also tested the impacts of these customer-related social stressors on emotional exhaustion. The results indicated that employees with positive core self-evaluations experienced low levels of disproportionate customer expectations, customer verbal aggression, and ambiguous customer expectations. Such employees were also confronted with less-disliked customers. In this study, it was found that employees who were susceptible to ambiguous customer expectations were emotionally exhausted. In contrast, the findings did not lend any empirical support to the effects of disproportionate customer expectations, customer verbal aggression, and disliked customers on emotional exhaustion.

An Investigation of the Role of Job Resources in Mitigating Customer-Related Social Stressors and Emotional Exhaustion

The effects of job resources on customer-related social stressors and emotional exhaustion, including the relationships of these stressors with emotional exhaustion, are tested with a sample of frontline bank employees in Northern Cyprus. The results provide empirical support for the majority of the hypotheses. Specifically, the results suggest that supervisor support has significant negative impacts on customer verbal aggression, disliked customers, and ambiguous customer expectations. The results further suggest that coworker support alleviates disproportionate and ambiguous customer expectations. Both supervisor and coworker support exert significant effects on emotional exhaustion in the hypothesized directions. With regard to the relationships of the customer-related social stressors with emotional exhaustion, only ambiguous customer expectations have significant positive effects on emotional exhaustion. The rest of the relationships are not supported by the empirical data. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed in the study.

The Role of Customer Orientation as a Moderator of the Job Demand–Burnout–Performance Relationship: A Surface-Level Trait Perspective

This study expands upon previous research on the antecedents (job demands and job resources) and outcomes of frontline employee burnout, and examines the role of customer orientation (CO) in the burnout process. Using data from frontline bank employees in New Zealand, we investigate both the direct relationships of CO to burnout and job outcomes (job performance and turnover intentions) and the buffering role of CO concerning the relationships between job demands, burnout, and job outcomes. The study results show that burnout mediates the effects of job demands and job resources on job performance and turnover intentions. Besides being directly related to burnout and job performance, CO also buffers the dysfunctional effects of job demands on burnout and job outcomes. Implications of the results are discussed and future research avenues are offered.

How similar are frontline bank employees' perceptions of service quality to their customers? A study of female customers and employees in Turkey

This study investigates to what extent underlying configurations of customer evaluations of service quality as perceived by frontline employees and as reported by customers match. Surveys of two groups of female bank customers (151 students and 83 adults) and 68 female bank employees in Turkey serve as the study setting. The SERVQUAL instrument is used in measuring employees' and customers' perceptions of service quality. The factor congruency technique is employed to determine the extent of similarities and disparities among the groups. Results show that the underlying configurations of service quality perceptions decompose into three factors in the cases of both customer groups and five factors in the case of employees. Overall, customers' and employees' service quality perceptions do not correspond. This discrepancy underscores the need for accurate assessment of customer perceptions of service quality and training of employees to look at service quality from the perspective of customers by using customers' definitions. Avenues for future reasearch are offered.