Perceptions Of Service Climate Research Articles

A third-party perspective for examining employee reactions to witnessing coworker incivility towards customers

Drawing on moral self-regulatory theory, this study uses the experience sampling method to examine how and when employees, as third parties, react to coworker incivility towards customers. Data from 246 front-line employees in China showed that coworker incivility towards customers was positively related to hostility towards coworkers and, in turn, more workplace ostracism towards coworkers. Meanwhile, coworker incivility towards customers was also positively related to state-based moral disengagement and, in turn, more incivility towards customers. The above effects depended on employees’ perceived service climate such that when employees had a higher (versus lower) level of perceived service climate, the above effects were attenuated. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Volunteers’ satisfaction with the voluntary association: exploring the role of service climate, organizational identification, and understanding motivation

AbstractThis study employs the Attraction-Selection-Attrition model and Social Identity Theory to examine if organizational identification mediates the relationship between volunteers’ perception of service climate and satisfaction with the voluntary association they belong to. The study also investigates if understanding motivation, a component of motivation to volunteer, moderates the relationship between volunteers’ organizational identification and satisfaction with the voluntary association. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire completed by 166 participants serving as volunteers in a Red Cross local committee in an Italian city. Results suggest that there is a significant positive relationship between service climate and satisfaction with the voluntary association. Additionally, it was observed that organizational identification partially and positively mediates the relationship between service climate and satisfaction with the voluntary association. Contrary to what expected, the moderation effect was negative instead of positive. Specifically, the findings suggest that understanding motivation improves the satisfaction with the voluntary association when volunteers have low level of organizational identification but decreases the satisfaction with the voluntary association when volunteers have high level of organizational identification. In the discussion, it is emphasized the importance of volunteers’ satisfaction with the association for organizational functioning and discussed the moderation results in the context of known theories. Finally, the paper presents the practical and research implications of the findings.

Exploring service climate in healthcare using a change management approach

ABSTRACT Understanding nurses’ perception of service climate in a resource-constrained environment undergoing continuous change is important as patients seek patient-centered health services. Unfortunately, organizational change approaches influencing service climate have yet to be explored. The study’s objectives included: (1) assessing nurses’ perceptions of service climate (orientation, feedback, and managerial practices) and their strategic change mindsets (Theories E, O, and EO) in a post-restructuring environment; and (2) determining the best model of fit, based on organizational dimensions of change and strategic change mindsets, for service climate. A cross-sectional survey collected responses from nurse members of a professional association. Linear regression analysis was used to obtain the service climate models. The findings revealed nurses’ perception of service climate was positive, except for managerial practices. The predominant mindset was Theory EO (balance between Theory E – economic value and Theory O – organizational capabilities). Capacity to change and learn, managerial practices and behaviour, and position level positively predicted service climate; the best model of fit was for nurses who adopted a Theory EO mindset. In conclusion, to enhance nurses’ perception of service climate, leaders/managers need to provide recognition and rewards for high-quality service and use a Theory EO approach (balance financial performance with internal capabilities).

Perceptions of Service Climate in a Canadian healthcare system.

Perceptions of Service Climate in healthcare organizations are important because of their linkages to patient and organizational outcomes. This article presents findings from survey data collected from frontline nurses (n = 275) in Canada who were working in a provincial healthcare system that had recently undergone significant structural changes. The findings indicate that frontline nurses held a neutral view of the Service Climate overall but a strong and negative perception of Managerial Service Practices. The results suggest that some service practices existed in nurses' working environments; however, improvements could be made in the areas of recognizing and rewarding those who consistently provide high levels of quality service. This has implications for not only continuous quality improvement but also for the patient and staff experience in healthcare.

The effects of crowding and service climate on the perception of the Experiential value of consumption in self-service restaurants

ABSTRACT This research seeks to verify whether perceived crowding, perceived service climate, positive customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions, and dysfunctional customer behavior influence the perception of experiential consumption value in self-service restaurants. We surveyed by applying a questionnaire to 337 consumers. The results showed that the perceived service climate and positive C2C interactions could influence the experiential value of consumption in a self-service restaurant. We found that perceived crowding can influence positive C2C interactions and dysfunctional customer behavior. The results also demonstrate that positive C2C interactions can mediate the relationship between the perceived service climate and the experiential value of consumption.

Negative role modeling in hospitality organizations: A social learning perspective on supervisor and subordinate customer-targeted incivility

The present study extends research on workplace incivility by investigating how and when supervisor customer-targeted incivility stimulates that of employees via a social learning mechanism. This study examines a dual-stage moderated mediation model using hotel samples of 409 frontline service employees from 62 service teams. The results demonstrate that employees learn (i.e., observe and imitate) from their supervisor’s customer-targeted uncivil behavior and subsequently engage in this behavior themselves. Employee devaluation of customers plays a mediating role in this social learning process. In addition, this study identifies leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived service climate as boundary conditions of the observation and imitation processes, respectively. Specifically, employees are more likely to devalue customers when they have a higher LMX with supervisors and show more incivility to customers when perceiving a weaker service climate. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are addressed.

The Relationship between Service Climate, Employee Experience and Organizational Loyalty

The study aimed to explore the relationship between service climate, employee experience (EX) and employee organizational loyalty. Three questionnaires were used as research tools: Service Orientation Scale - Serv * or (Lytle, Hom, & Mokwa, 1988), Employee Experience Index (Morgan, 2017) and Employee Loyalty Index -eNPS (Reichheld, 2011). 370 subjects participated in research, who evaluated the organization in which they were currently working. The Georgian version of Service Climate scale was developed in the research. The results of the research confirmed the research hypotheses: employee perceived service climate is positively related to employee experience and loyalty, the management service vision is the strongest predictor of employee experience and loyalty; In turn, the employee's loyalty to the organization will be influenced positively by employee's experience.

The Impact of Service Climate and Personality Traits on Customer-Oriented Behaviour of Employees

Most companies in today's competitive and globalized business environment understand the importance of customer orientation. Customer orientation is mainly related to customer well-being. Research has shown that customer orientation leads to better financial performance and higher market share. The aim of this research has been to investigate the effect of service climate and personality traits on customer-oriented behavior. The standard questionnaire of Mechinda and Patterson (2011) has been used to measure the research variables. The population of the research consists of the employees of Ardabil Gas Company, which is equal to 161 subjects. Owing to the limited population, no sampling method was used and all employees were investigated. Data analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling and PLS software. The results showed that personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion and emotional stability, employees' perceived service climate, and job satisfaction have had a positive impact on customer-oriented behavior. Moreover, service climate had a mediating role in the relationship between personality traits and customer-oriented behavior.

Retraction: Service-Oriented High-Performance Work Practices as Predictors of Retail Employees’ Work Engagement and Service Climate Perceptions

This article refers to:RETRACTED ARTICLE: Service-Oriented High-Performance Work Practices as Predictors of Retail Employees’ Work Engagement and Service Climate Perceptions

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Service-Oriented High-Performance Work Practices as Predictors of Retail Employees’ Work Engagement and Service Climate Perceptions

We, the Editors and Publisher of Services Marketing Quarterly, have retracted the following article: Kotzé, T. & Mostert, P. (2021). Service-oriented high-performance work practices as predictors of retail employees’ work engagement and service climate perceptions. Services Marketing Quarterly. 10.1080/15332969.2021.1947084. The article was mistakenly published as a duplicate of DOI: 10.1080/15332969.2020.1830638. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

Employee engagement in brand value co-creation: An empirical study of Vietnamese boutique hotels

Although employee engagement is essential to hotel performance, few studies have identified context-specific manifestations of employee engagement in the boutique hotel business. Drawing on the service-dominant logic and dual processing theory, this study investigated the experiential and rational factors driving employee engagement in hotel brand value co-creation. Data collected from 570 employees working in boutique hotels in Vietnam showed that under the influence of organizational tenure, internal brand communication and external social media brand communication facilitate the employee perceived service climate, which, in turn, triggers employee engagement in brand value co-creation. The study provides beneficial implications for employee management in boutique hotels.

Service-Oriented High-Performance Work Practices as Predictors of Retail Employees’ Work Engagement and Service Climate Perceptions

Using survey data collected from 781 frontline employees of a South African retailer, this study investigated the degree to which employees’ perceptions of six service-oriented high-performance work practices (HPWPs) – staffing, training, financial compensation, non-financial rewards, involvement, and empowerment – predict their work engagement and service climate perceptions. It was found that employees’ perceptions of involvement, training and staffing predicted their service climate perceptions, while only training was a statistically significant predictor of employees’ work engagement. The study contributes to the limited research on the relationship between individual service-oriented HPWPs and these two crucial employee outcomes.

Do personal values matter? The effects of personal values on hospitality employees’ service climate perceptions

Growing workforce diversity necessitates greater knowledge and understanding of how employee personal attributes alter perceptions of organisational practices. This study investigates the effects of personal values on employee perceptions of service climate in the context of multi-national hotel chains. We employed a sequential explanatory design that yielded unexpected results, indicating little evidence of personal values effects on employee perceptions of service climate. Nonetheless, the study contributes to unfolding the complex mechanisms of service climate antecedents. Situational strength theory and employees’ self-suppression of personal values advance understanding of the intersection between personal values, organisational attributes, and employee perceptions of service climate. Future research opportunities are proposed, and theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

How Does Service Climate Influence Hotel Employees’ Brand Citizenship Behavior? A Social Exchange and Social Identity Perspective

By integrating social exchange and social identity theories, this article examines the mechanism through which employee perceived service climate enhances employee brand citizenship behavior (BCB). Specifically, we propose that this relationship is mediated by perceived brand image and moderated by employees’ power distance orientation. Using data from hotel employees in Vietnam, the findings show that service climate positively affects employee BCB. Furthermore, the mediating effect of perceived brand image and the negative moderating effect of employees’ power distance orientation on the linkage between service climate and employee BCB are found to be significant. This article enriches the existing knowledge by incorporating both social exchange and social identity perspectives in explaining an underexplored linkage between service climate and employee BCB. We suggest that hotel providers should put an emphasis on fostering a supportive service climate and should take into account the role of employee’s power distance orientation in promoting employee BCB.

A Study on the Influence of Perceived Service Climate on Adaptive Performance in Tourism Enterprises—Mediating Effect of Psychological Capital and Role Identity

Adaptive performance is a consideration of employees' adaptability in various aspects, and helps organizations maintain long-term competitive advantages. In order to reveal the influencing factors of adaptive performance, this paper takes the employees of tourism enterprises as the research object and constructs the conceptual model of employees' perceived service climate, psychological capital, role identity and adaptive performance. Through interviews and questionnaires to the employees of tourism enterprises, as well as data analysis using structural equation model, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The service climate perceived by employees of tourism enterprises has a significant positive impact on the four dimensions of adaptive performance. (2) The psychological capital of employees in tourism enterprises plays a partial mediating role in the influence of perceived service climate on two dimensions of adaptive performance. (3) The role identity of tourism enterprise employees plays a partial mediating role in the influence of perceived service climate on the four dimensions of adaptive performance.

Service Climate and Empowerment for Customer Service Quality among Vietnamese Employees at Restaurants

This study examines the relationship between service climate, empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior among Vietnamese employees at restaurants in urban areas of South Korea. Moreover, the mediating role of empowerment between service climate and organizational citizenship behavior is investigated. From a sample of 209 Vietnamese respondents working in Asian ethnic restaurants, the findings indicate that work facilitation is the most influential service climate that affects empowerment. However, two service climate factors—managerial support and customer orientation—are not statistically significant. Moreover, organizational citizenship behavior among employees is enhanced not only by service climate but also by empowerment. This study provides empirical evidence of employee perceptions of service climate and of the influence of service climate on employee empowerment and organizational citizenship behavior for customer service quality. This study expands the knowledge regarding foreign employees at restaurants and provides important theoretical and practical implications for creating a sustainable work environment and empowering employees who strive for an excellent quality of customer service in the context of the restaurant industry.

Are employees' emotional labor strategies triggering or reducing customer incivility: a sociometer theory perspective

PurposePrior studies have mainly attributed customer incivility to dispositional characteristics, whereas little attention has been paid to exploring service employees' role in triggering or reducing customer incivility. The purpose of the present study is to propose and test a model in which service employees' emotional labor strategies affect customer incivility via influencing customers' self-esteem threat, as well as examine the moderating role of customer's perception of service climate.Design/methodology/approachBased on a matched sample consisting of 317 employee-customer dyads in China, multiple regression analysis and indirect effect tests were employed to test our model.FindingsThe study shows that employee surface acting is positively related to customer incivility, whereas deep acting is negatively associated with customer incivility. Moreover, customer self-esteem threat mediates the relationship between both types of emotional labor and customer incivility. Customer perception of service climate moderates the relationship between deep acting and customer self-esteem threat.Originality/valueThe current research broadens the antecedents of customer incivility from the employee perspective and sheds more light on the role of customer self-esteem in the interactions between employees and customers. It also demonstrates a complementary relationship between service climate and individual employees' emotional labor strategies, thereby expanding the existing understanding of the management of employees' emotional labor.

Stimulating Customer Citizenship Behavior With Service Climate: The Mediating Role of Customer Psychological Empowerment

This study expanded the research on service climate to the perspective of customers in the hospitality context and explicated the influence mechanism of service climate on customer citizenship behavior. Service climate traditionally perceived by employees has been well studied, but only limited studies focused on the customer perspective service climate. Based on the existing literature, customer perceived service climate in the hospitality industry was operationalized and its influence on customer citizenship behavior was proposed. After the measurement purification with exploratory factor analysis based on the pilot data using IBM SPSS 20, data collection was conducted in the hotels in Wuhan, China. A total of 432 valid questionnaires were collected and the data were analyzed for hypotheses testing, using Mplus 7.4. The research results indicate that each factor of customer service climate has a positive impact on customer citizenship behavior, with the strength of effects being different. Customer psychological empowerment plays a partial mediating role between some factors of service climate and customer citizenship behavior. The findings provide implications for service enterprises in terms of service climate design and customer citizenship behavior facilitation.

Digital customer service and customer-to-customer interactions: investigating the effect of online incivility on customer perceived service climate

PurposeThe domain of digital service not only includes digital service products made available for purchase but also the provision of digital customer service, such as customers seeking support on brands' social media channels. This type of digital customer service introduces new challenges not found in offline service recovery situations. This research highlights one such occurrence by investigating customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions during digital service recovery. In particular, dysfunctional dialog, such as online incivility (e.g. rude and insulting comments), directed at a complainant by a fellow customer is investigated.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data from an online panel are utilized to test the hypothesized relationships between dysfunctional customer behavior (i.e. online incivility), C2C interactional justice, customer perceived service climate and three forms of experiential value using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe results show that customer perceptions of the firm's service climate are negatively affected by online incivility but only when such incivility produces C2C injustice. This outcome is notable due to the strong relationship found between customer perceived service climate and the following three forms of online experiential value: sociability, hedonic and pragmatic value. Thus, a weakened service climate subsequently leads to weakened experiential value for complainants.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical implications of two nascent constructs, C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate, are further developed with reference to digital customer service situations. In particular, given that prior research has focused on customer perceptions of service climate in core consumption situations of enjoyable face-to-face service experiences, it has only considered optimal or extremely positive service climate assessments in non-digital contexts. This study expands the understanding of the customer perceived service climate construct by examining the implications of a sub-optimal service climate in a digital customer service situation of an unenjoyable service experience. The limitations include a small sample size, the use of hypothetical scenarios and a failure situation limited to a single industry.Practical implicationsManagers who oversee social media channels or online communities must be prepared to act upon C2C online incivility. Deeming such communications as innocent online chatter not worthy of company intervention is a mistake, as the results of this study show that such inaction may lead to negative customer perceptions of the digital service environment and harm the customer experience.Originality/valueThis work develops a greater understanding of the importance of C2C interactional justice and customer perceived service climate in online customer service situations that prior research has yet to establish. In particular, previous studies have not investigated the negative effects of a situation that produces sub-optimal customer perceptions of a service climate.

Tax Authority Versus Peer Communication: The Influence of Trust, Service Climate, and Voluntary Cooperation

This research is the first study to discuss the combined influence of peer communication and tax authority communication on taxpayers’ trust in tax institutions, perceptions of service climate, and voluntary cooperation. We also compare the influences of the tax authorities and peer communication on trust, service climate, and voluntary cooperation. The survey was conducted in 2019 and represented five major cities in Indonesia (Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Bandung, and Denpasar). Respondents included 120 self-employed taxpayers in two business fields, namely, trade/production and services/professions. The respondents mainly included those from the millenial and generation X age groups due to their significant contribution to the tax revenue. Participants were recruited using quota sampling, and the data analysis tools included partial least square with Wrap-PLS software. Results show that tax authority communication is more powerful in influencing trust, perception of service climate, and voluntary cooperation, than peer communication.
 Keywords: Peer communication, tax authority communication, trust, service climate, voluntary cooperation