Role Of Frontline Employees Research Articles

Employee motivations in shaping customer value co-creation attitude and behavior: Job position as a moderator

The role of Frontline Employees' (FLEs) motives in determining customer Value Co-Creation (VCC), attitude, and behavior is studied less. Following social exchange theory, the study sets two objectives: (1) to examine whether employee motivations (professional identity, financial reward, recognition, and career opportunity) impact customers' ‘attitude’ and ‘behavior’ in VCC; and (2) to explore how job positions (junior/senior) moderate relationships between employee motivations and customer attitudes in VCC. We collected data from 345 FLEs and customers to examine the proposed model using SPSS and AMOS software. The results show that the employees' motives, including recognition, career opportunities, and professional identity, are critical drivers of customer VCC's attitude and behavior. In addition, the findings reveal that the employee's job position significantly moderates the relation that employee motives share with customer VCC attitude. The results exhibit the differences in the relationship of motivational dimensions between junior vs. senior positions. These results provide practical guidelines to marketers seeking to enhance customer VCC's attitude and behavior.

Asking your phone or a frontline employee? The influence of in‐store information source on choice overload, responsibility, and confidence among young consumers

AbstractConsumers frequently use mobile phones in a store to search for external information as an alternative to consulting with frontline employees. Mobile phone usage is especially prevalent among young consumers. Drawing on qualitative study results and existing literature, we conceptualize the effects of different in‐store information sources on choice overload, responsibility, and confidence among young consumers, as well as the moderating role of product category knowledge. A field experiment suggests that when knowledge is low, consulting with frontline employees (vs. mobile phone) leads to lower choice overload and, consequently, increases choice confidence. When knowledge is high, these beneficial effects are attenuated. At the same time, young consumers perceive greater choice responsibility when their phone is the information source; however, this does not influence choice confidence. This work contributes to extant literature by extending the knowledge of customer experience at the point of sale, the role of technology usage in in‐store retailing, and the role of frontline employees as an information source. It also provides managerial implications for retailers by highlighting the importance of providing an opportunity for an in‐person frontline employee interaction especially when customers have low product category knowledge.

Robot service failure: the double-edged sword effect of emotional labor in service recovery

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the effect of frontline employees' emotional labor (surface acting vs. deep acting) on customer satisfaction and the moderating role of responsibility attributions in the situation of robot service failure.Design/methodology/approachThe scenario-based experimental method was designed to perform hypothesis testing and SPSS was used to analyze the data from the 363 questionnaires collected.FindingsThe results indicate that (1) employees' emotional labor recovery has a double-edged sword effect. Deep acting improves customer satisfaction, while surface acting undermines the effectiveness of service recovery and leaves customer satisfaction below previous levels. (2) Customers' responsibility attributions for service failure moderate the effect of service recovery.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to focus on the role of frontline employees' emotional labor in robot service failure contexts, which not only enriches and expands the relevant literature in this domain, but also deepens the understanding of how emotional labor and responsibility attribution effect the customer satisfaction.

Analyzing the corporate social responsibility perception from customer relationship quality perspective. An application to the retail banking sector

AbstractManagement scholars are increasingly stressing the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its growing role in today's business world. Building on stakeholder theory and relationship marketing theoretical framework, this study focuses on the link between customers and CSR and the role of frontline employees in building customer relationship quality, critical for CSR initiatives. This article investigates the effects of expected relational benefits and professional stereotypes on customers' perceptions of companies' CSR activities. This research unveils the cognitive processes influencing customers' perceptions of CSR initiatives the moment they open the companies' doors. A survey was conducted among customers in the banking sector that is experiencing an increasing deployment of CSR programs. We found that frontline employees, as drivers of relational benefits, actively participate in how customers perceive their banks' CSR initiatives. However, how customers perceive their banks through bankers' professional stereotypes partially influences their perceptions of CSR initiatives.

Frontmedarbejdere som professionelle samskabere

Co-production is a process in which frontline employees collaborate with service users to develop welfare, remodel public service delivery to improve quality, and create self-efficacy for service users. The service users thus become – at least in theory – equal partners, who are assigned great responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating public welfare services.In this account, the role of frontline employees is reframed as complementary to and supportive of the empowered service users. This article investigates the (new) role ascribed to frontline employees as professional co-producers by focusing on the dilemmas and pressures they may experience during the implementation of co-production. The article emphasizes the importance of frontline employees and organizations building relational and interpersonal capacities to bring service users and other stakeholders together for a common goal in situations of interdependence.

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

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

Frontline employee-driven change in hospitality firms: an analysis of receptionists’ personality on implemented suggestions

PurposeFrontline employees’ suggestions are relevant for employee-driven organisational change because their knowledge is partially constructed from direct contact with customers and indirectly with competitors. The employee’s personality is a paramount individual characteristic that can exert a major potential influence on the proposal and implementation of those suggestions. This study aims to discuss the impact of the personality dimensions in the Big Five model (i.e. extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience) on suggestions generated by frontline employees and implemented in their firms.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was prepared based on a review of the academic literature. The 5 presented hypotheses were tested with data from 167 frontline employees from hotels in Tenerife (Spain).FindingsResults show the relevance of frontline employees’ three characteristics of personality regarding the employee-driven organisational change. Thus, their extraversion, neuroticism and lack of direction tend to be relevant drivers of the suggestion and implementation of change.Practical implicationsFrontline employees act as change agents in hospitality firms. Managers should develop recruitment processes that allow to select individuals prone to proposing innovative suggestions and creating a friendlier system for submitting and defending them.Originality/valueEmployee-driven organisational change becomes crucial for the survival and growth of hospitality firms. Relatively few studies have been conducted on the role of frontline employees as change facilitators in the sector. This study contributes to shedding light on this research gap from a personality approach and the study also provides practical implications to increase valid suggestions in the hospitality sector.

Innovative behavior motivations among frontline employees: The mediating role of knowledge management

Labor-intensive industries face challenges when designing innovative, customer-oriented service strategies at the employee level, since service is mainly produced and delivered to customers not by technology or machines but by human resources. In other words, the role of frontline employees is particularly critical in customers’ belief formation of whether a service company is innovative or not. Therefore, this study was conducted to formulate and investigate the psychological process of frontline employees’ innovative behaviors. To achieve the purpose, this study collected data from frontline employees in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. This study contributes to the motivation literature in human resources management by adapting and considering a marketing approach based on three aspects of motivation: global, contextual, and situational. This study also examined whether motivation factors may increase knowledge-management capabilities and subsequently stimulate innovative behaviors, which are critical to the successful implementation of service improvements among frontline employees.

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 Role of Frontline Employees’ Competitive Intelligence and Intraorganizational Social Capital in Driving Customer Outcomes

Grounded in social capital theory, this study explores the influence of intraorganizational social capital on frontline employees’ (FLEs) competitive intelligence activities and the subsequent effects of engaging in competitive intelligence on their information communication behavior and relational customer outcomes. We empirically test the hypothesized relationships using multisource, multi-industry data collected from business-to-business (B2B) FLEs and their customers. The results indicate that bridging social capital directly relates to FLEs’ competitive intelligence activities, while bonding social capital functions as a positive moderator of this relationship. Job autonomy also positively moderates the relationship between bridging social capital and competitive intelligence. Results further indicate that FLEs’ competitive intelligence directly and positively relates to customers’ perception of information communication, which positively influences customer loyalty and engagement behavior. These results indicate that the firms’ cultivation of social capital can improve the capability of their FLEs to provide information-based service to industrial customers.

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.

Effects of external prestige on emotional labor: mediation by organizational identification and moderation by perceived organizational support

Purpose: With the shift from manufacturing to services economies, the need of customer management has increased. The shift has also increased the role of frontline employees in managing their emotions, as they may directly influence customers' responses towards organisations' products and services. Based on this premise, this study values emotional labour and role of external prestige in predicting it. Furthermore, it also entails the investigation of organisational identification as mediator and perceived organisational support as moderator. Methodology/Design: This study is aimed at investigating the emotional labour and its explanatory mechanism, data was collected from 314 services employees through structured questionnaire. Sample was selected based on both random and referral sampling techniques, through questionnaire. Findings: Results empirically prove that external prestige of organisation influences employees' emotional responses, while organisational identification partially mediates the relation. And, perceptions of organisational support, influences the strength of relation between external prestige and organisational identification.

An investigation of knowledge brokering during service encounters

Service encounters present excellent opportunities for obtaining and exchanging so called tacit and explicit knowledge between customers and organisations. Recently, the role of frontline employees as knowledge brokers between organisations and their customers has received attention from scholars and practitioners. Despite the significant role played by frontline employees in obtaining knowledge from customers and sharing it during service encounters, there is a lack of research that provides a comprehensive framework intended to explain their role during such engagements. Following an extensive literature review we developed a research model that identifies (1) the role of frontline employees as knowledge brokers for customers and organisations and (2) the factors that influence their roles as knowledge brokers during service encounters. In total, 30 semi-structured interviews with different informants (i.e. managers & employees) from three top commercial banks in Jordan (X, Y, & Z) were administered through three case studies. We adopted a qualitative ‘interpretative’ methodological approach to the analysis of the empirical data. Our findings from an evidence-based analysis suggest that the knowledge brokering engaged in by frontline employees during service encounters is affected by four sets of factors (organisational–level, individual-level, technology-level, & knowledge–level).

Role of Frontline Employees in Building Sustainable Customer Relationship-A Theoretical Approach

The basic prerequisite of any business is to know who are their customers, what are their needs and preferences, how their needs and preferences are fulfilled, are they satisfied with products and services offered and are they willing to further continue their relationship with the organization. In fact, there are several factors which influence the service performance; one of the most neglected issues by the organizations is role of frontline employees in service industries. Carlzon (1987) figured this interaction so important that he called it ‘the moment of truth’. Through this interaction, only a customer experiences the service delivered and develops perception about service performance of an organization. Hence, service providers are required to be friendly, sympathetic and adaptive towards the needs and expectations of their customers. The present study theoretically accesses the role of frontline employees, who are regarded as spokespeople in the company customer interaction, as well as being influential in the level of satisfaction of the customers.

Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges

The authors develop a framework for understanding the behaviors and practices of service providers that build or deplete consumer trust and the mechanisms that convert consumer trust into value and loyalty in relational exchanges. The proposed framework (1) uses a multidimensional conceptualization for the trustworthiness construct; (2) incorporates two distinct facets of consumer trust, namely, frontline employees and management policies and practices; and (3) specifies value as a key mediator of the trust–loyalty relationship. The authors test the proposed model using data from two service contexts—retail clothing (N = 264) and nonbusiness airline travel (N = 113). The results support a tripartite view of trustworthiness evaluations along operational competence, operational benevolence, and problem-solving orientation dimensions. Moreover, the authors find evidence of contingent asymmetric relationships between trustworthiness dimensions and consumer trust. For frontline employees, benevolent behaviors demonstrate a dominant “negativity” effect (i.e., a unit negative performance has a stronger effect than a unit positive performance), whereas problem-solving orientation has a dominant “positivity” effect (i.e., a unit positive performance has a stronger effect than a unit negative performance). Value completely mediates the effect of frontline employee trust on loyalty in the retailing context and partially mediates the effect of management policies and practices trust on loyalty in the airlines context. The role of frontline employees is more critical in the retailing context, whereas management practices and policies play the dominant role in the airlines context. Overall, the proposed framework successfully models trust and loyalty mechanisms across the two industries examined in the study, while remaining sensitive to essential contextual differences.