Service Recovery Performance Research Articles

The Effect of Management Commitment to Service Quality on Frontline Employees' Job Attitudes, Turnover Intentions and Service Recovery Performance in a New Public Management Context

We present and test a model of behavioural job outcomes grounded in Bagozzi's (1992) reformulation of attitude theory in the important and novel context of a former public sector government department that has undergone corporatisation. Frontline employees (FLEs) completed a self‐administered questionnaire on how factors characterising management commitment to service quality (MCSQ) affect their job satisfaction and organisational commitment, and how these job attitudes impact service recovery performance and turnover intentions. Data obtained from the FLEs were analysed using the SEM‐based Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology. Results suggest there is a significant influence of MCSQ on job attitudes, which in turn influence service recovery performance and turnover intentions. Implications of the results and further research directions are discussed.

Airline relationship quality: An examination of Taiwanese passengers

Customer relationship management has become an increasingly important issue for airlines. This study develops a model to investigate the antecedents of airline relationship quality from the customer's perspective. Based on the findings from in-depth interviews with airline customers, we examine the relative impact of customer orientation, domain expertise, interpersonal relationships, service recovery, and information technology on customers’ perceptions of the quality of their relationships with airlines. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze survey data collected from 252 domestic passengers in Taiwan. The results show that, in the order of importance, customer orientation, domain expertise, service recovery performance, and interpersonal relationships are the major factors contributing to airline relationship quality, whereas information technology has no significant effect.

The relationship between job demand stressors, service recovery performance and job outcomes in a state-owned enterprise

Frontline employees (FLEs) in a large state-owned enterprise (SOE) completed a self-administered questionnaire on job demand stressors affecting their service recovery efforts, their organisational commitment, and job satisfaction. Analysis of the data identified a number of significant relationships between these stressors, service recovery performance and job outcome variables. The study makes an important contribution by advancing understanding of those job stressors that influence frontline service recovery performance and job outcomes in an SOE in the globally relevant context of former public sector government departments embracing ‘New Public Management’ through corporatisation. The findings indicate that managers can take actions on a number of fronts to assist progress toward the achievement of frontline service recovery excellence, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction.

Do it right this time: The role of employee service recovery performance in customer-perceived justice and customer loyalty after service failures.

Integrating justice and customer service literatures, this research examines the role of customer service employees' behaviors of handling customer complaints, or service recovery performance (SRP), in conveying a just image of service organizations and achieving desirable customer outcomes. Results from a field study and a laboratory study demonstrate that the dimensions of SRP--making an apology, problem solving, being courteous, and prompt handling--positively influenced customer satisfaction and then customer repurchase intent through the mediation of customer-perceived justice. In addition, service failure severity and repeated failures reduced the positive impact of some dimensions of SRP on customer satisfaction, and customer-perceived justice again mediated these moderated effects.

The effect of management commitment to service quality on frontline employees' affective and performance outcomes: an empirical investigation of the New Zealand public healthcare sector

Abstract Very little attention has been given to understand the antecedents of service recovery performance in a public healthcare setting. In this study, a cross‐sectional survey investigates a model of service recovery performance. Frontline hospital employees completed a self‐administered questionnaire on how factors characterising management commitment to service quality (MCSQ) affect their service recovery efforts. The results suggest the influence of MCSQ is mediated by frontline employees' affective commitment to their hospital. The research advances understanding of frontline service recovery performance in a public healthcare setting and the findings indicate that public healthcare managers can take actions on a number of fronts to assist progress towards the achievement of frontline service recovery excellence. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of selected antecedents on the service recovery performance of frontline employees

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of selected antecedents on the service recovery performance of frontline employees using data from frontline bank employees in Turkey. The results of the path analysis indicate that trait competitiveness, intrinsic motivation, and role ambiguity are significant antecedents of frontline employees' service recovery performance. Results also suggest that the significant consequences of service recovery performance are job satisfaction and intention to leave. The results of the other hypothesised linkages demonstrate that intrinsic motivation, emotional exhaustion, and role ambiguity are significantly associated with frontline employees' job satisfaction. In addition, the current empirical findings provide support for the notion that role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion are significant predictors of intention to leave. Limitations of the study, managerial implications, and implications for future research are discussed.

Antecedents and outcomes of service recovery performance in a public health‐care environment

PurposeThis paper proposes investigating a model of service recovery performance in a public health‐care setting.Design/methodology/approachFrontline hospital staff (administrative and nursing staff) representing a range of out‐patient departments/clinics in a New Zealand inner‐city public hospital completed a self‐administered questionnaire on organizational variables affecting their service recovery efforts, job satisfaction and intention to resign. Data obtained from the hospital were analyzed using the SEM‐based partial least squares (PLS) methodology.FindingsThe results show significant relationships between perceived managerial attitudes, work environment perceptions, service recovery performance and outcomes variables.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the study are noted including the generalizability of the findings within a public health‐care environment. Suggestions for future research include an examination of other variables potentially important in service recovery efforts. A patient perspective would also be valuable.Practical implicationsThe research advances understanding of frontline service recovery performance in a health‐care setting and the findings indicate that health‐care managers can take actions on a number of fronts to assist progress toward the achievement of frontline service recovery excellence.Originality/valueVery little attention has been given to understanding the antecedents and outcomes of service recovery performance in the health‐care literature. By expanding earlier research in private sector industries, the study investigates a model of service recovery performance in a public health‐care setting.

The effects of work role and family role variables on psychological and behavioral outcomes of frontline employees

The current empirical study investigates the effects of work role and family role variables on frontline employees’ affective (job satisfaction, JSAT and intention to leave, INTLEAVE) and performance (service recovery performance, SERPERF) outcomes in the Turkish hotel industry. The results of the path analysis indicate that the proposed model fits the data well. Role ambiguity, work–family conflict (W-FCON), and family–work conflict (F-WCON) are significant predictors of SERPERF and INTLEAVE. Greater JSAT decreases frontline employees’ INTLEAVEs the hotel. While role stressors and F-WCON depict significant negative relationships with frontline employees’ satisfaction with the job, W-FCON does not. An increase in role conflict leads to an increase in employee performance. Findings also lend empirical support to the significant positive relationship between SERPERF and JSAT. Discussion of the results, implications for managerial action, and avenues for future research are presented in the study.

Antecedentes y resultados del desempeÑo en los servicios de atención al paciente en la sanidad privada: Una investigación empírica

In this study, frontline employees from a sample of New Zealand private sector hospitals completed a self-administered questionnaire on organizational variables affecting their service recovery efforts, their job satisfaction and intentions to resign. The results identify significant relationships between perceived managerial attitudes, work environment perceptions, service recovery performance and outcomes variables. The research advances understanding of frontline service recovery performance in a private healthcare setting and the findings indicate that healthcare managers can take actions on a number of fronts to assist progress toward the achievement of frontline service recovery excellence.

Adaptive versus Proactive Behavior in Service Recovery: The Role of Self‐Managing Teams

ABSTRACTIn this article, we develop a conceptual model of adaptive versus proactive recovery behavior by self‐managing teams (SMTs) in service recovery operations. To empirically test the conceptual model a combination of bank employee, customer, and archival data is collected. The results demonstrate support for independent group‐level effects of intrateam support on adaptive and proactive recovery behavior, indicating that perceptual consensus within service teams has incremental value in explaining service recovery performance. In addition, we provide evidence that adaptive and proactive recovery behavior have differential effects on external performance measures. More specifically, higher levels of adaptive performance positively influence customer‐based parameters (i.e., service recovery satisfaction and loyalty intentions), while employee proactive recovery behavior contributes to higher share of customer rates.

Antecedents and outcomes of service recovery performance: an empirical study of frontline employees in Turkish banks

This study investigates the potential impact of organizational variables on the service recovery performance of frontline employees, and the impact of successful service recovery on frontline employees’ job satisfaction and intensions to resign. Data obtained from a survey of frontline employees working in several banks in two cities in Western Turkey serve as the study setting. Results and their implications are discussed.

The Effect of Management Commitment to Service Quality on Employees' Affective and Performance Outcomes

A service recovery performance model is proposed and tested with data from frontline bank employees in Turkey. The model is derived from Bagozzi's (1992) reformulation of attitude theory. The empirical results suggest that top management commitment to service quality, as manifested by frontline employees' appraisal of training, empowerment, and rewards, has a significant effect on their perceptions of service recovery performance. The influence of management commitment to service quality on service recovery performance is mediated by frontline employees' affective commitment to their organization and job satisfaction. Implications of the results and further research avenues are discussed.

The influence of selected antecedents on frontline staff’s perceptions of service recovery performance

This study considers the impact that some organisational factors can have on a service firm’s ability to return dissatisfied customers to a state of satisfaction through service recovery. In other words, it investigates the potential impact organisational variables (modelled as antecedents) can have on the service recovery performance of frontline staff. It also assesses the impact that successful service recovery has on two outcome variables, namely, intentions to resign and job satisfaction. The results show that organisational commitment exerts a strong positive influence on the service recovery performance of frontline staff as does empowerment and rewarding them for service excellence. When frontline staff are performing service recovery effectively, they are less likely to resign and report higher levels of job satisfaction.

Bounded Rationality and Organizational Learning

Abstract : If organization theory finds it useful to draw upon some of the ideas that have emerged in cognitive psychology, it will be advantageous to borrow also the terminology used in discussing these ideas. Without working toward a higher level of consistency in terminology than prevails in organization theory today, it will be difficult or impossible to cumulate and assemble into a coherent structure the knowledge we are gaining from individual case studies and experiments. We will be continually reinventing wheels. That is a luxury we cannot afford. The happy band of researchers on organization theory is sufficiently small to be kept fully occupied discovering and verifying the theory just once. (Author) (kr)