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Understanding the relationship between frontline employee boreout and customer orientation

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  • Stock, Ruth Maria

Abstract

Customer-oriented behavior provides an important means to achieve satisfied and loyal customers and thus sustainable competitive advantages. Although a rich stream of research has examined enablers of customer-oriented behaviors, its impediments, such as a lack of challenges at the customer interface, have been neglected. Relying on a qualitative study with 37 frontline employees (FLEs) and on conservation of resources theory, this research examines FLEs' individual responses to boreout at the service encounter. Boreout is a negative psychological state of low work-related arousal, manifested in three main forms: job boredom, a crisis of meaning at work, and crisis of growth at work. This study examines the effect of these individual responses on customer-oriented behavior, using data from 147 FLEs and a validation study with customers. The results indicate that all three boreout dimensions consistently harm customer-oriented behavior; job autonomy, whether induced by the firm or customers, moderates these relationships differently though.

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  • Stock, Ruth Maria, 2016. "Understanding the relationship between frontline employee boreout and customer orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4259-4268.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:10:p:4259-4268
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.02.037
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    References listed on IDEAS

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