IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/servic/v36y2016i7-8p339-355.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using work design to motivate customer-oriented behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Steven W. Rayburn
  • David A. Gilliam

Abstract

Front-line employee (FLE) attitudes and behaviors while interacting with consumers largely determine the success or failure of service organizations. To better understand how this happens, this research moves beyond the oversimplified argument that managers either must hire or specifically train for workers to be customer oriented and to perform customer-oriented behaviors (COBs). A third path is proposed and empirically explored that suggests managers use work design to influence FLEs at work motivation to perform COBs. Specific work design levers managers can employ – manager support and serial/investiture socialization – are shown to impact FLE organizational commitment and role clarity with customers. Through these individual internal processes service organizations motivate front-line workers to perform desired COBs.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven W. Rayburn & David A. Gilliam, 2016. "Using work design to motivate customer-oriented behaviors," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7-8), pages 339-355, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:servic:v:36:y:2016:i:7-8:p:339-355
    DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2016.1219723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02642069.2016.1219723
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/02642069.2016.1219723?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gianfranco Walsh, 2014. "Extra- and intra-organizational drivers of workplace deviance," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(14), pages 1134-1153, October.
    2. Joshi, Ashwin W. & Randall, Sheila, 2001. "The indirect effects of organizational controls on salesperson performance and customer orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 1-9, October.
    3. Anderson, Laurel & Ostrom, Amy L. & Corus, Canan & Fisk, Raymond P. & Gallan, Andrew S. & Giraldo, Mario & Mende, Martin & Mulder, Mark & Rayburn, Steven W. & Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Shirahada, Kunio & W, 2013. "Transformative service research: An agenda for the future," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1203-1210.
    4. Cindy Yunhsin Chou & Soe-Tsyr Yuan, 2015. "Service-driven social community and its relation to well-being," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(7-8), pages 368-387, May.
    5. Riccardo Peccei & Patrice Rosenthal, 2001. "Delivering Customer‐Oriented Behaviour through Empowerment: An Empirical Test of HRM Assumptions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 831-857, September.
    6. Paulin, Michele & Ferguson, Ronald J. & Bergeron, Jasmin, 2006. "Service climate and organizational commitment: The importance of customer linkages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 906-915, August.
    7. Shih-Wei Chou & Yu-Chieh Chang & Pi-Hui Hsieh, 2014. "Understanding the performance of software-as-a-service based on service-dominant logic," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 645-658, May.
    8. Jay Jaewon Yoo & Todd J. Arnold, 2014. "Customer orientation, engagement, and developing positive emotional labor," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(16), pages 1272-1288, December.
    9. Stock, Ruth & Hoyer, Wayne, 2005. "An Attitude-Behavior Model of Salespeople’s Customer Orientation," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 60479, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Johlke, Mark C. & Iyer, Rajesh, 2013. "A model of retail job characteristics, employee role ambiguity, external customer mind-set, and sales performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 58-67.
    11. Kemefasu Ifie, 2014. "Customer orientation of frontline employees and organizational commitment," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(8), pages 699-714, May.
    12. Babakus, Emin & Yavas, Ugur & Ashill, Nicholas J., 2009. "The Role of Customer Orientation as a Moderator of the Job Demand–Burnout–Performance Relationship: A Surface-Level Trait Perspective," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(4), pages 480-492.
    13. Stephen T.T. Teo & Kira Kristal Reed & Karen Ly, 2014. "Human resource involvement in developing intellectual capital," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(15), pages 1219-1233, November.
    14. Stock, Ruth & Hoyer, Wayne, 2005. "An Attitude-Behavior Model of Salespeople’s Customer Orientation," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 35542, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    15. Anna-Lena Ackfeldt & Veronica Wong, 2006. "The Antecedents of Prosocial Service Behaviours: An Empirical Investigation," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(7), pages 727-745, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohd Faizal Hamzah* & Mohamad Noorman Masrek & Irwan Kamaruddin Abdul Kadir, 2018. "Work Design and Competencies in Relation to Work Performance: A Proposed Framework," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 127-136:2.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Sergio Román, 2014. "Salesperson's listening in buyer-seller service relationships," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 630-644, May.
    3. Lifang Shu & Haiying Wei & Leiqing Peng, 2019. "Making the Customer Orientation of Salespeople Unsustainable—The Moderating Effect of Emotional Exhaustion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, January.
    4. Arndt, Aaron D. & Karande, Kiran, 2012. "Is it better for salespeople to have the highest customer orientation or a strong fit with their group's customer orientation? Findings from automobile dealerships," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 353-359.
    5. Barnes, Donald C. & Ponder, Nicole & Hopkins, Christopher D., 2015. "The impact of perceived customer delight on the frontline employee," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 433-441.
    6. Auh, Seigyoung & Menguc, Bulent & Fisher, Michelle & Haddad, Abeer, 2011. "The perceived autonomy–perceived service climate relationship: The contingency effect of store-level tenure diversity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 509-520.
    7. Anne Sorensen & Judy Drennan, 2017. "Understanding value-creating practices in social media-based brand communities," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(15-16), pages 986-1007, December.
    8. Carlos Monteiro & Mara Franco & Raquel Meneses & Rui Alexandre Castanho, 2023. "Customer Co-Creation on Revisiting Intentions: A Focus on the Tourism Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-22, October.
    9. Singh, Ramendra Pratap & Singh, Ramendra & Mishra, Prashant, 2021. "Does managing customer accounts receivable impact customer relationships, and sales performance? An empirical investigation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Javalgi, Rajshekhar G. & Hall, Kenneth D. & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2014. "Corporate entrepreneurship, customer-oriented selling, absorptive capacity, and international sales performance in the international B2B setting: Conceptual framework and research propositions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1193-1202.
    11. Mari, Alex & Mandelli, Andreina & Algesheimer, René, 2024. "Empathic voice assistants: Enhancing consumer responses in voice commerce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    12. Baliga, Ashwin J. & Chawla, Vaibhav & Sunder M, Vijaya & Ganesh, L.S. & Sivakumaran, Bharadhwaj, 2021. "Service Failure and Recovery in B2B Markets – A Morphological Analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 763-781.
    13. Miriam Benitez & Jose M. Leon-Perez & Alejandro Orgambídez & Francisco J. Medina, 2021. "Interpersonal Conflicts in the Unit Impact the Service Quality Rated by Customers: The Mediating Role of Work-Unit Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-13, July.
    14. Alex Mari & Andreina Mandelli & René Algesheimer, 2023. "Shopping with Voice Assistants: How Empathy Affects Individual and Family Decision-Making Outcomes," Working Papers 399, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    15. Castell, Carolin & Kiefer, Jasmin & Schubach, Sebastian & Schumann, Jan H. & Graf-Vlachy, Lorenz & König, Andreas, 2023. "Integrating digital platform dynamics into customer orientation research: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    16. Tung, Vincent Wing Sun & Chen, Po-Ju & Schuckert, Markus, 2017. "Managing customer citizenship behaviour: The moderating roles of employee responsiveness and organizational reassurance," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 23-35.
    17. Johlke, Mark C. & Iyer, Rajesh, 2013. "A model of retail job characteristics, employee role ambiguity, external customer mind-set, and sales performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 58-67.
    18. Achilleas Boukis, 2016. "Achieving favourable customer outcomes through employee deviance," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7-8), pages 319-338, June.
    19. Fassnacht, Martin & Beatty, Sharon E. & Szajna, Markus, 2019. "Combating the negative effects of showrooming: Successful salesperson tactics for converting showroomers into buyers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 131-139.
    20. Zheng, Shiyong & Chen, Jiada & Liao, Junyun & Hu, Hsin-Li, 2023. "What motivates users' viewing and purchasing behavior motivations in live streaming: A stream-streamer-viewer perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:servic:v:36:y:2016:i:7-8:p:339-355. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/FSIJ20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.