Customer Service Orientation and Service Behavior

Date

2016-12

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Abstract

Organizations that demonstrate concern for customers and are effective in meeting their needs promote greater loyalty from both internal and external constituents. I proposed and tested a psychological process in which perceptions of organizational support (POS) affects employee extra-role behavior through perceptions of the organization’s customer centricity. I also assessed goal alignment (i.e., goal priority congruence) as a boundary condition of this model, where the proposed effects were expected to mostly hold among employees experiencing low goal congruence with members of their work units (i.e., peers and supervisors). Testing a conditional mediation model, my hypotheses were mostly supported. POS predicted perceived customer service orientation, which in turn predicted extra-role behavior. While the effect of POS on extra-role behavior was expected to be both direct and indirect, study results indicated that the relationship only occurred through perceived customer service orientation. Goal congruence moderated all of the significant direct and indirect effects, such that they were stronger and in some cases only significant when employee goals were less aligned with the goals of work unit colleagues and supervisors. These results highlight how an organization’s position regarding internal and external customers can play a significant role in promoting employee effectiveness, particularly for employees experiencing low goal congruence with their work units.

Description

Keywords

Customer service, Service behavior, Extra-role performance

Citation