Purpose – Frontline employees (FLEs) represent a major source of value creation for the modern firm. As such, firms are constantly evaluating different attributes of potential and current employees in the hopes of attracting, retaining, and rewarding key employees. Recently, the construct of work engagement has garnered interest as an important indicator of employee performance. However, much is unknown about this construct with regards to antecedents, outcomes and measurement. Thus, the purpose of the current research is to contribute to the developing literature on work engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from FLEs across high and low customer contact service contexts. The hypothesized relationships in the model were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings – This research provides empirical evidence that service climate, job satisfaction and affective commitment influence work engagement. Employee's work engagement subsequently impacts constructs such as career commitment and adaptability. Furthermore, the authors conceptualize work engagement as a multidimensional higher order construct that exhibits a superior fit compared to a simple first order conceptualization. Research limitations/implications – This research provides guidance on how to measure work engagement as well as identifying both antecedent and outcomes variables associated with the construct. Practical implications – Results suggest that the service firm has some impact on the level of work engagement FLEs exhibit. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance of the link between positive emotions and FLE performance. Originality/value – By utilizing the contemporary broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this research makes contributions in the developing understanding of the impact of positive emotions on FLEs.

Recent empirical research has shown the benefits for the service firm of providing customer delight. With this link established, it is now important to garner a greater understanding of the drivers of customer delight from the customer's perspective. In response, this research addresses three focal issues: (1) evaluating the types of employee behaviors in a service encounter that lead to delight, (2) assessing consumers' expectations prior to their delightful encounter, and (3) ascertaining the differences between satisfactory and delightful encounters at the customer level. The findings indicate that employee affect and employee effort are the strongest factors in producing delight. These factors were both ranked higher than employee skills with regard to delight. Importantly, it seems that the power of these factors has not been fully revealed in previous research. Further, this research provides support for the usefulness of both the disconfirmation paradigm and the less-utilized needs-based model for evaluating customer delight.

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