All autonomy is not created equal: the countervailing effects of salesperson autonomy on burnout

The effectiveness of role autonomy in influencing job pursuit intentions of customer‐oriented frontline job seekers

“…Given the prevailing “customer is king” mentality in service organisations, influencing the job pursuit intentions of FLE job seekers is important and is recognised as an issue of global concern (Alnıaçık et al, 2014; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2019; Stich, 2020). This is supported by a growing body of research identifying the strategic importance of FLEs in delivering superior customer service (Ashill et al, 2020; Matthews et al, 2018; Menguc et al, 2016; S. Wang & Koerber, 2020). Driven by technology, globalisation and customer needs, the service sector, comprising a wide range of diverse jobs from low to high skill continues to grow, creating an increasing need for FLEs with varying skill‐set levels (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2019).…”

“…This ubiquitous mantra sums up the enduring importance of successful customer service. Within service organisations, the task of upholding this philosophy is borne by frontline employees (FLEs) who have daily one‐to‐one interactions with customers (Matthews et al, 2018). Expertise and proficiency in the broad context of service work requires a range of skills (high and low) many of which are industry and role specific but others especially, “soft skills” such as communication and altruism associated with individual customer orientation (CO) are common across most customer facing roles in high and low skilled contexts (Lindsay, 2005).…”

“…In a work context, autonomy is widely accepted to refer to employees' perception of the extent to which they can prioritise tasks and task execution (Stock & Hoyer, 2005). Many researchers have identified autonomy as a vital job resource with the potential to reduce burnout; by extension, autonomy is recognised as a key attractor for FLEs operating in challenging customer‐facing environments (Babakus et al, 2017; Barken et al, 2018; Ellinger & Franke, 2018; Matthews et al, 2018). As such, it is considered an important element of psychological climate (Rapp et al, 2015).…”

“…As such, it is considered an important element of psychological climate (Rapp et al, 2015). Moreover, autonomy is increasingly understood as a critical employee resource that organisations must provide when seeking to attract key talent (Matthews et al, 2018).…”

“…Subjective autonomy is described as the level of autonomy an individual feels they have to execute their role, Hennig‐Thurau (2004) proposes that this may be influenced by an individual's level of personal motivation. Customer induced autonomy is considered by Matthews et al (2018) as the extent to which a customer is confident of the ability and skill of the FLE.…”