Customer Service Behavior and Attitudes among Hotel Managers: A Look at Perceived Support Functions, Standards for Service, and Service Process Outcomes

Abstract

A model of customer service behavior and outcomes was proposed and tested among managerialsupervisory personnel (N = 250) from 11 hotel properties within six large national and international hotel companies. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a reliable approach to examine elements of customer service and outcomes in a service-based setting. Specifically, organizational support was represented by two independent dimensions of coworker support and supervisory support. A dimension of standards for service was presented and validated as a central mediating factor in the perception of service processes, along with customer (guest) orientation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions as outcome measures in a path model of customer service behavior.

Service orientation: antecedents, outcomes, and implications for hospitality research and practice

“…Susskind et al (2000) and Susskind et al (2007) deemed that perceived support from co-workers and supervisors in restaurants plays a different but necessary role. Specifically, their results suggest that the perceived presence of supportive co-workers in a service environment leads employees to a higher level of service orientation to their customers.…”

“…Of these, seven articles focused on the restaurant sector, three articles focused on the hotel sector, another three focused on the travel and tourism sector, and two articles highlighted multiple sectors. The hospitality articles examined the relationships/effects on service outcomes, performance, operational indicators, employee behaviours, and attitudes (Beaton et al, 2008;Brown et al, 2002;Cha, Khan, & Murrmann, 2000;Chen, 2007;Donavan & Hocutt, 2001;Donavan et al, 2004;González & Garazo, 2006;Groves, Gregoire & Downey, 1995;Hennig-Thurau, 2004;Kim et al, 2005;Lee, Park, & Yoo, 1999;Liu & Chen, 2006;Susskind et al, 2000Susskind et al, , 2007Wieseke, Ullrich, Christ, & Dick, 2007). Relationships between employees and managers regarding the influence of service orientation discrepancy were also examined (Cha et al, 2000).…”

“…In hospitality organizations (e.g. in a restaurant or hotel), the output is produced, provided, and consumed in a single episode or a series of episodes (Susskind, Borchgrevink, Brymer, & Kacmar, 2000). Customers, therefore, consume and evaluate the output of the service process in the presence of hospitality service employees.…”

Service Quality Assessment of a Chain Steakhouse in Taiwan

“…Since then, SERVQUAL has been broadly applied in hospitality literature to measure service quality (Wuest, Tas, & Emenheiser, 1996). Service quality and customer satisfaction are considered related and have been identified as the two main elements of the customer service process (Susskind, Borchgrevink, & Brymer, 2000). Researchers have confirmed that SERVQUAL validly and reliably measured the quality of the service provided by hospitality businesses (Stevens, Knutson, & Patton, 1995;Nel & Pitt, 1993).…”

Internal marketing

“…It is the service interaction that allows staff members to have considerable contact with individual customers, and their attitude and behavior are critical to customer service (Susskind et al, 2000). It is apparent that the key to success in IM is being able to mobilize the employees to not only embrace but also actively pursue these marketing initiatives.…”