Employee customer orientation in context: How the environment moderates the influence of customer orientation on performance outcomes.

Abstract

This empirical study evaluated the moderating effects of unit customer orientation (CO) climate and climate strength on the relationship between service workers' level of CO and their performance of customer-oriented behaviors (COBs). In addition, the study examined whether aggregate COB performance influences unit profitability. Building on multisource, multilevel data, the study's results suggest that the influence of employee CO on employee COB performance is positive when the unit's CO climate is relatively high and that the constructs are unrelated when unit CO climate is relatively low. In addition, the data reveal that unit COB performance influences unit profitability by enhancing revenues without a concomitant increase in costs. The study's results underscore the theoretical importance of considering cross-level influencers of employee-level relationships and suggest that managers should focus on creating a climate that is supportive of COBs if their units are to profit from the recruitment, hiring, and retention of customer-oriented employees.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Orientation, and the Job Performance of Frontline Employees

“…Additionally, DeLuque et al (2008) find that upper-management's emphasis on either economic or stakeholder values is not only perceived by employees, but also generalized to form a sense of whether the company as a whole is more autocratic or visionary. More specific to customer orientation, recent research finds that when an employee perceives that management creates an environment of customer service, this perception can affect the employee's customer orientation on the job (Grizzle et al 2009 We posit that such perceived management support for CSR may become generalized to the company at large because upper-level managers are sometimes seen as prototypical members of the organization (Hogg 2001), and thus may serve as a symbol of the company's character. The commitment to engaging in CSR activities into the future may communicate that caring for the community, the environment, or other societal concerns is highly valued at all levels and functions within the company.…”

“…It is considered by scholars and practitioners to be a critical goal for marketers, and a potential gateway to firm financial performance (e.g., Grizzle et al 2009). To the extent that employees are customer oriented, they can foster loyalty and heightened willingness to pay among the customer base (Homburg et al 2009), outcomes that have the potential to generate revenues and profitability.…”

“…There are strong conceptual linkages between customer orientation and job performance (Saxe and Weitz 1982). Employees who are highly customer oriented can be expected to act on this orientation by engaging in behaviors that identify and satisfy customer needs, while eschewing behaviors that might lead to dissatisfaction (Grizzle et al 2009;Zablah et al 2012). As a result, employees who are customer oriented may be those who contribute most to company-benefitting outcomes such as customer loyalty, willingness to pay for products and services, and perceptions of service quality (Brady and Cronin 2001;Homburg et al 2009).…”

The Fascinating Psychological Microfoundations of Strategy and Competitive Advantage

“…For example, linkage research has examined unit-level customer outcomes and their relationship with leadership (Liao & Chuang 2007), climate (Chuang & Liao 2010), and selection processes (Ployhart et al 2009) within a unit. Grizzle et al (2009) also examined the moderating role of unit-level customer orientation climate on the relationship between individual-level customer orientation and customer-oriented behaviors in full-service restaurants. They found that unit-level customer orientation climate moderated the relationship such that customer-oriented employees exhibited more customer-oriented behaviors when the unit-level customer orientation climate was high; in turn, unit-level customer orientation behaviors were positively related to unit-level performance.…”

Customer orientation of frontline employees and organizational commitment

“…Therefore, while the mediation perspective has undoubted merit, recent empirical evidence suggests that ECO is best conceptualized as a personality-related attitude, work value or work belief, which exists independently of an organization's CO or other organizational characteristics (Zablah et al, 2012;Matsuo, 2011;Whelan et al, 2010;Grizzle et al, 2009;Stock & Hoyer, 2005;Brown et al, 2002). In this study, therefore, the psychological construal of ECO is adopted.…”