Frontline employee empowerment and perceived customer satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation on perceived customer satisfaction in contact centers. Design/methodology/approach-A questionnaire was conducted among 703 employees of a contact center. Data analysis was based on structural equation modeling. Findings-Structural empowerment results in higher levels of perceived customer satisfaction through psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, structural empowerment effect on psychological empowerment is mediated by intrinsic motivation. Practical implications-Previous predictions regarding counterproductive impact of empowerment in a low-service heterogeneity sector, such as contact center are challenged and a transformative message is disclosed in what concerns human resource management (HRM) in contact centers. Originality/value-The research provides valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners regarding the process through which employees' psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation improves customer satisfaction in the context of contact centers.

An Examination of the Factors Affecting Employee Motivation in the Higher Education Sector

“…The principal objective of this article was to test the impact of employee empowerment, employee training and teamwork on employee motivation at public universities in the northern region of Malaysia. The results revealed that employee empowerment has a significant relationship with employee motivation, and it matches a number of past researches and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory (Caniëls, Neghina, & Schaetsaert, 2017;Proenca, Torres, & Sampaio, 2017) which confirmed that empowering employees was a significant factor in predicting their levels of motivation. Tutar et al (2011) examined the effect of empowerment on employee motivation and found that empowering employees at the workplace exerts a significant positive effect on their motivation.…”

Empowerment in call centers and customer satisfaction

“…Access to resources and organizational support may be necessary for the successful accomplishment of the activities. Opportunities for training and development, as well as rewards that value individual contributions and role clarity, provide guidance and direction for decision making (Spreitzer, 1995, 1996, 2008; Melhem, 2004; Laschinger et al , 2004; Cho and Faerman, 2010; Voegtlin et al , 2015; Proença et al , 2017).…”

“…In this sense, the empowerment of call centers’ employees, and the implication of autonomy and knowledge about work-related situations, may increase their sense of responsibility and capacity to better respond to customer needs (Kim, 2007; Ayupp and Chung, 2010; Kassim et al , 2012; Shahril et al , 2015; Proença et al , 2017). According to Ongori (2009) and Isimoya and Bakarey (2013), it is important to allow contact employees to have the autonomy, self-control and job discretion to achieve the efficiency and effectiveness of services.…”

“…There are several studies about the positive impact of empowerment on performance and employee satisfaction (Chebat and Kollias, 2000; Holdsworth and Cartwright, 2003; Kazlauskaite et al , 2012; García-Juan et al , 2019; Berraies et al , 2019). However, fewer of them in the call center sector, and CS and quality of service are not addressed (Holdsworth and Cartwright, 2003; Proença et al , 2017). According to Chicu et al (2019) the relationship between employee's satisfaction and CS in the call center environment is not simple.…”

“…García-Juan et al (2019) capture the empowerment–organizational performance link in local governments and Proença et al (2017) suggest the link between employee empowerment in call centers and CS, but the authors only reported on the employee side in relation to organizational performance and CS. This research, therefore, aims to contribute to this debate by focusing on the employee–client dyad through call center in the telecommunication sector.…”