How perceptions of firm environmental and social values influence frontline employee outcomes

Gabler, Colin B.; Landers, V. Myles; Rapp, Adam

doi:10.1108/jsm-10-2019-0376

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The difference lies in the type of information. While market-oriented firms use intelligence about general customer preferences, competitive strategies, and market analytics to produce favorable firm outcomes, firms with a strong EO use environment-specific information, or green market intelligence, to influence similar outcomes ranging from environmental and economic performance (Gabler et al, 2020a) to sales performance and word-of-mouth (Gabler et al, 2020b). This means these firms factor a stakeholder into their decision-making that was not originally part of market orientation, namely, the natural environment.…”

Section: Market Orientation and Sustainable Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hiearchical resource nature of green logistics competency

Adams

Gabler

Landers

2021

JBIM

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Purpose This paper aims to examine the common roots of both logistics and sustainability phenomena in supply chains to derive a new potential construct, green logistics competency. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical synthesis and conceptualization of new construct. Findings Based on Madhavaram and Hunt’s (2008) resource hierarchy concept, the key to successfully competing with a sustainable supply chain may lie in whether the resources enabling both sustainability and effective supply chains are interdependent, as opposed to merely co-existent. Research limitations/implications Most current theory regarding sustainable supply chains regards environmentally-friendly factors as resources that are additively bundled with supply chain resources. To determine if competitive performance differentials exist between truly green supply chains, and supply chains that merely adopt green practices, measurement must account for both the interdependence of green and supply chain resources, and their common cultural antecedents. Practical implications The study indicates that it is not sufficient for firms to have expertise in both sustainability and in supply chain practices; managers in each of those areas must develop the cultural antecedents of both supply chain and sustainability excellence if firms are to achieve meaningful competitive capabilities through sustainable supply chains. Originality/value This conceptual study addresses a paucity of theory describing how and why organizations build a genuinely green supply chain, as opposed to simply adapting supply chains to green practices.

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Section: Market Orientation and Sustainable Supply Chainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hiearchical resource nature of green logistics competency

Adams

Gabler

Landers

2021

JBIM

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“…These inflection points result in curvilinear graphs, which pinpoint optimal levels of the inputs on associated outcomes. TMGT logic has been used to model interactions ranging from the impact of firmlevel orientations on the frontline (Gabler et al, 2020) to how service climate influences employee satisfaction and performance (Gabler et al, 2017). Crick (2019) examines how managers can balance cooperation and competition to find the optimal level of company performance.…”

Section: Eco-social Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, when firms overinvest in multiple strategic orientations, they may experience diminishing returns. Past research has shown that when a firm juggles multiple goals, it may cause a distraction from goals more imperative to firm success such as sales performance (Gabler et al, 2020). In this case, when both SO and EO are simultaneously high, the firm may be overextending its resources, distracting managers from investing in resources that produce economic returns.…”

Section: 5mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Benefits and challenges of developing an eco-social orientation: implications for marketing practice

Gabler

Landers

Richey

2020

EJM

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Purpose Social and environmental actors have been added to the stakeholder balancing act required of organizations in today’s competitive marketplace. To address this, the firms may create orientations to convey their strategic priorities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how different levels of environmental orientation (EO) and social orientation (SO) influence firm outcomes. This paper leverages logic from the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect to predict that firms must strategically align their resources with performance goals to optimize these resources. Design/methodology/approach The paper outlines a step-by-step guide that combines latent moderated structural equation modeling with response surface analysis to estimate curvilinear relationships. The approach leverages the benefits of both techniques to produce precise results and more nuanced – and meaningful – implications. Findings The procedure is effective in uncovering a curvilinear relationship between the indicator variables. Specifically, firms optimize environmental performance when EO is higher than SO. The opposite is the case for the outcome of social value and manager trust. Economic performance is highest when both indicators are simultaneously high. Research limitations/implications This study tests the relationships between social and EOs and performance. As such, the exploratory data in this study are US-centric and self-assessment in design. These limitations open the door to confirmatory studies using objective outcome data and cross-cultural comparisons. Such studies should embrace more variables and examine potential moderating influences. Most importantly, future research should work to expand and verify the development of the eco-SO construct presented here, as the dynamics of these relationships have been overlooked in most social responsibility and sustainability research. Future studies should adopt this construct into extant models and also consider the dynamics and inter-organizational fit for partner firms with competing orientations. Practical implications For managers, the results show that conveying an environmental or social outcome has unique benefits to the firm. Further, there is an incentive to try and do both simultaneously. However, there is a critical point where the effects taper off, which can guide managers as they implement social and/or environmental strategies. Social implications The research questions ask if a company can simultaneously deliver: economic value to shareholders, environmental value to the planet and social value to consumers while maintaining the trust of its managers. The results generally support that to fully serve one group, a firm must underserve another. Originality/value The study introduces SO as a valid construct to mirror EO and then models their interaction in three-dimensional space to present an optimal firm strategy.

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“…Consequently, their skepticism prompts them to seek more information about environmentally friendly products, which can lead to negative word-of-mouth (WOM) (Leonidou and Skarmeas, 2017). Further and most important to the context of this study, underlying company values are often not seen through corporate mission statements or sustainability webpages but interactions with frontline employees (Gabler et al , 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of employee behavior in sustainable service organizations

Disse

Becker-Özcamlica

2022

JSM

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Purpose Numerous service organizations involve employees in strengthening customer relationships. While the literature has emphasized the importance of a sustainable market orientation (SMO) for an organization’s image, it has not explored how employees’ behavior in sustainable service organizations influences the reputational effect. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of SMO-aligned employee behavior on customer attitude and behavior, while considering different SMOs and the role of value-based brand choice. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a 2 (SMO-aligned vs nonaligned) × 3 (social, environmental or economic SMOs) between-subject, scenario-based experiment with 313 participants to test the hypotheses. A moderated mediation analysis was also conducted. Findings The results show that SMO-aligned employee behavior has a positive impact on customers’ trust in contrast with SMO-nonaligned behavior independent of the SMO. The relationship between employee behavior and customer word-of-mouth is mediated by trust. Furthermore, the effect on trust is moderated by value-based brand choice. Originality/value This study contributes to employee behavior research by examining the impact of SMO-aligned employee behavior on customer outcomes in sustainable service organizations. Adding to previous research on employee behavior, it further considers the impact of value-based brand choice.

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How perceptions of firm environmental and social values influence frontline employee outcomes

Cited by 11 publications

References 83 publications

The hiearchical resource nature of green logistics competency

The hiearchical resource nature of green logistics competency

Benefits and challenges of developing an eco-social orientation: implications for marketing practice

The effects of employee behavior in sustainable service organizations

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