Links between organisational and customer variables in service delivery

Abstract

Studies in services management from the different perspectives of marketing, operations, human resources and psychology support the existence of a variety of links between organisations and their customers. The basic premise asserts that organisational characteristics and practices are linked to employee attitudes that are reflected in service quality outcomes, customer satisfaction and loyalty and, consequently, profit. Empirical studies support many of these associations and streams of research link them into linear sequences. However, the evidence is not unequivocal and this review challenges it by highlighting the complexity and non‐linearity of many of the proposed links, and the existence of reciprocity between certain variables. In synthesising the evidence in relation to the proposed links, the paper also identifies conceptual and methodological issues, unanswered questions and potential future research.

The “why” of HR practices: employee attributions regarding HR practices and resulting effects on service climate and employee attitudes in casinos

“…Commentators have described it as the 'missing' or 'integral' link between internal dynamics and external service performance measures (Andrews & Rogelberg, 2001;Dean, 2004). This concept is receiving considerable attention in the literature as linkages have been identified with desirable business outcomes such as customer satisfaction, customer retention and increased profits (Davidson & Manning, 2003;Lings & Greenley, 2005;Salanova, Agut & Peiró, 2005;Schneider & Bowen, 1985;Solnet, 2006;Yoon, Beatty & Suh, 2001).…”

“…Having developed more as a perspective than an actual discipline in its own right, the field of service management has benefited from the contributions of a variety of different viewpoints, mainly from marketing, operations management, and HRM (Dean, 2004;Schneider, 2004) but also from organisational psychology, management and service quality management viewpoints, as well as the input from senior business executives and consultants (Grönroos, 1994). Some academics, Grönroos in particular, have provided quite lengthy definitions of the term service management.…”

“…Service quality is the key construct in service management that practitioners aspire to manipulate in order to produce various business outcomes (Dean, 2004). …”

“…Although service management scholars come from a variety of different academic backgrounds and have different perspectives on how best to manage service quality, they generally take a holistic view of the study of service management and call for an integrated approach to the management of service quality (Bowen & Schneider, 2014;Dean, 2004). The studies already mentioned in this section constitute part of the body of growing research that is concerned with the linkages between internal organisational factors (such as employee attitudes, HR processes or service orientation) and business outcomes (such as customer satisfaction, market share growth, or profits).…”

“…Investigations into service climate have appeared in the literature since the early 1980's and have become particularly prolific in the past decade (e.g., Bowen & Pugh, 2009;Brown & Lam, 2008;Dean, 2004;Hong et al, 2013;Liao & Chuang, 2004). Interest in HRM has been prevalent in the literature since the term was coined by Peter Drucker in 1954 and in recent decades the focus has changed from a more 'personnel management' perspective where the emphasis was on minimising costs and maximising efficiencies to a more macro-level organisational approach which is primarily concerned with enhancing performance (Hoobler & Johnson, 2004).…”