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Effects of frontline employee role overload on customer responses and sales performance: Moderator and mediators

Subhash Jha (Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, India)
M.S. Balaji (Department of Marketing, Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China)
Ugur Yavas (Department of Management and Marketing, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA)
Emin Babakus (Fogelman College, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, USA)

European Journal of Marketing

ISSN: 0309-0566

Article publication date: 13 February 2017

4467

Abstract

Purpose

Using the basic framework of the service profit chain, this study aims to develop an integrated model that explains the relationships among role overload (RO), customer orientation (CO), service interaction quality (IQ), customer satisfaction (CS) and sales performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A large-scale survey of 872 customers and 530 frontline employees across 50 branches of a major retail bank in New Zealand serves as the study setting.

Findings

The results indicate that RO has a significant negative effect on IQ. Nevertheless, CO mitigates the negative outcome of RO on IQ. IQ fully mediates the relationship between RO and CS. Additionally, the effect of IQ on branch sales is fully mediated by CS.

Research limitations/implications

The cross-sectional nature of the current survey does not permit causal inferences. Thus, future studies should adopt longitudinal designs. Also, future studies should explore the roles of other variables (e.g. job crafting, work-related self-efficacy) as possible moderators.

Practical implications

Results suggest that service managers should create a balance between the role requirements and organizational resources to mitigate the adverse effects of employee RO. To enhance IQ and CS, bank managers should coach employees about work overload and train them in CO while prioritizing the tasks.

Originality/value

Empirical research pertaining to employee–customer interaction through a nested framework accommodating data from customers, employees and firm performance is scarce. This study fills in the void.

Keywords

Citation

Jha, S., Balaji, M.S., Yavas, U. and Babakus, E. (2017), "Effects of frontline employee role overload on customer responses and sales performance: Moderator and mediators", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 282-303. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2015-0009

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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