The effect of managerial practice on employee‐perceived service quality: The role of emotional satisfaction

The aim of this study is to study the relationships among: two types of managerial practices (“reward” and “support”), two types of emotional satisfaction (“positive” and “negative”), and employee‐perceived service quality.

The study presents a conceptual model of the aforementioned relationships. It proposed hypotheses regarding these relationships and collected data with a survey study of 1,076 frontline employees in service organizations. An analysis of the testing of the hypotheses follows.

The study has found that managerial reward and managerial support are both directly related to positive and negative emotions and to employee‐perceived service quality. In particular, positive and negative emotions appear directly related to employee‐perceived service quality. Moreover, it was found that emotional satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between managerial (reward and support) practices and employee‐perceived service quality.

The study takes place within a broad context of frontline employees in service organizations.

The study has demonstrated the importance for managers to consider how their practices influence the service quality their employees provide to customers. In particular, managers should take account of employees' emotions, whether positive or negative, because of their role in explaining employee‐perceived service quality. Consequently, one general and key implication from this study is the importance of measuring employees' emotions. Measuring these mental states (described as stable tendencies of feelings) which arise from cognitive appraisals of managerial practices can be a good predictor for employee‐perceived service quality. The study shows that employees are not isolated “emotional islands” and, consequently, it is important for managers to understand how emotions and the quality of service delivery are linked.

The paper enhances knowledge of how emotions are linked to the quality of service delivery and the role of emotional satisfaction in service‐quality management.