Understanding customers’ compliance behaviour to frontline employees’ fuzzy requests
ISSN: 0887-6045
Article publication date: 18 October 2017
Issue publication date: 13 March 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Due to interactive fluctuations during service encounters, fuzzy requests frequently occur from either frontline employees or customers. While such requests from customers have been drawn wide attention, there exists a lack of research on frontline employees’ fuzzy requests and possible outcomes (e.g. compliance or refusal). The purpose of this study is thus to identify the underlying mechanism and enacting variables that influence customers’ compliance behaviour (i.e. positive outcome) to fuzzy requests.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of ten express service companies in southeast China. The proposed model was empirically tested among 309 customers and further analysed through structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results indicated that expected technical quality, perceived reasonableness and perceived convenience are positively associated with compliance behaviour, whereas the effects of inertia and negative emotional response on compliance behaviour are significantly negative. The findings also demonstrated that negative emotional response partially mediates the impacts of expected technical quality, perceived reasonableness and inertia on compliance behaviour.
Originality/value
This study investigates an under-researched phenomenon, namely, frontline employees’ fuzzy requests in the service context. The underlying mechanism of customers’ compliance behaviours to fuzzy requests is articulated through an integration of three beliefs with emotional response. As an early exploration of employees’ fuzzy requests, this study provides important theoretical and managerial implications.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their precious comments and suggestions for improving the quality of this paper. The work was substantially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 71701002, 71601080), and The Ministry of Education of China, Humanities and Social Sciences Project (Nos 17YJC630068, 16YJC630113).
Citation
Li, X., Zhang, S., Wang, C. and Guo, X. (2018), "Understanding customers’ compliance behaviour to frontline employees’ fuzzy requests", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 235-246. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-03-2016-0122
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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