Article

A Meta-Analysis of Relationships Linking Employee Satisfaction to Customer Responses

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Abstract

The authors report a meta-analysis of relationships linking employee job satisfaction to customer satisfaction and perceived service quality in studies that correlate employee data with customer data. Overall, both relationships are positive and statistically and substantively significant. Moderator analyses show that service industry characteristics (relationship versus encounter, personal versus non-personal) and methodological characteristics (aggregated versus individual level of analysis, concurrent versus predictive survey) moderate these relationships. Estimation of a path analytic model using the aggregated data shows that customer-perceived service quality completely mediates the relationship between employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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... Being able to utilise the application, be a good provider representative, provide reliable and personalised services, and maintain customer satisfaction encourages drivers to pursue environmental mastery, a positive affect schedule, and personal growth (Diener et al., 2009;Dodge et al., 2012;Lent, 2004;Michaelson et al., 2009;Noor et al., 2014;Ryan & Deci, 2001;Watson et al., 1988). This improves drivers' productivity and job satisfaction, leading to good quality of life and improved psychological well-being (Alola et al., 2019;Brown & Lam, 2008;Chan et al., 2010;Kim et al., 2014;Pap et al., 2021;Van Jaarsveld et al., 2010). This led to the following hypotheses. ...
... Drivers' capabilities to utilise resources as essential assets to maintain their reputation and trustworthiness allow them to provide more reliable services and increase customer satisfaction (Adam et al., 2020;Cook, 2015;Justitia et al., 2019;Lai & Chen, 2011;Suhami et al., 2018). Having essential resources, a good reputation, trustworthiness, and satisfied customers leads to autonomy, self-acceptance, and life satisfaction (Dodge et al., 2012;Lent, 2004;Michaelson et al., 2009;Ryan & Deci, 2001), which can improve job satisfaction and create a workelife balance that leads to driver fulfilment and improved psychological well-being (Alola et al., 2019;Brown & Lam, 2008;Chan et al., 2010;Kim et al., 2014;Pap et al., 2021;Van Jaarsveld et al., 2010). Therefore, the following hypotheses were proposed. ...
... Many studies have discussed how employees' job satisfaction positively affects service quality and customer satisfaction (Altinay, Song, Madanoglu, & Wang, 2019;Bulgarella, 2005;Dong, Al Natour, Omeziri, & Turetken, 2023;Kurdi, Alshurideh, & Alnaser, 2020;Rudijav Andalas, 2022;Schmit & Allscheid, 1995;Taris & Schreurs, 2009), but few have analysed the effect of customer satisfaction on employees' job satisfaction or psychological well-being (Alola et al., 2019;Brown & Lam, 2008;Chan et al., 2010;Kim et al., 2014;Pap et al., 2021;Van Jaarsveld et al., 2010). ...
... Several studies have found where the employee satisfaction affects. When employees become satisfied with their jobs and their working environment, they are more likely to be attached to their organizations and less likely to leave there; and more likely to render quality services (in service industry) for their organizations, which these high quality services will bring more customers' satisfaction (Bettencourt & Brown, 1997;Christina & Gursoy, 2009;Steven & Lam, 2008;Yee, et al., 2008;Yee, et al., 2010). A lower level of intention to turn over by employees is rooted on the fact that satisfied employees recognize better benefits when they stay in their respective organizations, and consequently show higher level of loyalty to their organizations (Barrow, 1990;Guimaraes, 1997;Jun, Cai, & Shin, 2006;C. ...
... Based on the above mentioned explanation and on the findings that service quality has been found positively related to customers' satisfaction (Christina & Gursoy, 2009;Heskett, et al., 1994;Heskett, et al., 1997;Steven & Lam, 2008;Yee, et al., 2010); the second proposition of this study is hypothesized as follow: ...
... Several other studies have found the positive and significant relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and firms' profitability (Bernhardt, Donthu, & Kennett, 2000;Bettencourt & Brown, 1997;Christina & Gursoy, 2009;Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002;Koys, 2003;Steven & Lam, 2008;Tornow & Wiley, 1991;Wangenheim, Evanschitzky, & Wunderlich, 2007a;Yee, et al., 2008). ...
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How human resources can effect on the organization's operation have not been fully addressed so far. In operation management (OM) literature the significance of employees' attitudes in organizations such as satisfaction, loyalty, and commitment and how these attitudes could affect the organizations' performance, has not been explored in-depth
... According to Brown & Lam (2008), employee-customer connections are strongly and positively correlated with job satisfaction. Pugh (2001) and Tsai & Huang (2001) reported that satisfied employees can also affect customer's satisfaction. ...
... They also advised studying the conditions necessary to create this employee-customer positive effect and the vice versa effect of the customer on employees. Brown & Lam (2008) suggested that self-determination theory must be investigated with different types of control. They advised that as SDT is the theory that is focused on the motivation of individuals (Ryan & Deci, 2000), it will be helpful to examine the motivational tools, which can guide employee' attitudes and work performance when used with different types of control. ...
... Studies, based on this motivational theory claim that fulfilling these needs promote positive workplace attitudes among organizational employees. Brown & Lam (2008), proposed that self-determination theory (SDT) must be studied with different forms of control. How and when customer control affects employee attitudes is still an open subject. ...
Thesis
The aim of this research is to define, explain and study the influence of customer control that is the result of technological development. Technological evolution has transformed the past business practices and changed the role of customer from passive to active. This role change has the direct influence on employees. Customer being part of a business is studied in various forms such as a co-creator, co-producer, participator, enabler, coordinator, innovator and differentiator. This study is extending the role of customer to the controller. Customer control can improve social needs among employees but can also cause powerlessness, and role ambiguity. To keep employees aligned with organizational objectives, Management Control Systems (MCS) are adapted. In past, MCSs were mostly focused on the internal environment, yet the external environment such as market and customer has proved its importance. This study defined customer control as the authority given to the customer to evaluate employees. It will help to recognize the impact of customer control on employees’ behaviours such as affective commitment, job involvement and alienation. Another purpose of this research is to observe moderating effect of organizational and supervisory support. Furthermore, to investigate the impact of self-determination theory by studying its mediating role between customer control and employee behaviours. This study is conducted in two countries, Pakistan and France. The data for both studies is collected through questionnaires and analysed by using SPSS and AMOS.
... The social aspect of shopping is an important part of determining how satisfied consumers are with their experiences in the store (Twing-Kwong, Gerald Albaum, and Fullgrabe 2013). Specifically, the personalized interactions with front-line sales staff and store personnel create feelings within the consumer about the retail establishment (Lloyd and Luk 2011;Machleit and Powell Mantel 2001) and drive perceptions about the image of the store (Brown and Lam 2008;Butcher, Sparks, and O'callaghan 2001;Reynolds and Beatty 1999). Turley and Ronald (2000) found that stores with extra personal, high quality, customer interactions were more likely be perceived as having a better service and a more 'prestige-image. ...
... The importance of human-based store attributes seems particularly important in creating and maintaining positive perceptions of the retailer (Twing-Kwong, Gerald Albaum, and Fullgrabe 2013). There has been a number of studies linking general salesperson behaviors with perceptions of retail establishments (Brown and Lam 2008). Tripathi (2009) in his study of medical store customers, found that behaviors of the shopkeeper (i.e. ...
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Online sellers continue to grow at the expense of traditional brick and mortar retailers. For traditional retailers to remain competitive in this modern consumer age, it is essential to identify the dynamics of effective customer interaction, to foster positive perceptions of the store. Specifically, in this cross-category study of almost one thousand retail consumers in Japan, the findings show that the behavior of sales personnel affects perceptions of altruism, trust, and expertise. Both directly and indirectly, these customer perceptions significantly impact store image. The existence of a traditional business philosophy of Omotenashi, makes Japan a good place to observe and study altruism in retail customer-sales personnel relationships.
... Roy, Gruner, and Guo (2022) note that positive customer experiences with service employees are important in developing strong relationships. Specifically, the exchanges that occur between sales personnel and customers help to establish overall perceptions of the retail establishment (Brown andLam 2008, Butcher, Sparks, andCallaghan 2001;Lloyd and Luk 2011;Machleit and Mantel 2001;Reynolds and Beatty 1999). One study found that stores with high quality customer interactions were more likely be viewed as prestigious (Turley and Milliman 2000). ...
... Furthermore, new causal processes can emerge as one moves from individual to aggregate levels of analysis. Thus, relationships between variables can and often do differ across different levels of analysis (Ostroff, 1993) and marketing is no exception to this rule (c.f., Brown and Lam, 2008). The drivers and predictors of individual differences in brand preference and choice can have different effects and relationships when those independent and dependent variables are aggregated to the brand level of analysis. ...
Article
Marketing involves a competition between brands, yet very little hospitality marketing research uses brands as the unit-of-analysis. The current paper fills this need by examining the relationships among hotel brands' quality/price tier, number of hotels, building size (average number of rooms per hotel), average customer satisfaction ratings, popularity, fame, penetration, average purchase frequency, and annual room revenue. The results indicated that hotel brand popularity and total sales volume were greater among brands in the middle quality-price tier and those with more and larger hotels. After controlling for quality/price tier, greater customer-satisfaction ratings were positively related to brands' sales per room, but not to brand popularity or total sales volume. These findings suggest that marketing success is primarily a function of brands' mental and physical availabilities and that unusually high or low experience quality given a brand's quality/price tier is attributed to, and benefits, the property rather than the brand.
... For example, Evanschitzky et al. (2011) reported that increased staff satisfaction positively affects customer satisfaction. This correlation between employee and customer satisfaction is further supported by Brown and Lam (2008), who demonstrated that there is a strong and direct relationship between these two factors. When employees are content in their roles, they are more likely to engage with customers in a positive and helpful manner, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience. ...
Article
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This study examines the relationships between customer service quality, employee job satisfaction, job performance, and user satisfaction in the banking industry, with a focus on Maybank. The objective is to determine how employee satisfaction and performance impact user satisfaction and customer service experience. A survey was conducted among 200 Malaysian banking customers, and responses were analyzed using regression analysis to test six hypotheses. The results confirm that customer service experience, employee job satisfaction, and job performance all significantly influence user satisfaction. Specifically, customer service experience (β = 0.291, p < 0.01) and employee job satisfaction (β = 0.322, p < 0.001) show strong positive effects on user satisfaction, while employee job performance (β = 0.200, p < 0.05) also contributes positively. Additionally, employee job satisfaction significantly enhances both job performance (β = 0.732, p < 0.01) and customer service experience (β = 0.340, p < 0.01). Employee performance is a key factor in delivering superior customer experiences (β = 0.534, p < 0.001). The study concludes that improving employee satisfaction is crucial for boosting job performance and customer service, which in turn elevates user satisfaction
... As a novel motivational concept, FLE inspiration contributes to service research by providing an additional underlying psychological mechanism that explains how FLEs respond to new and captivating stimuli in their surroundings (Mitchell, 1982;Neumüller, 2022). This finding is important, as previous studies have primarily concentrated on the emotional and motivational experiences of FLEs at work, such as their positive feelings and emotions (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006), engagement (Menguc et al., 2013), behavior (Coelho & Augusto, 2010), and satisfaction (Brown & Lam, 2008), without clarifying FLEs' perceptions of new environmental cues, their openness to new opportunities, and the ways they draw inspiration from them (Neumüller, 2022). ...
Thesis
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Delivering excellent service offerings is critical to physical retailers’ long-term success. In this context, frontline employees (FLEs) have become the key players in creating value for customers and represent a key opportunity, particularly for service-focused retailers, to strengthen the future of physical retail. Facing changing consumer behaviors due to the aftermath of COVID-19 and increasingly fierce competition from established offline and new online competitors, physical retailers struggle to stay competitive without cutting payroll expenses for FLEs. In response to this dilemma, scholars recognized the importance of FLEs customizing their services to customer needs to enhance service interactions at the physical point of sale (POS) in so-called adaptive service offerings. Understanding the factors that affect adaptive service offerings, specifically in retail, is important because physical retail is heavily disrupted by the progressive shift from product to customer experience. As a result, retailers must educate FLEs on why and how to adapt service offerings and provide the right work settings. Consequently, physical retailers need to reengage with their customers by positioning themselves as providers of inspiring shopping experiences to increase their share of wallets, cross-selling, and profitability. FLEs are one important source of such inspiring shopping experiences. This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of how retailers can promote FLE inspiration by extending Wilder et al.’s (2014) study and testing a more comprehensive framework of adaptive service offerings that considers psychological mechanisms, namely FLE inspiration. My findings can help physical retailers train their FLEs more effectively. Building on the qualitative data from 293 FLEs in the DACH region (Study 1), two online survey studies were conducted, in the UK (Study 2) with 248 FLEs, and with 525 FLEs from the German-speaking DACH area (Study 3) to test this new model. The findings showed that FLE inspiration significantly mediates the effect of retailers’ perceived service climate and FLEs’ structural empowerment on three FLE variables, namely empathy, anticipation, and creativity. These three FLE-level variables precede adaptive service offerings. Most importantly, the combined findings of the three studies provide strong support for FLE inspiration mediating the relationship between FLEs’ immediate work environment and their attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. These findings offer managers practical insights into how they can inspire their FLEs and improve service offering adaptation.
... It manifests rather as a product of a transient, positive interaction between employees and customers. In such interactions, customers may exhibit favorable emotions toward the employee, but these emotions are not necessarily rooted in a long-term relationship [19][20][21]. ...
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Smooth and effective interactions between customers and customer-contact employees are important for building seamless service delivery. The present study examined the influence of customer courtesy on customer-contact employees’ prosocial service behavior. Additionally, the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem and the moderating role of focus of attention at work are investigated. Data were collected from 401 customer-contact employees from the South Korean hospitality industry. The results demonstrated that customer courtesy positively influenced prosocial service behavior, and organization-based self-esteem mediated this relationship. Furthermore, employees’ focus of attention at work moderated the relationship between customer courtesy and organization-based self-esteem, such that the relationship was stronger for employees with a high focus of attention. Similarly, the focus of attention also moderated the relationship between organization-based self-esteem and prosocial service behavior. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications by demonstrating the role of external resources to promote prosocial service behavior.
... Various studies indicate that the organizations' services based on TQM positively affect job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Studies by Brown and Lam (2008) and Akdere (2009) have shown that customers are satisfied with the service provided by an organization when service quality is prioritized. Additionally, studies linked to human resource management, which gradually improve the quality of management, are excellent (Schroeder et al., 2005). ...
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Purpose-Due to the dynamic nature of schools, the Department of Education currently faces significant issues including low teaching quality, teacher shortages, absenteeism, poor school climate, lack of well-trained and motivated instructors, and instability. Total Quality Management (TQM) is often linked to the school environment, teacher satisfaction, and performance, playing a crucial role in improving the quality of education. This paper aims to identify how teacher job satisfaction and school climate influence the relationship between TQM and school performance. Methodology-A total of 346 teachers from Pakistan's high-performance schools and low-performance schools, with diverse positions and wage scales, were chosen as participants in this study using stratified random sampling. Data was collected quantitatively using a survey inquiry and SPSS version 24 was utilized to analyze the data and answers the study questions. The mediation procedure was evaluated using the Sobel test. Findings-Findings showed that the TQM variable has the highest mean value (mean=4.87) compared to the other variables tested, namely job satisfaction, school performance and school climate. According to the study's findings, TQM, job satisfaction, and school climate all have a favourable and significant direct influence on school performance. Additionally, school climate and job satisfaction variables were found to be partial mediators linking TQM and school performance. Significance-This study significantly enhances school quality management through a positive environment and capable human resources. The findings are also anticipated to encourage the Pakistan government to establish organizational management and educational leadership training courses to emphasise the significance of TQM and its most efficient use in the education sector.
... Our results indicate that gratitude interventions can improve employee well-being, job satisfaction, engagement and, to a lesser degree, psychological capital. Previous research has found links between employee well-being and service quality [68] and customer satisfaction [69], job satisfaction and customer satisfaction [70][71][72], engagement and customer loyalty [73] and customer satisfaction [74], positive psychological capital and customer orientation [75], and service quality and customer satisfaction [76]. Consequently, we have good reason to believe that gratitude interventions have a positive impact on customer satisfaction, but a direct link remains to be shown. ...
Article
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Background: In a demanding working life, it is important to determine how individuals can thrive at work. In a previous study we investigated whether a program of gratitude interventions can increase psychological wellbeing, engagement, job satisfaction, and psychological capital showing promising results. The objective: of the present study was to present the development of a manager coached group intervention program related to gratitude at workplaces and to investigate the effects of such a program on the same variables. Methods: The intervention included five group sessions of gratitude dialogue between employees, supervised by their first line managers. Participants were assigned to an intervention or control group. Assessments were made before and after the intervention program and followed-up at 6 months post-intervention. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed. Both groups completed instruments measuring positive psychological capital (PCQ), work engagement (UWES), psychological wellbeing (PGWB-S), and job satisfaction (aJDI). All managers were interviewed after the intervention. Result: Compared with the control group the gratitude dialogue intervention was found to significantly enhance psychological wellbeing, engagement, and job satisfaction. The results were supported by the interviews with managers. In conclusion: our results suggest that gratitude dialogues at work may be an effective way of improving employee wellbeing. Suggestions on how to improve the results from this kind of gratitude intervention further are presented.
... A rewards and recognition system enable leaders to be aware of the quality-improvement efforts of employees and provide rewards accordingly. Thus, in line with Brown and Lam (2008), who maintain that a benefits system that is aligned to quality and customer satisfaction facilitates organizational quality initiatives, developing a rewards system may facilitate the application of quality-improvement tools. Specifically, a rewards system should be connected to quality performance because of its effective role in motivating and enhancing employee commitment to quality-improvement tools (Das et al., 2000). ...
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This study aims to present a conceptual framework that brings together reward and recognition, and customer focus (organizational factors), which can help organizations achieve a competitive advantage (CA) through applying Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in healthcare. A critical review of the models of reward and recognition, and customer focus, LSS, and CA measures was performed to create the conceptual framework. A synthesis of the existing literature provides the basis for the development of the conceptual framework of the LSS measures. The independent variables are reward and recognition, and customer focus. The mediator variable in this framework is LSS, and CA is employed as the dependent variable. The framework offers a systematic method of evaluating the determinants of LSS in healthcare. Accordingly, the newly developed conceptual framework identifies and describes the direct associations between organizational factors and CA in the healthcare (HC) sector and the indirect associations through LSS. This study is important for professionals working in HC seeking to achieve CA in hospitals. Additionally, this study is valuable to researchers and academics working in the LSS field as it explores the importance of LSS implementation in hospitals. In addition, limited studies have been conducted to explore the status of LSS implementation in HC and this study is expected to provide theoretical contributions to the LSS approach in healthcare.
... Studies have demonstrated the application of FER to detect student engagement and emotional states during learning activities [16]. The article [7] utilized FER to identify patterns of confusion and concentration in learners, suggesting that such data can predict academic performance. Further, the cross-cultural applicability of these systems has been explored, considering the variance in facial expression interpretation across different ethnic backgrounds [18]. ...
Article
In the advent of e-learning, understanding student engagement and reaction is crucial for improving the quality of education and enhancing the learning rate. With the advancement of computer vision technologies, there is a significant opportunity to analyze and interpret student reactions in a non-intrusive manner. This study proposes a novel framework employing Faster R-CNN integrated with DenseNet architecture for real-time detection of student facial reactions during e-learning sessions. The proposed method leverages the strengths of Faster R-CNN in generating high-quality region proposals for object detection tasks, coupled with the DenseNet’s efficiency in feature propagation and reduction in the number of parameters, which is well-suited for processing the intricate patterns in facial expressions. Our approach begins with the application of Faster R-CNN to extract potential facial regions with high accuracy and reduced computational cost. The integration of DenseNet as a backbone for feature extraction within Faster R-CNN capitalizes on its densely connected convolutional networks, ensuring maximum information flow between layers in the network. By doing so, the system becomes exceptionally adept at recognizing subtle changes in facial features that indicate various student reactions, such as confusion, engagement, or boredom. We conducted a series of experiments using a diverse dataset of e-learning interactions, collected under various lighting conditions and involving multiple ethnicities to ensure robustness and generalizability. The model was trained and validated on this dataset, and the results demonstrate a significant improvement in detection rates of student reactions compared to existing methods.
... Several academics concur that organizations that are cognizant of diversity provide results that are more valuable. Organizations that prioritize diversity will benefit from cost savings in attrition and increased sales far more than organizations that do not (Brown & Lam, 2018) [7] . Organizations that see diversity as a fundamental component of their strategy rather than a cost of doing business will reap significantly greater rewards than those who do not. ...
Article
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This paper sought to examine the connection between workforce diversity and worker performance in Abuja's healthcare institutions. The workforce is diverse in terms of gender, age, education, and ethnicity. A series of standardized questionnaire were employed in order to conduct the study. 82.5% of the returned questionnaire from four Abuja healthcare facilities were utilized for the study. There was usage of a multi-regression model. The study's findings revealed a strong correlation between gender diversity and employee effectiveness. It suggests that the majority of employees agreed that the company should not discriminate when employing people of different gender. The findings, however, indicated that both education and racial diversity have no effect on employees' performance. Therefore, businesses need to focus more on diversity management in order to improve employee performance, which finally aids in the accomplishment of organizational objectives.
... There are many indications that happiness at collective level within a work unit is related to the positive and negative unit level outcomes. A systematic review proved that unit level satisfaction anticipates customer satisfaction and impression of service quality (Brown and Lam 2008). A systematic analysis finding correlation between business unit involvement and unit outcomes revealed that employee engagement at unit level on an average was substantially associated with higher returns, productivity, and customer satisfaction (Harter et al.2002). ...
... A reoccurring theme among many of these studies has been the precursors of job satisfaction and the implications of satisfaction/dissatisfaction on performance outcomes, both at the individual and at the organizational levels (Millán, Hessels, Thurik & Aguado, 2013). More specifically, past studies have shown a positive association between job satisfaction and employee performance, commitment and retention (Sousa-Poza & Sousa-Poza, 2000;Deery & Jago, 2015), productivity and effectiveness (Koys, 2001;Latif et al., 2013), profitability (Latif et al., 2013), competitiveness (Millán et al., 2013;Mahmood et al., 2019), service quality (Malhotra & Mukherjee, 2004), and customer satisfaction (Yoon, Beatty & Suh, 2001;Gazzoli, Hancer &Park, 2010, Brown andLam, 2008). Meanwhile, absenteeism and increased turnover, amid other problems, may emerge where job satisfaction is low (Clark, 2001;Mahdi et al., 2012). ...
Conference Paper
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Job satisfaction among paid employees has been found to correlate positively with employee commitment and retention and, subsequently, organizational productivity and effectiveness. From a human development perspective, work satisfaction is also crucial to happiness and overall wellbeing. Within a broader overarching study of Quality of Life (QoL), the authors did an evaluation of work satisfaction as experienced by both entrepreneurs and paid employees in Trinidad and Tobago. By contrasting the experiences of individuals engaged in these types of employment, we uncovered some insightful workplace trends and gained a deeper understanding of the needs of paid employees. Several scales were developed, using an inductive approach, to capture determinants of current QoL, factors which influenced choice of work, current work challenges, and future concerns for the individuals sampled. Information from some of these scales was incorporated, via a series of statistically validated steps, into a multivariate index which could be used to measure QoL, not just among the general population of Trinidad and Tobago but, arguably, worldwide. One of the key scales used to develop the index is a 22-item 'Job/Activity Satisfaction' measure, which captured information from 415 respondents engaged in the different types of employment, along four (4) key dimensions: 'Respect and Recognition,' 'Job/Market Stability,' 'Workload and Stress,' and 'Self-Efficacy.' This paper summarizes some of the salient results from the scale and from its corresponding index. Our findings revealed that both entrepreneurs and wage earners in Trinidad and Tobago were far more satisfied with those aspects of work over which they had sovereignty than with those controlled by their employers (for paid workers) or by market conditions (for entrepreneurs). Those areas of low satisfaction in the work environment could be targeted for improvement by employers seeking to improve labour conditions. Differences in satisfaction levels between entrepreneurs and paid employees were observed in several areas. Entrepreneurs reported greater levels of work satisfaction overall than did paid employees. Further, while only 30% of entrepreneurs signalled their intent to transition from entrepreneurship to alternative employment (full-time or part-time paid employment), a disproportionately large percentage of paid employees (76%) aspired to full-time or part-time entrepreneurship. Some of this may be due to a willingness to trade the stability of a guaranteed pay check for autonomy and versatility, two qualities which, although almost synonymous with self-employment, could be introduced by creative employers into the work environment. Sex, age and ethnicity were also found to be significant main predictors of work satisfaction. The combined (interactive) effects of sex, ethnicity, and employment type on satisfaction also proved interesting, highlighting where there are gaps between self-and wage-employed workers for men and for women of different ethnicities. These outcomes suggest a need for more robust, evidence-based industrial relations policies and possible areas for focussed attention by employers in Trinidad and Tobago which can help to improve employee satisfaction and, ultimately, organizational performance.
... Businesses that put diversity first will get considerably greater cost savings from reduced attrition and higher sales than those that do not (Brown & Lam, 2008). Businesses that view diversity as an essential part of their strategy, as opposed to an expense of doing business, will benefit from it considerably more than those that do not. ...
Article
Background: In today’s highly competitive governance, diversity has become one of the most critical executive issues, as the local governments have increasingly become diverse concerning their workforce. Diversity emerges in a local government when its members differ from one another. The concept of diversity includes recognizing, accepting, and respecting each difference and understanding that each is unique. Objectives: The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between employee performance and workforce diversity in the local government of Kanchanpur district. Methods: The study adopted a descriptive research design. Purposive and cluster sampling techniques were used, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from 400 employees of different municipalities of Kanchanpur district. To analyze data correlation matrices, ANOVA tables, and coefficient tables as outputs of regression. Results: The employees in the local governments are becoming more diverse because of the political reforms, the global practice of local government, competitiveness and change in customer preferences, and inclusive participation in the constitution. With the drastic change in politics, the formation of the progressive constitution of Nepal increasing reforms in the last two decades and changing demographics of the labour market local government has become a place for diversity inclusion. Conclusion: The result revealed that ethnicity diversity, educational diversity, and work performance diversity have positive impacts on employees’ performance. Further, physical disability has a negative impact on employees’ performance. This study highlights how workforce diversity affects employees’ performance in the local governments of Kanchanpur district. These results can be used to build strategies to improve the implementation of employee diversity in existing local governments.
... Service design comprises the physical environment, service delivery process and interaction with staff and other customers (Zomerdijk and Voss, 2010). Academicians have redirected their attention to how service personnel interact with customers and shape in-store purchases (Brown and Lam, 2008). Customers experience higher levels of satisfaction with their in-store shopping when they assist each other during the shopping journey. ...
Article
Purpose This research aims to conceptualize and validate the mall service design as a multidimensional construct and then test a conceptual framework by investigating the impact of mall service design on customer mall experience and its subsequent outcomes, that is, intention to revisit and desire to stay in mega shopping malls. Design/methodology/approach The survey data of 455 shopping visitors in Pakistan were collected using a mall intercept technique and tested through structural equation modeling in AMOS. Findings The study reveals that service design significantly impacts customer experience and subsequent outcomes. Customer mall experience mediates the relationships between mall service design and the intention to revisit and desire to stay at malls. Research limitations/implications Data from a collectivist culture country (Pakistan) were collected. To explore the impact of service design on customer mall experience, researchers should conduct similar studies in individualistic societies like Europe and North America. Additionally, the authors recommend assessing the effect of each dimension of service design on customer experience separately. Practical implications The research provides policy guidelines for the owners and operators of mega shopping malls in developing experience-oriented retailing strategies based on service design. Originality/value The research conceptualizes and validates the mall service design as a multidimensional construct using the service theater model and empirically tests its relationship with the customer mall experience.
... According to Berman and Evan (2007), Brown, and Lam, (2008) an interior display provides all information to the customers that can give an additional value for the store atmosphere and it also provides a very important promotion role in a store. The interior displays consist of assortment displays, theme-setting displays, ensemble displays, rack and cases, cut cases, poster signs and cards. ...
... We also validated the initial moderator results by regressing the effect sizes on RA types and including control variables, for only those RA types that were significant in subgroup analysis. Similar to other meta-analyses, we included moderators if at least two observations per side of the moderator have been reported ( Brown and Lam 2008 ;Maity, Dass and Malhotra 2014 ;Roschk, Loureiro and Breitsohl 2017 ). Several RAs enhance the effect of perceived recommendation quality on outcomes and the effects of the two mediators on future use intentions. ...
... Several meta-studies demonstrate the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance, including outputs and outcomes (Judge et al. 2001;Katebi et al. 2021). Also, studies show a positive relationship between job satisfaction on one hand and productivity and profits on the other (Brown and Lam 2008;Harter et al. 2002). As such, the design of individual and group tasks and work processes ought to reflect the importance of meaningful work for employees, teams, and the organization. ...
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The concepts of love and business do not seem to match very well, despite attempts to operationalize love as agape or neighborly love. In line with the emerging literature, this contribution uses a profane and analytical approach to agape as an ‘Agenda for Growth and Affirmation of People and the Environment’. Within this agenda we define agape as ‘the commitment to the well-being and flourishing of others’ and operationalized it to measure the concept in a substantial sample of 420 medium-sized and large companies in The Netherlands. At the core of the research lies the question whether and to what extent companies, represented by senior managers and members of the works council, are committed to the well-being of their employees. This article analyses the concept of agape and its application in a business context and presents the results of a survey. The results show that, on average, respondents report that their organization is committed to employees’ well-being in line with the organization’s values. Though not the aim of agape, since organizations that apply the concept reap tangible business benefits from it, the concept becomes suitable to a wider range of businesses.
... Investigações realizadas por um processo de meta-análise estabeleceram uma relação entre a satisfação dos trabalhadores no trabalho e a qualidade dos serviços prestados aos clientes (Brown & Lam 2008;Whitman et al., 2010). Landy e Conte (2013: 157) também enfatizam o conceito de desempenho sobre comportamentos relevantes para os objetivos do trabalho "desempenho no trabalho são ações ou comportamentos relevantes para os objetivos da organização medidos em termos de proficiência de cada indivíduo". ...
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... According to Kotel et al. (2015), a salesperson refers to "An individual whorepresents a company to customers by performing one or more of the following activities: prospecting, communicating, selling, servicing, information gathering, and relationship building" (P-481). They play a pivotal role in sometimes establishing rapport with consumers.Research indicates that the interaction between salespersons and customer help create value(Brown and Lam, 2008), leading to a loyal and satisfied customer base(Streukens and Andreassen, 2013;Yi and Gong, 2008). This interaction is so ...
... Empirical evidence, however, is mixed. In a meta-analysis using dyadic data, Brown and Lam (2008) find that this correlation is quite low, only 0.20. Recent theorization puts forth a social identification-based chain as an alternative to the traditional satisfaction-based chain. ...
... In the retail sector, in particular the supermarkets, often one of the ways to stand out from the competition is through customer service and services. In other words, as well as developing an own good relationship between the retailer and its consumer this aspect is fundamental to differentiate an organization from its competitors (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990, Brown & Lam, 2008, Dunne, Lusch, & Carver, 2011. ...
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Purpose The purpose is to investigate, the difference between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF's predictive validity of service quality. Design/methodology/approach Data from 17 studies containing 42 effect sizes of the relationships between SERVQUAL or SERVPERF with overall service quality (OSQ) are meta‐analyzed. Findings Overall, SERVQUAL and SERVPERF are equally valid predictors of OSQ. Adapting the SERVQUAL scale to the measurement context improves its predictive validity; conversely, the predictive validity of SERVPERF is not improved by context adjustments. In addition, measures of services quality gain predictive validity when used in: less individualistic cultures, non‐English speaking countries, and industries with an intermediate level of customization (hotels, rental cars, or banks). Research limitations/implications No study, that were using non‐adapted scales were conducted outside of the USA making it impossible to disentangle the impact of scale adaptation vs contextual differences on the moderating effect of language and culture. More comparative studies on the usage of adapted vs non‐adapted scales outside the USA are needed before settling this issue meta‐analytically. Practical implications SERVQUAL scales require to be adapted to the study context more so than SERVPERF. Owing to their equivalent predictive validity the choice between SERVQUAL or SERVPERF should be dictated by diagnostic purpose (SERVQUAL) vs a shorter instrument (SERVPERF). Originality/value Because of the high statistical power of meta‐analysis, these findings could be considered as a major step toward ending the debate whether SERVPERF is superior to SERVQUAL as an indicator of OSQ.
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