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Enhancing customer civility: Integrating civility climate behaviors and self-service technology
Abstract
This study draws on social exchange theory and the technology acceptance model to examine how civility climate behaviors and self-service technology influence customer civility. Utilizing multilevel modeling with data from 379 employees and 304 customers over three time lags, the research identifies that civility climate behaviors significantly enhance customer civility. The findings reveal that a civility climate toward customers fully mediates this relationship, and self-service technology strongly moderates it, strengthening the positive effects. The study contributes by shifting focus from employee responses to proactive customer engagement strategies. It provides empirical support for the impact of consistent service delivery, solving problems, personalized interactions, and going the extra mile on customer civility. These insights highlight the importance of balancing technological investments with customized service to optimize customer outcomes. Service managers should train staff to deliver on promises, solve problems promptly, and use user-friendly self-service technologies to foster a positive civility climate. This approach enhances customer experiences, supports a respectful service environment, and contributes to employee well-being and organizational performance.
... To address this gap, fostering a civility climate, an environment that delivers on promises, solves problems, personalizes services, and exceeds expectations, emerges as a vital approach (Johnston, 2004). A strong civility climate encourages courteous customer behavior, reciprocating positive employee-customer interactions (Umar et al., 2024). However, most research has focused on developed countries, leaving a significant gap in understanding hospitality-specific civility climates in developing regions like Pakistan, where unique sociocultural dynamics and a rapidly growing tourism sector present distinct challenges (Hussain et al., 2024). ...
... This study seeks to fill these gaps through two key questions: (1) How can a civility climate establish customer civility and enhance employee performance in Pakistan's hospitality industry? Customer civility refers to customers' courteous, respectful, and considerate behavior toward service employees (Umar et al., 2024). (2) How does job coaching, as a developmental tool, moderate the relationship between customer civility and employee performance? ...
... Personalized services tailor interactions cater to customer preferences, strengthening emotional connections and prompting positive behaviors (Umar et al., 2024). For instance, a personalized note or complimentary service can enhance the customer experience. ...
Purpose
The global prevalence of customer incivility complexity negatively affects employee performance, which demands establishing an effective civility climate. Drawing on social exchange theory based on its nature of reciprocations, this study advances the knowledge by investigating how customer civility, shaped by civility climate, improves employee performance and how job coaching strengthens the relationship between customer civility and employee performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic random sampling was employed within the Pakistan hospitality industry and approached 379 employees, 69 supervisors and 304 customers. A multilevel modeling technique was used to analyze the association between variables.
Findings
The findings reveal that a proactive civility climate significantly enhances customer civility, which boosts employee performance. Customer civility significantly mediates the relationship between civility climate and employee performance. While job coaching generally affects employee performance, its interaction with customer civility diminishes it in a scenario with high customer civility.
Originality/value
This study’s contribution lies in its proactive approach to mitigating customer incivility by fostering a positive civility climate rather than relying on reactive strategies. It highlights the reciprocal cycle of social exchanges in the workplace. It uniquely examines the mediating role of customer civility and the moderating effect of job coaching on the relationship between civility climate and employee performance.
... Civility training for employees may be helpful because both positive and negative reciprocity between the two parties of the interaction depend on the quality of social relationships [69]. By equipping employees with the skills and resources to effectively manage workplace incivility, organizations can mitigate its negative impact on employee well-being and job performance [46; 67]. ...
p style="text-align: justify;"> Objective. This study examines the impact of workplace incivility from coworkers and supervisors on employees' affective job insecurity in Vietnam and explores the moderating role of collectivist value orientation.
Background. While workplace incivility negatively affects employees' psychological well-being and job security, most research has focused on Western contexts. This study addresses the gap by investigating these dynamics in Vietnam, where collectivist values and high power distance are prevalent.
Study Design. The study employs a cross-sectional design with survey data collected from employees in various Vietnamese organizations. The relationships are analyzed using hierarchical regression.
Participants. The study sample consists of 359 employees from diverse industries in Vietnam.
Measurements. Workplace incivility was measured using the Workplace Incivility Scale, affective job insecurity through a seven-item scale, and collectivist value orientation using a six-item scale.
Results. Both coworker and supervisor incivility significantly increase affective job insecurity, with supervisor incivility having a stronger effect. Collectivist value orientation moderates the relationship between coworker incivility and job insecurity but not supervisor incivility.
Conclusions. The study highlights the stronger impact of supervisor incivility on job insecurity and the role of cultural values in shaping responses to incivility, suggesting that HR practices should align with collectivist values in Vietnamese organizations.</p
The dark side of customer behavior has been receiving increasing attention in the business and management literature in recent years. Scholars have used various terminologies to study those customer behaviors that disrupt service delivery, affect organizational performance, and impact on employees' well-being. In this study, through a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of 246 academic articles, we identify three clusters within the dark side of customer behavior literature: (1) customer dysfunctional behavior; (2) customer revenge and rage as forms of customer misbehavior; and (3) customer mistreatment and incivility-related clusters. Based on these three identified clusters of the literature, we propose an integrative framework of customer incivility as customer incivility is the current centerpiece of the literature on the dark side of customer behavior. In doing so, we identify various research gaps and suggest effective avenues for future works in this research stream.
Many constructs in management studies, such as perceptions, personalities, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, are not directly observable. Typically, empirical studies measure such constructs using established scales with multiple indicators. When the scales are used in a different population, the items are translated into other languages or revised to adapt to other populations, it is essential for researchers to report the quality of measurement scales before using them to test hypotheses. Researchers commonly report the quality of these measurement scales based on Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis results. However, these results are usually inadequate and sometimes inappropriate. Moreover, researchers rarely consider sampling errors for these psychometric quality measures. In this best practice paper, we first critically review the most frequently-used approaches in empirical studies to evaluate the quality of measurement scales when using structural equation modeling. Next, we recommend best practices in assessing reliability, convergent and discriminant validity based on multiple criteria and taking sampling errors into consideration. Then, we illustrate with numerical examples the application of a specifically-developed R package, measureQ, that provides a one-stop solution for implementing the recommended best practices and a template for reporting the results. measureQ is easy to implement, even for those new to R. Our overall aim is to provide a best-practice reference for future authors, reviewers, and editors in reporting and reviewing the quality of measurement scales in empirical management studies.
Extra-role service is currently the keystone that supports hotels' ability to compete. At the same time, extra-role service depends on the discretionary behavior of some employees who perform their duties in a context of stress. Our study investigates the effect of a stressor such as performance pressure on extra-role service, using employee engagement as a mediator and mindfulness level as a moderating variable. Through structural equation modeling, we analyze data from 300 frontline hospitality employees. The results show a negative effect of increases in performance pressure on employees extra-role service behavior through their engagement. We therefore suggest that performance pressure can turn into a threatening stressor in hospitality work environment. We also confirm that the employee's mindfulness level moderates this relationship, compensating for nearly the entire negative effect of this specific stressor on employee engagement. Managers will find key insights that help them to stimulate high-quality service in hospitality organizations.
The customer incivility literature has primarily focused on emotional exhaustion and burnout as emotion-focused mediators that channel the effect of customer incivility. Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the current research proposes a new problem-solving-focused mediator, namely, conflict-solving behavior. The authors test the mediating role of conflict-solving behavior between customer incivility and customer service performance while controlling for emotional exhaustion and employee incivility as parallel mediation mechanisms. The results from three studies provide strong support for a negative relationship between customer incivility and conflict-solving behavior and for conflict-solving behavior as a full mediator between customer incivility and customer service performance. Furthermore, the negative effect of customer incivility on conflict-solving behavior is mitigated when customer service employees are promotion-focused and as investment in customer relationship building increases. The findings extend the scope and generalizability of customer incivility research from the business-to-customer to the business-to-business context. Managerial implications for employee training and hiring as well as the importance of cultivating customer relationships as a buffer to dampen the effect of customer incivility are discussed. 摘要 客户不文明行为的相关文献主要将情绪相关变量作为解释客户不文明行为的影响的中间变量，例如情绪衰竭和过度疲劳。本文借鉴资源保存理论（COR），提出了一种新的以问题为中心的中间变量，即冲突解决行为。作者测试了冲突解决作为影响在客户不文明和客户服务绩效之间的中间变量作用，同时控制了情绪衰竭和员工不文明作为平行中间变量。三项研究结果均有力地支持了客户不文明行为与冲突解决行为之间的负向关系，同时表明了冲突解决行为是客户不文明行为与客户服务绩效之间的完全中间变量。另外，当客户服务员工是专注促销的时候，以及对建立客户关系的投资增加的时候，客户不文明行为对于冲突解决的负面影响将会得到减少。研究结果将客户不文明行为研究的范围和普适性从企业对消费者（B2C）扩展到企业对企业（B2B）的商业环境。本研究在对管理者的启示部分也讨论了员工培训和招聘以及培养客户关系的重要性作为抑制客户不文明影响的缓冲作用。
In marketing, personalization is the action of designing and producing in ways that resonate with customer preferences. Content and products that are personalized according to customer preferences can reduce customer fatigue and time in making choices, thereby decreasing their cognitive load. Despite its importance, the literature on personalized marketing remains fragmented due to the absence of a comprehensive review that consolidates the intellectual structure of the field. This study bridges this knowledge gap through a bibliometric review using performance analysis and science mapping. Through a comprehensive review of 383 publications, this study reveals the publication and citation trends, the most prolific authors, journals, and publications, and six major themes (i.e., personalized recommendation, personalized relationship, personalization–privacy paradox, personalized advertising, personalization concept and discourse in marketing, and customer insights in personalized marketing) that characterize the body of knowledge on personalized marketing. The study concludes with future research directions as ways forward for personalized marketing, wherein a focus on new-age technologies involving artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, internet of things, and wearables is encouraged to explore for new ways to curate personalized experiences across online and offline channels.
Multilevel methods allow researchers to investigate relationships that expand across levels (e.g., individuals, teams, and organizations). The popularity of these methods for studying organizational phenomena has increased in recent decades. Methodologists have examined how these methods work under different conditions, providing an empirical base for making sound decisions when using these methods. In this article, we provide recommendations, tools, resources, and a checklist that can be useful for scholars involved in conducting or assessing multilevel studies. The focus of our article is on two-level designs, in which Level-1 entities are neatly nested within Level-2 entities, and top-down effects are estimated. However, some of our recommendations are also applicable to more complex multilevel designs.
Our research applies a service, feature-oriented approach to deeply explore the subjective experiences shared publicly by Airbnb guests in their reviews. Our processed data set contains 73,557 reviews of Airbnb stays in coastal and urban destinations between 2017 and 2020. A topic modeling based on the BERTopic approach is applied to detect dense clusters of reviews and identify one highly relevant and interpretable topic per cluster related to core and essential sharing services and surrounding features. Our study, therefore, allows a higher understanding of the relationships between urban versus coastal destinations and guests' preferences. Furthermore, it enables hosts to differentiate the touristic short-rentals lodgings according to customer experiences.
Although workplace incivility has received increasing attention in organizational research over the past two decades, there have been recurring questions about its construct validity, especially vis-à-vis other forms of workplace mistreatment. Also, the antecedents of experienced incivility remain understudied, leaving an incomplete understanding of its nomological network. In this meta-analysis using Schmidt and Hunter’s [Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings (3rd ed.), Sage] random-effect meta-analytic methods, we validate the construct of incivility by testing its reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, as well as its incremental predictive validity over other forms of mistreatment. We also extend its nomological network by drawing on the perpetrator predation framework to systematically study the antecedents of experienced incivility. Based on 105 independent samples and 51,008 participants, we find extensive support for incivility’s construct validity. Besides, we demonstrate that demographic characteristics (gender, race, rank, and tenure), personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, negative affectivity, and self-esteem), and contextual factors (perceived uncivil climate and socially supportive climate) are important antecedents of experienced incivility, with contextual factors displaying a stronger association with incivility. In a supplementary primary study with 457 participants, we find further support for the construct validity of incivility. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study.
Purpose
The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of service excellence and guest delight on guest affective commitment to luxury restaurants, more specifically, the mediating effect of guest delight in the relationship between service excellence and guest affective commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 270 guests with a response rate of 67.5%. SmartPLS software was used for data analysis.
Findings
The findings indicate that service excellence and guest delight had increased guest affective commitment to the luxury restaurant. It has been determined that guest delight acts as a mediator between service excellence and guest affective commitment.
Practical implications
Providing a high level of service excellence and delighting, thereby encouraging luxury guests to have a high level of commitment to the restaurant. Therefore, luxury guests' expectations must be exceeded to obtain their commitment to the restaurant.
Originality/value
This research study provides a substantial contribution to the hospitality literature by providing a significant concept of guest delight that can offer the opportunity to establish a new understanding of guest affective commitment in the luxury restaurant context.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human features to non-human subjects. Anthropomorphized organizations acquire in the minds of their members a unique identity, which becomes capable of guiding members’ motivations, with important managerial implications. Ashforth et al. (Acad Manage Rev https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2016.0496 , 2018) offered a theoretical model of anthropomorphism in organizations, including “top-down” and “bottom-up” processes of organizational anthropomorphism as antecedents, and sensemaking and the sense of social connection of the organization as outcomes. Using SEM, this study operationalizes Ashforth et al.’s (Acad Manage Rev https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2016.0496 , 2018) model using a two-trait scale of organizational virtue (Empathy and Courage) derived from Chun (J Bus Ethics 57:269–284, 2005), including measures of CSR and OCB as antecedents, and organizational justice and affective commitment as outcomes. The model is tested on survey data from seven UK managed service organizations in the hotels, logistics and legal sectors. As secondary contribution, moderation analysis is undertaken by industry, offering further insight into the evaluation of organizational anthropomorphism. Firstly, we note that high evaluations of Empathy influence evaluations of Courage through a halo effect. Secondly, we note that heuristic evaluation of the firm’s CSR practice also influences perceptions of Empathy and Courage. The paper also includes a discussion of the critique of organizational virtues by virtue ethicists in an effort to advance the dialogue between the two traditions.
This study validates the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, extended to include risk and innovativeness as additional factors, to identify antecedents that influence customers’ intention to adopt self-service technology at restaurants. Among UTAUT constructs, performance expectancy was the most important determinant of acceptance intention, followed by effort expectancy and social influence. Furthermore, individual innovativeness moderated the effects of social influence and perceived risk on acceptance intention. These findings are meaningful because incorporating information and communication technology (ICT) into food service settings expands the scope of food service research and provides practical implications.
A respectable amount of work dealing with Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) clearly indicates a popularity of TAM in the field of technology acceptance in general. Nevertheless, there is still a gap in existing knowledge regarding representative academic literature that underlie research on TAM in educational context. The main objective of this systematic literature review is to provide an overview of the current state of research efforts on TAM application in the field of learning and teaching for a variety of learning domains, learning technologies and types of users. Through systematic search by the use of EBSCO Discovery Service, the review has identified 71 relevant studies ranged between 2003 and 2018. The main findings indicate that TAM and its many different versions represent a credible model for facilitating assessment of diverse learning technologies. TAM's core variables, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, have been proven to be antecedent factors affecting acceptance of learning with technology. The paper identifies some gaps in current work and suggests areas for further investigation. The results of this systematic review provide a better understanding of TAM acceptance studies in educational context and create a firm foundation for advancing knowledge in the field.
Practitioner Notes
What is already known about this topic Technology acceptance research in teaching and learning context has become an attractive trend.
A number of reviews and meta‐analysis focused on specific topics related to technology acceptance in education have been conducted.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is the key model in understanding predictors of human behaviour towards potential acceptance or rejection of the technology.
What this paper adds The state of current research on Technology Acceptance Model application in educational context lacks comprehensive reviews addressing variety of learning domains, learning technologies and types of users.
The paper presents systematic review of relevant academic literature on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the field of learning and teaching.
The paper provides empirical evidence on the predictive validity of the models based on TAM presented in selected literature.
The findings revealed that TAM, along with its many different versions called TAM++, is a leading scientific paradigm and credible model for facilitating assessment of diverse technological deployments in educational context.
TAM's core variables, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, have been proven to be antecedent factors that have affected acceptance of learning with technology.
Implications for practice and/or policy The systematic review adds to the body of knowledge and creates a firm foundation for advancing knowledge in the field.
By following the most common research objectives and/or by filling current gaps in applied research methods, chosen sample groups and types of result analysis, an own study could be conducted.
Future research may well focus on identifying additional external factors that could further explain acceptance and usage of various learning technologies.
Social exchange theory is one of the most prominent conceptual perspectives in management,
as well as related fields like sociology and social psychology. An important criticism
of social exchange theory; however, is that it lacks sufficient theoretical precision, and thus
has limited utility. Scholars who apply social exchange theory are able to explain many
social phenomena in post hoc manner but are severely limited in their ability to make
useful a priori predictions regarding workplace behavior. In this review, we discuss social
exchange theory as it exists today and identify four critical issues within the social exchange
paradigm that warrant additional consideration. The four concerns, around which
we center this review, include the following: (1) overlapping constructs that need to be
more clearly distinguished; (2) insufficient appreciation to the positive or negative hedonic
value of these various constructs; (3) an assumption of bipolarity, which treats negative
constructs (e.g., abuse) as the absence of positive constructs (e.g., support); and, following
from the prior three issues, (4) theoretically imprecise behavioral predictions. Given that
these problems are inherent in the current unidimensional framework for social exchange
theory, we suggest an additional dimension–activity. We explain how conceptualizing
social exchange within a two-dimensional space, while giving equal consideration to both
hedonic value and activity, creates new opportunities for future research.
This study examines how transformational leadership translates into critical service behaviours of FSEs in a B2B services context. A sequential mixed-method approach has been employed to formulate and examine the research questions. Semi-structured interviews of FSEs (N = 25) have been analyzed using the Gioia method – a variant of grounded theory. Based on the findings of study 1, a conceptual model has been developed and tested quantitatively employing PLS-SEM in study 2 (N = 469). Recommended robustness checks and guidelines have been followed to report accurate findings. The higher-order themes identified from the Gioia method reveal that transformational leadership influences the prescribed service delivery behaviour (PSDB) and proactive customer service behaviour (PCSB) of FSEs. The findings also suggest a potential influence of affective commitment and role-breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) on FSE behaviours. The quantitative study results suggest that transformational leadership's influence on PSDB is partially mediated by affective commitment, and the influence of transformational leadership on PCSB is fully mediated by affective commitment and RBSE. This study examines the effect of transformational leadership on FSE behaviours in the B2B services sector of India which is growing remarkably in the global landscape. The study has undertaken a more contemporary approach towards the conceptualization of transformational leadership. Additionally, the mixed-method approach enhances the reliability and validity of the research.
Purpose
This study aims to develop and test an integrative model that examines the effects of customization and perceived employee authenticity on customer delight, which in turn influences customers’ willingness to recommend (WTR) and willingness to pay a premium (WTPP) as outcomes in a hotel context. The moderating role of online review valence in this process is also examined.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a 2 (customization: low vs high) × 2 (perceived employee authenticity: low vs high) × 2 (online review valence: negative vs positive) experimental design. A total of 409 US consumers were recruited and randomly assigned to a hotel check-in scenario. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Findings confirmed the role of customer delight in mediating customization and employee authenticity on WTR and WTPP. In addition, perceived employee authenticity was a stronger driver of customer delight for consumers exposed to negative online reviews than for those exposed to positive reviews.
Practical implications
The findings provide useful guidance in designing efficient service strategies for generating a delightful customer experience. Hotel practitioners should provide customized services and manage employees in a way that helps them deliver authentic services that achieve customer delight. Understanding that customer expectations formed through online reviews play a significant role in service evaluations, hotel managers make an extra effort to monitor online reviews and manage customer expectations.
Originality/value
Although existing research suggests that customer delight plays an important role in positive consumer outcomes, there is still potential space to explore the theoretical mediational mechanisms underlying this effect and the moderating effect on this relationship between customer delight and consumer responses. This study contributes by testing the moderating impact of online review valence and the mediating impact of customer delight.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze existing studies related to the adoption of smart technologies in cruise tourism services, particularly robots, artificial intelligence, service automation and virtual reality. More specifically, the authors intend to highlight the current state of research on this topic, present the findings within a conceptual framework and propose a research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The relevant literature was extracted using two major electronic databases, web of science (WoS) and Scopus. The authors identified 31 articles from high-quality journals and used a systematic review and the VOSviewer software to analyze them.
Findings
Since 2014, there has been an increase in the number of studies related to smart technologies in cruise tourism services. At first, researchers focused on Royal Caribbean’s robotic bartender arm, whereas other technologies such as digital signage, self-service options, facial recognition and virtual culinary experiences received less attention. However, the interest in exploring these last smart technologies has grown significantly since 2019. The adoption of RAISA in the cruise tourism service (ASCT) framework was proposed, identifying five major domains: cruise robotic technology, technology innovation, cruise passengers’ engagement behavior, cruise passengers’ technology readiness and privacy perception and knowledge expertise. These domains provide valuable guidance for future research in this field.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to systematically analyze literature on the adoption of new technologies in cruise tourism services, specifically focusing on the major technologies available on cruise ships.
Purpose
The aim of this empirical study is to investigate an integrated model that captures the way service quality of banking kiosks (BK-SQ) exerts its impacts on customer perceived value and customer satisfaction and the moderating mechanism of technology readiness (TR) in the quality–satisfaction relationship in the banking sector in Vietnam.
Design/methodology/approach
An offline survey was conducted to obtain responses from 604 users of banking kiosks in Vietnam. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. The moderating effect of TR was examined following the product indicator method.
Findings
The results validate significant positive correlations between BK-SQ, customer perceived value and customer satisfaction. Among six service quality dimensions, convenience is the most significant factor in predicting perceived service quality. The study also delineates how TR can moderate the link between service quality and customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies may make further attempts to incorporate other human and demographic factors as a moderator into the research model.
Practical implications
Bank managers should strive to improve the operations of banking kiosks based on six aspects and increase TR levels of customers to boost customer satisfaction with banking kiosks.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature on service quality and self-service technologies (SSTs) by offering critical insights into how banks can make use of influence mechanisms in the model to enhance service quality and customer satisfaction.
Purpose
This research aims to examine some nudges for creating psychological ownership in order to reduce misbehaviors, consequently encouraging subsequent users to demonstrate stewardship behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examined the sentiment of tweets (Study 1) to explore user experience and conducted two experiments (Studies 2 and 3) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The misbehavior of the previous user in relation to the subsequent user's stewardship behavior was moderated by nudges based on self-investment and local identity. Perceived responsibility mediated the relationship between misbehavior and stewardship behavior as a result of nudges.
Originality/value
The findings of this study provide a framework for the transition from misbehavior to stewardship behavior in PMVs.
Interfaces, interactions, and time are commonly understood as foundational constructs in the field of organizational frontlines, but their current definitions are fragmented and disconnected. We propose a set of propositions drawn from theorizing the foundational constructs to facilitate systematic studies of frontline phenomena and promote integration across studies. We also advance the concept of the frontline nexus, a constellation of relations that interconnect the foundational constructs, and propose that the nexus is the appropriate unit of analysis for the study of organizational frontlines. To specify a system that embeds the frontline nexus and situates its foundational constructs, we discuss the role of agency, technology, learning, and privacy as key structural characteristics. In response to changing frontlines, we offer 11 propositions to advance research and practice of organizational frontlines. These propositions encourage researchers to explore the potential of new technologies, investigate the role of frontline actors in shaping interaction outcomes, examine the impact of learning and development initiatives, and consider the ethical implications of frontline actions.
Purpose
What motivates employees to show concern for their team or in-group members, and why is it vital to prefer teamwork and receive support from co-workers at the workplace? Given the significance of social relations in the workplace and drawing from social exchange theory, the present study seeks to examine the association between personal interaction with concern for team members by identifying preference for teamwork and co-worker support (CWS) mediating the relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The data of 261 collected from employees working in varying public and private sector Indian enterprises were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Hayes PROCESS macro to investigate the multiple mediation analysis.
Findings
The findings showed a positive relationship between personal interaction and concern for the team member, which elaborates that increasing personal interaction among employees tends to display concern for their team members. Moreover, teamwork preference and CWS mediated the relationship, demonstrating that preferring teamwork and receiving support from co-workers, the propensity to concern for team members is influenced by personal interaction.
Practical implications
This research pinpoints how personal interaction among members may develop a feeling of belongingness, leading to concern for their team members. With the inclusion of employees in teamwork and creating a cordial work environment, employees prefer working in groups and teams; they may feel responsible for their group and its members, ultimately helping improve the organization's human capital.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the employee and organizational development by unveiling how employees may develop cordial social relationships through personal interaction, preferring teamwork and CWS.
Limited research has examined how employees’ cultural competency may influence customers experience and behaviors. Building on social exchange theory, this study proposed and tested a model focusing on how guest gratitude mediated the relationships between three dimensions of servers’ cultural competency, cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, and cultural skills, on customers’ future behavioral intentions. Using empirical data collected from cross-cultural service encounters in luxury hotels in Australia, findings of the study revealed that cultural awareness and skills were significantly related to guest gratitude that, in turn, significantly influenced customers future behavioral intention. This study contributes to social exchange theory by adopting gratitude as a mediator in the reciprocal relationship between servers’ cultural competency and customer behavioral intentions. The study highlights the importance of training current hospitality employees and preparing future hospitality professionals. In particular, the findings emphasize the importance of enhancing hospitality employees’ cultural competency in cross-cultural service encounters.
Prior research is inconclusive on whether competitive climate affects employee performance positively or negatively. The current study tests a moderated-mediation model of the effect of competitive psychological climate on organizational citizenship behavior (toward co-workers and customers) through the mediation of jealousy by drawing on social comparison theory to address the contradiction in the literature. By invoking the self-consistency theory, this study also proposes that organization-based self-esteem would moderate the effect of employee jealousy (as a result of competitive psychological climate) on organizational citizenship behavior (toward co-workers and customers). Dyadic data were collected from 145 customer service employees and their supervisors in various hospitality organizations in the UAE. Our results provide empirical support for our hypotheses: Competitive climate acts as a double-edged sword in enhancing citizenship behaviors toward customers but diminishing cooperation and helping behaviors toward co-workers through employee jealousy. As expected, the current study found that organization-based self-esteem mitigates the negative effect of jealousy on citizenship behavior towards colleagues and exacerbate the positive effect of competitive climate on citizenship behavior towards customers (via jealousy). Our findings have theoretical and practical implications and recommend future research opportunities.
The information obtained from customers’ feedback can help hotel managers improve their provided services in a targeted manner according to customers’ expectations. Besides, other customers consider online hotel scores an efficient tool for quickly evaluating the quality of hotels’ services. Therefore, a higher online score indicates customer satisfaction and would lead to more bookings, price acceptance, and higher financial performance. In this article, we extracted the shortcomings related to hotel attributes utilizing a novel methodology that comprises machine learning algorithms, text mining, and a combination of customers’ comments and scores. Then we examined the quantitative effect of fixing these problems on hotels’ online scores. Furthermore, considering the origin of the problems, the cost required for fixing them, and the quantitative effect of solving them on improving the hotels’ online scores, we provided some prescriptions for hotel managers as the last phase of business analytics. This model and its resulting prescriptions can be used to increase hotels’ online scores significantly by improving service quality at the lowest cost. Finally, to describe the most important attributes, we used The Nordic European School of thought and classified them based on the technical and functional dimensions of Grönroos’ service quality model.
This study aims to prepare a comprehensive self-service technology model that incorporates the hygiene and health issues throughout the restaurant industry amid pandemics. To this end, this study explores psychological responses to the environmental threat caused by COVID-19 which impacts attitudes toward self-service kiosks in the restaurant industry in terms of the theory of anxiety. This study utilizes a mixed-method sequential exploratory design. The qualitative phase found four psychological attributes associated with respondents’ attitudes towards kiosks: anxiety towards COVID-19, timidity, perceived control, and intolerance for tardy service. Among the psychological attribute factors, anxiety towards COVID-19 was identified as the strongest predictor of customers’ attitudes towards kiosks in the quantitative phase. This study attests that the anxiety mechanism works in explaining restaurant customers’ attitudes towards kiosks in the restaurant industry. The comprehensive research model explains in a timely manner the value of kiosk service in rapid social and market changes.
In behavioral research, common method variance (CMV) is likely to occur when data are obtained from the same sources. Ignoring CMV can lead to biases in parameter estimates. Although the unmeasured latent method construct (ULMC) technique, based on confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), is frequently used for CMV detection and correction, previous research has indicated that its performance is rather poor. In this study, we propose an approach to improve the performance of ULMC by adding identifying indicators together with the use of Rindskopf’s (1983) reparameterization of the CFA model for error variances and implicit constraints for correlations. The chi‐square test for model fit and the chi‐square difference test are used to test for the existence of CMV and to determine the number of method constructs. The simulation results indicated that, given adequate sample size, the ULMC technique with the proposed approach performs well in CMV detection and correction. Moreover, its performance in CMV correction is superior to the performance of the CFA marker technique. The approach, illustrated with two datasets, is strongly recommended for empirical studies that suffer CMV.
Based on the secondhand data of the hotel industry, this paper conducts an empirical test in order to study the relationship between within-group multimarket contact (WGMMC), service diversity and consumer rating. Besides, this paper also analyzes the moderating role of market reciprocity and travel experience. The empirical results show that WGMMC has a significant negative impact on hotels’ service diversity, and market reciprocity will strengthen the negative correlation between WGMMC and service diversity. Furthermore, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between service diversity and consumer rating, and travel experience will weaken this relationship. By extending the impact of multimarket contact on corporate competitive behavior to the consumer side, this article enriches the empirical research in the field of dynamic competition. At the same time, this research also helps hotels expand their strategic vision, improve their relationship with consumers, and ultimately promote the healthy and orderly development of industry competition.
基于连锁酒店行业的二手数据，本文对组群内多市场接触、服务多样性与消费者评价之间的关系进行了实证检验，并分析了市场互换性与顾客旅行经验在其中发挥的调节作用。实证结果显示，组群内多市场接触对酒店服务多样性具有显著的负向影响，且市场互换性会加强这一负相关关系。此外，服务多样性与消费者评价之间呈倒U型关系，而顾客旅行经验会削弱这一关系。通过将多市场接触对企业竞争行为的影响扩展至消费端，本文丰富了动态竞争领域的实证研究。同时，本文还有助于酒店企业扩展战略视野、改善企业与消费者之间的关系，并最终促进行业竞争的健康有序发展。
Waiting time appears to be an unavoidable part of the service industry, particularly at the airport, where you may encounter delays due to check-in, screening, and other activities. This waiting experience can vex customers, affecting their perception of the service provider and, consequently, their loyalty. Our study aimed to determine the effect of waiting time satisfaction and the use of self-service technology on the long-term sustainability of customer loyalty. 750 structured questionnaires were distributed to travelers at two international airports in Turkey. PLS-SEM was used to analyses the models. Our findings indicate that customer satisfaction with waiting times and the use of self-service technologies are critical for the long-term sustainability of customer loyalty. Additionally, we discovered that waiting time satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between self-service technology use and long-term customer loyalty. Finally, the managerial implications were discussed, including future research suggestions.
Though prior studies have raised the issue that excellent service that exceeds customer expectations can negatively impact customer perceptions, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon in the foodservice industry. This study aims to conceptualize restaurant over-service behaviors and develop a multi-dimensional instrument for this construct. This study uses focus groups to identify restaurant over-service behaviors. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) yield a five-dimension, 23-item instrument. The categorization and descriptions of restaurant over-service behaviors may serve as a reference for managers to determine whether their high-quality services overwhelm customers and to identify negative perceptions of excessive services. If the needs of customers can be understood alongside how certain service actions disturb customers, elements that lead to over-service can be eliminated or corrected, allowing for time, effort and money to be invested more effectively.
Integrating social exchange and psychological contract theories, this study examines how perceived service-oriented high-performance work systems (service-oriented HPWS) augment high-contact service organizations to improve their service encounter quality. In addition, it also tests the impact of psychological contract fulfillment, innovative work behavior, and prosocial service behavior as parallel and serial mediating variables in the relationship between service-oriented HPWS and service encounter quality. Using survey data collected in three-time lags from 394 full-time frontline employees and their customers across high-contact service contexts, direct and indirect effects of service-oriented HPWS on service encounter quality were tested employing structural equation modeling. The results revealed that service-oriented HPWS is positively associated with service encounter quality via psychological contract fulfillment, innovative work behavior, and prosocial service behavior. The study contributes to the extant literature by integrating social exchange and psychological contract theories in explicating the impact of service-oriented HPWS on service encounter quality.
Purpose
Considerable research has examined the negative consequences of customer incivility on employees (e.g. turnover intention and sabotage behavior toward the customer). However, there is scant research investigating how other customers, as observers, may react to incivility. This knowledge gap should be filled because hospitality services are often consumed in the public setting where customers can observe and be influenced by each other. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by examining observing customers’ willingness to revisit the company following customer incivility.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants are American consumers recruited from a crowdsourced online panel. Two scenario-based experimental studies in the restaurant setting are conducted. Customer incivility and relationship norms (communal versus exchange) are manipulated, while relationship closeness is measured.
Findings
Study 1 shows that following fellow customer incivility (vs civility), observing customers’ intention to revisit the company was lower when they perceive a distant relationship with the employee. This intention did not differ regardless of incivility and civility when they perceive a close relationship with the employee. Study 2 shows that when observing customers perceive a communal relationship with the employee, their revisit intention was even higher following customer incivility (vs civility).
Practical implications
Hospitality managers need to train employees to identify signs of customer incivility and assume appropriate actions to reduce the negative consequences on observers. Hospitality managers should also communicate their expectations for respectful customer behaviors through an organization-wide campaign. Finally, hospitality businesses should foster a close relationship with their customers, particularly a communal relationship to offset the negative consequences of customer incivility on observers.
Originality/value
This study adds to previous research by challenging the universally negative view of customer incivility. The authors do so by examining the moderating effects of relationship closeness and norms in observer reactions to customer incivility. This study contributes to previous research drawing on script theory and deontic justice theory.
The COVID-19 pandemic enters year three, with no end in sight. Among hoteliers, small family run businesses have been among the hardest hit. We interview owners of small Iranian Eco-tourism lodges (Ecolodges). Using MAXQDA 2020 software, thematic analysis revealed 10 main themes, condensed into five discussion topics. Stakeholder theory shapes our discussion of findings, revealing roles of internal and external stakeholders. Findings also include the reactive and innovative strategies ecolodges use to stay open and generate cash flow, the importance of stakeholder communications and accessing up-to-date government rules, the value of constant learning, and H.R. practices that assure stakeholders’ well-being.
This article aims to simultaneously examine frontline hospitality employees’ functional and dysfunctional coping mechanisms for customer mistreatment, which are meaningfully manifested in their organizational citizenship behavior toward organizations (OCBO) and toward individual coworkers (OCBI). Utilizing the multisource and multistage survey data collected from 11 hotels in Southern China, this study reveals that customer mistreatment heightens the emotional exhaustion of frontline hospitality employees, which, in turn, drives them to engage in less OCBO and, conversely, more OCBI. Furthermore, trait conscientiousness was found to accentuate both the negative linkage between customer mistreatment and OCBO and the positive linkage between customer mistreatment and OCBI, thereby suggesting that being conscientious can be a mixed blessing for exhausted individuals.
This study investigates the influence of psychological contract breach (PCB) on work-related attitudes and behaviors (i.e. organizational cynicism, workplace incivility and work alienation) and employees’ emotional exhaustion. It also examines the direct association between these attitudes and behaviors and emotional exhaustion as well as investigating how mindfulness moderates these associations. Based on a quantitative approach, data were collected from 437 employees of Egyptian travel agencies. The PLS-SEM analysis revealed that PCB positively affects employees’ emotional exhaustion and job-related attitudes as well as behaviors, which consequently impact their emotional exhaustion. The findings indicated that the effect of organizational cynicism, workplace incivility, and work alienation on emotional exhaustion is weaker with higher levels of mindfulness and greater with lower levels of mindfulness. This paper contributes to the tourism literature by explicating the connection between PCB and employees’ attitudes as well as behaviors and illustrating how PCB and the determined attitudes and behaviors affect their emotional exhaustion. It also adds to tourism studies by elucidating the moderating effect of mindfulness on the association between attitudes and deviant behaviors as well as emotional exhaustion. This research presents practical insights and managerial implications for travel agency managers regarding the outcomes of PCB in the workplace.
This study investigates the influence of psychological contract breach (PCB) on work-related attitudes and behaviors (i.e. organizational cynicism, workplace incivility and work alienation) and employees’ emotional exhaustion. It also examines the direct association between these attitudes and behaviors and emotional exhaustion as well as investigating how mindfulness moderates these associations. Based on a quantitative approach, data were collected from 437 employees of Egyptian travel agencies. The PLS-SEM analysis revealed that PCB positively affects employees’ emotional exhaustion and job-related attitudes as well as behaviors, which consequently impact their emotional exhaustion. The findings indicated that the effect of organizational cynicism, workplace incivility, and work alienation on emotional exhaustion is weaker with higher levels of mindfulness and greater with lower levels of mindfulness. This paper contributes to the tourism literature by explicating the connection between PCB and employees’ attitudes as well as behaviors and illustrating how PCB and the determined attitudes and behaviors affect their emotional exhaustion. It also adds to tourism studies by elucidating the moderating effect of mindfulness on the association between attitudes and deviant behaviors as well as emotional exhaustion. This research presents practical insights and managerial implications for travel agency managers regarding the outcomes of PCB in the workplace.
Purpose
While there is burgeoning service literature identifying consumer vulnerabilities and questioning the assumption that all consumers have the resources to co-create, limited research addresses solutions for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. Service systems can provide support for consumers but can also create inequities and experienced vulnerabilities. This paper aims to identify current and further research needed to explore this issue and addresses marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This viewpoint discusses key issues relating to solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. A call for papers focused on solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities resulted in a large number of submissions. Nine papers are included in this special issue, and each one is discussed in this editorial according to five emergent themes.
Findings
Vulnerabilities can be temporary, or permanent, and anyone can suddenly experience vulnerabilities. Inequities and vulnerabilities can be due to individual characteristics, environmental forces, or due to the structure of the marketplace itself. Solutions include taking a strengths-based approach to addressing inequities and using a multiple-actor network to provide support.
Practical implications
The recommendations addressed in this paper enable more positive approaches to solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities.
Social implications
Taking a solutions-focused lens to research relating to vulnerabilities will contribute toward addressing inequities within the marketplace.
Originality/value
Increasingly, service literature is identifying inequities; however, very limited research addresses solutions for solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. This paper suggests taking an approach focusing on strengths, rather than weaknesses, to determine strategies, and using the support of other actors (Transformative Service Mediators) where required.
Even though poverty is highly felt in developing economies, the lack of relevant and complete micro-level data limits understanding which households are more exposed to poverty and the role of financial inclusion in poverty in these countries. This research analyzes the effects of financial inclusion proxied by a multidimensional index on three poverty measures (the lowest-income poverty line, a lower-middle-income line, and an upper-middle-income line) by employing the recent Turkish Household Budget and Consumption Expenditure Survey data with 11,595 complete answers. In addition to the application of logistic regressions, this study addresses possible endogeneity issues by using access to the nearest bank as an instrument in a two-stage least-squares regression and employing the novel method as a robustness check. Empirical results point out that an increase in financial inclusion decreases poverty in Turkey. The adverse effect of financial inclusion on poverty is validated through a few robustness and sensitivity analyses. The outcome also indicates that health expenditure and income are essential through which poverty is influenced by financial inclusion. Thus, policies are required to enhance the financial inclusion of households to alleviate poverty. Further discussions are presented in this study.
Self-service technologies (SSTs) are becoming a trend and can potentially supplement or replace human services. However, the experiential aspects on which SSTs outperform human services remain unclear. This research adopted a sequential mixed method (60 in-depth interviews followed by two survey rounds) to evaluate the relative advantages of technology over humans. First, a commensurate measurement scale (5 dimensions covering 22 items) for customer experience with SSTs and human services was developed. Quantitative findings revealed that customers reported better actional and fresh experiences with SSTs, while hoteliers cited SSTs as only outperforming human staff in providing fresh experiences. Moreover, customers rated their experiences significantly lower than hoteliers’ perceptions. These findings enrich knowledge of the experiential changes elicited by SSTs and the differences between customer expressed experience and hoteliers’ perceptions of customer experience. Practical implications were also discussed.
The rapid growth of online purchasing in recent years has emphasized the accompanying role of home delivery service provided by delivery personnel in ensuring customer satisfaction. On-time delivery, better service, generating positive customer perceived value, and trust towards service providers are influential factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of service quality of home delivery personnel and perceived value on customer satisfaction, with trust playing an intervening role. It was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a less developed country with a new but rapidly growing digital sector. Data was collected from 259 respondents who received home delivery service, using a structured questionnaire. The conceptual model was analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS tool. The findings revealed that service quality, customer perceived value, and trust influenced customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and the relationship between customer perceived value and satisfaction were both partially mediated by trust. The findings contribute to the development and validation of a trust-based satisfaction model by extending the SERVQUAL model to incorporate perceived value in the presence of trust, while complying with expectation disconfirmation theory This study provides insights for managers to develop reliability and build trust in their service delivery personnel.
Self-service technology (SST) and its applications are changing the way the hospitality and tourism industry provides products and services to their customers. Although the use of SST is a remarkable change for service providers because its use can meet customers’ pursuit of an efficient life, research provides a sufficient overview of how the usage of SST influences customers’ service experience in the tourism and hospitality settings remains lacking. Thus, this study aims to provide an understanding of previous SST research and a basis for exploring the influential factors regarding SST adoption. To achieve this purpose, SST papers in leading hospitality and tourism academic journals were reviewed. Although the number of articles is limited, content analysis allows the authors to understand a phenomenon and identify research topics and methods in SST studies. Also, this study contributes to existing SST literature by providing future research guidelines.
With a paradigm shift to relationship marketing, how to build high-quality relationships between customers and firms has become a key for companies, particularly hospitality companies to achieve success. Other than the well-documented antecedent of service quality, this study provides an integrated model that investigates the development of high-quality relationships between customers and the firm from a social perspective by incorporating perceived fairness and interpersonal relationship between customers and employees, i.e. commercial friendship into the model. Moreover, acknowledging a scarcity of academic investigation of the economy hotel sector despite its increasing significance in China, this study collected data from economy hotels in various regions of China. The empirical results of this study provide insightful implications for both scholars and practitioners. Findings clearly suggest that customers’ perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice contribute to the evaluation of service quality and the development of commercial friendship, which ultimately results in higher relationship quality.
Purpose
This paper aims to study how the negative spiral of incivility from customers to employees happens by measuring the mediating effect of employees’ burnout. Moreover, it investigates how to mitigate the detrimental influences of customer incivility by assessing the moderating effect of employees’ emotional intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey using MTurk was conducted, targeting full-service restaurant employees. Descriptive statistic, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were applied.
Findings
The results presented that there is a direct relationship between customer incivility and employee incivility toward customers and coworkers. Additionally, employees’ burnout significantly mediates the relationship between customer incivility and employee incivility. Moreover, it presented the significant moderating effect of employees’ emotional intelligence on the relationship between customer incivility and employee incivility.
Research limitations/implications
Experiences of customer incivility during a service encounter directly trigger employee incivility. Moreover, customer incivility indirectly leads to employee incivility by increasing employees’ burnout. In addition, employees’ emotional intelligence mitigates a negative spiral of incivility from customers to employees. However, this study has limitations that provide suggestions for future research.
Originality/value
This research shows how customer incivility causes employee incivility in the workplace. It also shows a significant moderating role of employees’ emotional intelligence to mitigate the influence of customer incivility on employee incivility.
Despite the prominence of customer–employee relationships in service contexts, little empirical research examines the antecedents of rapport in relation to service providers’ attributes. Furthermore, while prior studies examine only piecemeal aspects of employee attributes, this research uses a more encompassing approach by considering multiple attributes simultaneously. The results from a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design suggest that employee eye contact and courtesy are critical components of building customer–employee rapport, and subsequently customer satisfaction, while appearance surprisingly did not affect customer–employee rapport. A significant interaction effect between employee eye contact and courtesy was found. The findings build on the rapport literature and have important managerial implications for high-contact services, such as hospitality and tourism.
Survey research methodology is widely used in marketing, and it is important for both the field and individual researchers to follow stringent guidelines to ensure that meaningful insights are attained. To assess the extent to which marketing researchers are utilizing best practices in designing, administering, and analyzing surveys, we review the prevalence of published empirical survey work during the 2006–2015 period in three top marketing journals—Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Marketing (JM), and Journal of Marketing Research (JMR)—and then conduct an in-depth analysis of 202 survey-based studies published in JAMS. We focus on key issues in two broad areas of survey research (issues related to the choice of the object of measurement and selection of raters, and issues related to the measurement of the constructs of interest), and we describe conceptual considerations related to each specific issue, review how marketing researchers have attended to these issues in their published work, and identify appropriate best practices.