The Moment of Truth: A Review, Synthesis, and Research Agenda for the Customer Service Experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Groth ◽  
Yu Wu ◽  
Helena Nguyen ◽  
Anya Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Moment

Customer service is a central feature of the service context. As service research has evolved into a burgeoning multidisciplinary field, management scholars have developed an impressive body of research regarding the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of customer service. We provide an integrative review and synthesis of the literature with a focus on three important and interrelated aspects of customer service that specifically focus on the interpersonal service interaction between employees and customers: ( a) affect in customer service, including emotional labor and emotional contagion processes; ( b) customer mistreatment, the low-quality interpersonal treatment of customers toward service employees; and ( c) customer service behaviors, including customer orientation and service-oriented citizenship behaviors. We review theoretical perspectives for each of these streams of research and summarize the current knowledge regarding empirical findings. We provide a critical assessment of the literature and conclude with a discussion of future research agendas and practical implications for service managers.

Social capital in the theory and research of LIS professionals in the light of the literature on the subject. Review of current knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Dorota Wojciechowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Social Capital ◽  
Rural Libraries ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to present the latest scholarly trends in the field of social capital in libraries, to review research concepts published by LIS professionals and to suggest further research possibilities in this area. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a review and critical analysis of literature associated with research on social capital in libraries to highlight its importance for the development of LIS and its impact on the functioning of environments linked with various types of libraries. The goal of literature analysis was to determine the current condition of research on social capital in libraries. The main trends were identified and the need for further qualitative analyses, which are missing at the moment, was confirmed. Findings It was determined that, so far, LIS professionals have focussed mainly on the role of municipal libraries in developing social capital, the problem of building trust, especially in immigrant circles and the impact of libraries on promoting a civil society. Academic libraries, rural libraries, organisational capital in libraries and individual social capital of librarians were a much less frequent subject of research. The role of libraries in developing social capital in educational (primary and secondary education) and professional (non-university professionals) circles is practically non-existent in research, and it will require in-depth studies and analyses in the coming years. Originality/value This paper constitutes a synthetic review of the latest research concepts concerning social capital in libraries. It identifies the most important research trends and areas that so far have not been explored and suggests research methods to help LIS professionals design future research in this area more effectively.

scholarly journals Acting the part: Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as predictors of emotional labor in travel agencies

2020 ◽  
pp. 146735842096565
Author(s):  
Milena Nedeljković Knežević ◽  
Marko D Petrović ◽  
Sanja Kovačić ◽  
Maja Mijatov ◽  
Darko B Vuković ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Travel Agencies ◽  
Novi Sad

Employees of retail travel agencies in sales roles can have long-lasting, direct contact with tourists which, in the case of poor customer service, can be extremely problematic for businesses. Because of this, it is important to understand how employees manage their emotions to help them to remain satisfied with their work, thus contributing to the satisfaction of tourists. However, job satisfaction, emotional intelligence and emotional labor in tourism have not previously been studied together as variables in a single model. This research analyses the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor in travel agencies, as well as job satisfaction as an antecedent of emotional labor. Data were collected from 160 employees of 45 travel agencies in the Serbian cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad. Results show that employees’ emotional intelligence mediates the positive relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor. Management implications: Increasing employees’ emotional intelligence through training and development and actively recruiting employees with high emotional intelligence will reduce emotional exhaustion and improve customer satisfaction for retail travel agencies. Future research should include employees from other countries, in order to make comparisons and to validate results, as well as to test the created model by structural equation modelling (SEM), involving some other possible mediators, such as socio-demographics, personality traits or work motivation.

scholarly journals Media Coverage of Firms: Background, Integration, and Directions for Future Research

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenz Graf-Vlachy ◽  
Abbie Griffith Oliver ◽  
Richard Banfield ◽  
Andreas König ◽  
Jonathan Bundy
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences

Over the past years, media coverage of firms has received significant scholarly attention. However, the resulting literature is spread across multiple disciplines and, therefore, varies with regard to its theoretical underpinnings and contextual settings. This makes it challenging for scholars to understand the contributions of this literature, to identify areas of inquiry, and to develop an encompassing research agenda. In this review, we address these issues by surveying the diverse literature on media coverage of firms to develop an integrative framework of the antecedents and consequences of media coverage that highlights paths for future research. Specifically, we identify the three theoretical perspectives—economic, institutional, and social-psychological—that the literature generally assumes on the news media. In addition, we highlight differences between strategy, finance, governance, and crisis contexts and review results from articles examining media coverage of firms in aggregate. In each context, we identify the primary functions of the news media as well as antecedents and consequences of media coverage. We proceed to develop an integrative framework for media coverage of firms by building on these findings and by examining the empirical methods used to measure media coverage, particularly regarding the measurement of specific coverage attributes. We highlight the gaps in current knowledge that our framework exposes and derive opportunities for future research that can further scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of firm media coverage.

Does emotional labor color service actions in customer buying?

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Seger-Guttmann ◽  
Hana Medler-Liraz
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Lower Surface ◽  
Joint Effect ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Customer Delight ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Service research has highlighted the role of emotional labor in service delivery but has neglected service employees’ actions. This study aims to distinguish between the recurrent in-role and extra-role actions of service employees and to examine the joint effect of service employees’ actions and their emotional labor, which may color these actions on customer buying behavior (number of purchased items and total bill). Design/methodology/approach Phase I comprised two studies: Study 1 examined 70 service interaction videos to identify employees’ service actions, and Study 2 quantitatively validated the most frequent employee actions, used for further study, by examining 40 employee–customer interactions in fashion stores. For Phase II, Study 3 derived data from 60 service employees’ diaries to predict the joint effect of performed emotional labor and service actions on customer buying behavior. Findings Findings revealed that emotional labor moderated the relationship between service actions and customer buying behavior. The relationship between in-role/extra-role actions and buying behavior was stronger in the lower surface-acting (less emotional faking) condition, whereas the relationship between in-role/extra-role actions and buying behavior was stronger for the higher deep-acting (more emotionally authentic) condition. Practical implications Service organizations should not limit training to the more easily attained service actions. This possibility may be lacking if it ignores the emotional component that accompanied the action. This may shift the focus from customer satisfaction to customer delight. Originality/value This study is a pioneering effort to examine the specific circumstances in which service employees’ actions (regardless of in-role or extra-role status) will not produce the desired customer-related outcome in the presence of emotional labor.

Emotional labor of customer service employees in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-16
Author(s):  
Yuyan Zhang ◽  
Alexandra Luong
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Surface Acting ◽  
Chinese Sample ◽  
Deep Acting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Service Employees

Purpose The current study aims to examine the antecedents and outcomes of emotional labor strategies (i.e. surface acting and deep acting) among service employees in China. The study proposed employees’ perceived closeness with customers and customers’ socioeconomic status will predict deep acting and surface acting, respectively. It further examined the mediating role of emotional labor between perceived customer attributes and employee well-being (i.e. burnout and job satisfaction). Design/methodology/approach One hundred and one employees at a jewelry store in China completed a survey regarding their perceptions of customers, use of emotional labor and well-being (e.g. job satisfaction and burnout). Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to examine the predictors and outcomes of different emotional labor strategies. Findings Perceived closeness with the customer group predicted employees’ use of deep acting, whereas perceived customer socioeconomic status did not predict the use of surface acting. Deep acting was negatively related with burnout, whereas surface acting did not predict burnout. Deep acting mediated the relationship between perceived closeness with customers and burnout. Practical implications To maintain employee well-being, organizations can promote a service climate to enhance employees’ perceived relationship with customers. Originality/value The study specifies the interpersonal context in which employees use different emotional labor strategies; the perceived closeness with customers predicts less burnout via the use of more deep acting. This study also supplements the existing research on emotional labor based on a Chinese sample; deep acting predicts employee well-being.

‘We deal with human beings’

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Huey ◽  
Hina Kalyal
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Criminal Investigation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Police Services ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Related Stress

Dealing with emotions is a central feature of everyday police work. This is especially the case in relation to criminal investigation work, in which police investigators must grapple with both their own emotions and those of the victims and families with whom they deal. Despite the importance of emotional labor in understanding criminal investigation work, this aspect of their work remains understudied. This study is based on data from 13 in-depth qualitative interviews with members of the Canadian police services. Within it, we explore how officers engage in emotional labor, as well as its impact on these individuals. Although our results are preliminary in nature, they do reveal how managing emotions according to organizationally sanctioned display rules can affect officers’ well-being, and highlight the need for future research to enable police organizations to deal more effectively with this form of work-related stress.

Healthcare quality for Muslims: TCCM and TSR frameworks analyses

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahidul Islam ◽  
Nazlida Muhamad ◽  
Vai Shiem Leong
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Healthcare Quality ◽  
Healthcare Research ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Quality Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Religious Dimensions

Purpose Transformative service research (TSR) has received considerable attention from researchers and marketers in recent years and becomes a research priority in health care. In response, this paper adapts the TSR entities and wellbeing framework to systematically review healthcare quality research on Muslim consumers. The purpose of this paper is to identify research gaps and provide directions for future research, aligning healthcare studies with the TSR framework. Design/methodology/approach The authors of this paper reviewed empirical papers in healthcare quality research on Muslim patients between the years 2000 and 2020. The recorded journal articles were synthesized using insights from the TSR framework. Several literature gaps were identified and future research directions were provided using the TCCM framework, in which T stands for theory, C for context, C for characteristics and M for methodology. Findings This paper finds studies that encompass several domains of the TSR framework including cultural and religious dimensions, service interaction and customer engagement dimensions and customer service wellbeing. Findings also reveal subject matters related to the TSR framework, which receive less attention in the healthcare literature. A number of potential avenues for theoretical extension in health care are also discussed. Social implications The implications of this paper are highly relevant to Muslim healthcare consumers, the healthcare system and society in general. The findings suggest inspiring changes in the healthcare ecosystem that yields a greater quality of life (health and wellbeing) for individuals and their respective communities. Originality/value This paper advances the current state of healthcare research by identifying and organizing components of TSR entities and wellbeing framework, using Muslim patients as the context. It enhances some pioneering approaches within the domain of TSR and quality dynamics and provides a holistic perspective as guidance and systematic thinking to further advancement in the field of services marketing and Islamic marketing.

Service Climate as a Mediator of Organizational Empowerment in Customer-Service Employees

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Isabel Mendoza-Sierra ◽  
Alejandro Orgambídez-Ramos ◽  
Ana María Carrasco-González ◽  
José Carlos León-Jariego
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Climate ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Structural Framework ◽  
Organizational Empowerment

AbstractThe aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of the service climate between organizational empowerment (i.e., dynamic structural framework, control of workplace decisions, fluidity in information sharing) and service quality (functional and relational). 428 contact employees from 46 hotels participated in the survey. Correlations demonstrated that dynamic structural framework, control decisions, and fluidity in information sharing are related to both functional and relational service quality. Regression analyses and Sobel tests revealed that service climate totally mediated the relationship between all three dimensions of organizational empowerment and relational service quality. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

scholarly journals The effects of interdepartmental customer orientation on distribution center performance

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 54-70
Author(s):  
Nancy M Scott ◽  
M Douglas Voss ◽  
Scott B Keller ◽  
Matt Schlosser
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Distribution Center ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Distribution Centers ◽  
Performance Variables

Firms have begun to look internally for ways to increase external service quality. ANOVA is used to examine the effect of interdepartmental customer orientation on time, inventory, and customer service-based performance variables in distribution centers. Findings indicate that high interdepartmental customer orientation positively affects distribution center performance in terms of time-based performance measures and customer satisfaction. Interdepartmental customer orientation was found to have only a marginal affect on inventory performance. Implications of the current research for distribution centers and transportation managers are discussed along with limitations and opportunities for future research.

scholarly journals Customer Service Quality Perception of Internet Banking

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Taimoor Hassan ◽  
Aqeel Mukhtar ◽  
Rana Kaleem Ullah ◽  
Huzaifah Shafique ◽  
Shafi Ur Rehmna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Web Design ◽  
Internet Banking ◽  
Product Diversification ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Quality Perception ◽  
Banking Service

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out the determinants that mainly affect the customer service quality perception of internet banking amongst genders and different age groups. Design/methodology/approach: Sample of 120 internet banking customers was used to gather data, which was further utilized to find out how 8 major determinants affect the customer service quality perception of internet banking. Findings: The research found that Web design, security, trust, product diversification, credibility, collaboration, access and communication strongly affect the customer perception about the quality of internet banking service. Research limitations/ implication: The data was gathered from the banks in Bahawalpur which limited the scope of this study particularly to this region so future research can be done to gathered data from all over the Pakistan so that the cross cultural factors could be identified clearly. Keywords:                  Service Quality Perception, Dimensions of Internet Banking, Bahawalpur.  

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