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Service Staff Attitudes, Organisational Practices and Performance Drivers
Amanda Beaton
Faculty of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD
Ian Lings
School of Advertising, Marketing and PR, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD
Siegfried P Gudergan
School of Marketing, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway NSW
Abstract
We provide conceptual and empirical insights elucidating how organisational practices influence service staff attitudes and behaviors and how the latter set affects organisational performance drivers.
Our analyses suggest that service organisations can enhance their performance by putting in place strategies and practices that strengthen the service-oriented behaviors of their employees and reduce their intentions to leave the organisation. Improved performance is accomplished through both the delivery of high quality services (enhancing organisational effectiveness) and the maintenance of front-line staff (increasing organisational efficiency). Specifically, service-oriented business strategies in the form of organisational-level service orientation and practices in the form of training directly influence the manifest service-oriented behaviors of staff.
Training also indirectly affects the intention of front-line staff to leave the organisation; it increases job satisfaction, which, in turn has an impact on affective commitment. Both affective and instrumental commitment were hypothesised to reduce the intentions of front-line staff to leave the organisation, however only affective commitment had a significant effect.
Keywords
research paper; service training; service orientation; staff attitudes and behaviors; organisational performance drivers
Article Text
The successful management of front-line staff is important for service organisations. Front-line staff link the organisation with its customers and customers make evaluative judgments of the service quality delivered by these staff. Consequently, the behaviors and attitudes of front-line staff that provide services are crucial for the positive evaluation of services by customers. Organisational strategies and practices affect these front-line staff attitudes and behaviors (Gonzalez & Garazo 2005) and it is important to understand the specific organisational factors that influence those staff attitudes which subsequently influence behavior towards customers and the firm. The focus of this study is on this issue precisely; we investigate the relationship between organisational strategies and practices directed at customers and staff (captured in organisational-level service strategies and staff training) and front-line service staff attitude towards their job and service delivery (such as individual-level service orientation, job satisfaction, affective and instrumental commitment, and intentions to leave the organisation).
The reasons for examining the effects of organisational strategies and practices on front-line staff attitudes are numerous. The most crucial can be linked back to an organisation’s performance. Strongly-held attitudes are thought to predict behaviors associated with those attitudes (Ajzen 1991). Consequently, service-orientated attitudes of staff predict service-oriented behaviors of front-line service staff; and these service behaviors positively impact customers’ evaluations of the service that they receive; hence enhancing the organisation’s effectiveness. Additionally, low front-line service staff turnover reduces hiring and training related investments, increasing the efficiency and performance of the organisation. It is within the context of this logic that this paper provides additional insights into the impact of organisational practices towards their front-line service staff. Thus, strategies and practices that can both enhance the attitudes of staff towards service delivery and reduce the turnover of staff are likely to enhance the performance of service organisations. This is likely to lead to more satisfactory service encounters at the employee–customer interface.
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