Effects of perceived employee emotional competence on customer satisfaction and loyalty: The mediating role of rapport

peer reviewedPurpose – During service encounters, emotionally competent employees are likely to succeed in building rapport with their customers, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, the relationship between emotional competence and rapport has not been empirically examined. In the present study, we investigate effects of customer perceived employee emotional competence (EEC) on satisfaction and loyalty. We also examine how and to what extent rapport mediates these effects. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the theory of affect-as-information, suggesting that emotions inform human behavior, we develop a structural model and test it on a sample of 247 customers in a personal service setting. Findings – Customer perceptions of EEC positively influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. Rapport partially mediates both effects. Practical implications – The extent to which customers perceive employees as emotionally competent is strongly correlated with the development of rapport, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Managers of high-contact services should therefore pay attention to emotional competence when hiring new employees, and/or encourage and train existing employees to develop this type of competence. Originality/value – Previous studies have used employee self-reports or supervisor reports of EEC, essentially capturing an employee’s potential to behave in an emotionally competent way. We extend emotional competence theories with a customer perspective: the present study is the first to capture customer perceptions of employees’ emotional competence

Invited Commentaries on the Future of Frontline Research

This article contains a set of six invited commentaries written by leading scholars, expressing varied perspectives on the future of frontline research and on the frontline domain itself. The article accompanies the Journal of Service Research special issue on organizational frontlines. In their commentaries, the authors share insightful views on areas of personal interest ranging from employee emotion and customer relationship building to the effect of technology and its implementation at the organizational frontline. Included within each commentary are managerial insights and suggestions for needed research in the highlighted area

Toward a theory of repeat purchase drivers for consumer services

The marketing discipline’s knowledge about the drivers of service customers’ repeat purchase behavior is highly fragmented. This research attempts to overcome that fragmented state of knowledge by making major advances toward a theory of repeat purchase drivers for consumer services. Drawing on means–end theory, the authors develop a hierarchical classification scheme that organizes repeat purchase drivers into an integrative and comprehensive framework. They then identify drivers on the basis of 188 face-to-face laddering interviews in two countries (USA and Germany) and assess the drivers’ importance and interrelations through a national probability sample survey of 618 service customers. In addition to presenting an exhaustive and coherent set of hierarchical repeat-purchase drivers, the authors provide theoretical explanations for how and why drivers relate to one another and to repeat purchase behavior. This research also tests the boundary conditions of the proposed framework by accounting for different service types. In addition to its theoretical contribution, the framework provides companies with specific information about how to manage long-term customer relationships successfully

Twenty Years of Service Guarantee Research: A Synthesis

During the past two decades, service guarantees have received increased attention as a means for service firms to attract and retain customers and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Although many academic studies, referring to diverse service guarantee aspects, have appeared during this time, a synthesis of research is needed to clarify what researchers have learned about service guarantees and what remains unknown. To evaluate the state of published research on service guarantees, 109 articles published from 1985 to 2008 are collected and analyzed. The resultant review reveals a significant change in the type of research being performed, including a shift toward geater interest in the impact of service guarantees on consumer behavior and service firms. However, a significant shortfall marks empirical work directed toward the internal and operational effects of service guarantees. The effects of service guarantees on service performance, service recovery, and return on service guarantee investments are topics in need of further research