TY - JOUR
T1 - When does (Mis)Fit in customer orientation matter for frontline employees' job satisfaction and performance?
AU - Menguc, Bulent
AU - Auh, Seigyoung
AU - Katsikeas, Constantine S.
AU - Jung, Yeon Sung
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, American Marketing Association.
PY - 2016/1
Y1 - 2016/1
N2 - The role of coworkers' customer orientation (CO) in influencing an employee's CO has received sparse attention in the literature. This research serves two purposes. First, the study draws on person-group fit theory to develop and test a model of a frontline employee's CO relative to that of his or her coworkers as well as the effects of CO (mis)fit on job satisfaction and service performance through coworker relationship quality. Second, the authors propose three workgroup characteristics - group size, service climate strength, and leader-member exchange differentiation - that they expect to mitigate the (negative) positive effect of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit on coworker relationship quality. Data collected in a multirespondent (i.e., frontline employees and supervisors) longitudinal research design indicate that as group size increases, service climate becomes stronger, and group leaders develop different exchange relationships with employees, the inherently (negative) positive role of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit in influencing coworker relationship quality diminishes. Furthermore, coworker relationship quality fully mediates the associations of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit with job satisfaction and service performance. The authors close with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the boundary conditions of CO (mis)fit.
AB - The role of coworkers' customer orientation (CO) in influencing an employee's CO has received sparse attention in the literature. This research serves two purposes. First, the study draws on person-group fit theory to develop and test a model of a frontline employee's CO relative to that of his or her coworkers as well as the effects of CO (mis)fit on job satisfaction and service performance through coworker relationship quality. Second, the authors propose three workgroup characteristics - group size, service climate strength, and leader-member exchange differentiation - that they expect to mitigate the (negative) positive effect of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit on coworker relationship quality. Data collected in a multirespondent (i.e., frontline employees and supervisors) longitudinal research design indicate that as group size increases, service climate becomes stronger, and group leaders develop different exchange relationships with employees, the inherently (negative) positive role of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit in influencing coworker relationship quality diminishes. Furthermore, coworker relationship quality fully mediates the associations of employee-coworker CO (mis)fit with job satisfaction and service performance. The authors close with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the boundary conditions of CO (mis)fit.
KW - (mis)fit
KW - Coworker relationship quality
KW - Customer orientation
KW - Person-group fit theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84955597220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84955597220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1509/jm.15.0327
DO - 10.1509/jm.15.0327
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84955597220
SN - 0022-2429
VL - 80
SP - 65
EP - 83
JO - Journal of Marketing
JF - Journal of Marketing
IS - 1
ER -