Exploring the role of front-line employees as innovators

Engen, Marit; Magnusson, Peter

doi:10.1080/02642069.2015.1003370

Cited by 52 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Sørensen et al (2013) conclude that FLEs' ability to act as corporate entrepreneurs depends on how effectively organizations facilitate creativity by means of an adequate front-office innovation climate, and how capably they integrate the results of this creativity (innovative ideas or practices) through adequate organizational support systems. Likewise, Engen and Magnusson (2015) reinforce the importance of middle management roles in facilitating FLEs' ability to create NS ideas and to engage in service firms' innovative processes.…”

Section: S-dl and Service Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…understanding how NS ideas can be implemented in practice. FLEs, therefore, are capable of looking at the NS idea from the company's perspective in terms of feasibility, including both technical and organizational issues (Engen and Magnusson 2015), which enriches their contribution to the service innovation process. In sum, FLEs constitute an essential source of information needed to direct the design and implementation of new core and augmented services, and in this way have a key role in service innovation success.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these cases, ad hoc innovations must be accepted by managers in back offices, as they are in control of the organizational resources to implement these ideas and can evaluate their compliance with the firm's strategic objectives. Accordingly, service innovation derived from service encounters may be planned and structured, non-intentional or nonsystematized, or both (Engen and Magnusson 2015).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, service practice-based innovations clearly depend on FLEs' creativity. Engen and Magnusson (2015) contribute to the categorization of service encounter-based innovation processes by observing that service Bad hoc innovations,^defined as Ba solution to a particular problem posed by a given client^ (Gallouj and Weinstein 1997, p. 549), are not the result of a top-down planned strategic process, but may involve the commitment of a significant amount of organizational resources. In these cases, ad hoc innovations must be accepted by managers in back offices, as they are in control of the organizational resources to implement these ideas and can evaluate their compliance with the firm's strategic objectives.…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The role of frontline employees (FLEs), or those employees in direct contact with the firm's customers, has been the object of special attention. Through service encounters, FLEs are in an optimal position to collect information about customers' preferences (Engen and Magnusson 2015;Ye et al 2012), and thereby they constitute a key interface for the transfer of valuable external knowledge into the NSDP (Atuahene-Gima 1996; Østergaarda et al 2011). Thus, the literature provides several examples of firms that have taken advantage of FLEs' potential to generate successful service innovation ideas, for example, Singapore Airlines, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Tata Global Beverages in customer service markets (Lages and Piercy 2012), or Accenture Limited, BT Global Services (Smith and Mindrum 2008), HCL Technologies (Ramdas and Gajulapalli 2008), and RiteSolutions (Hoyt and Rao 2006) in business services markets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Frontline employees’ collaboration in industrial service innovation: routes of co-creation’s effects on new service performance

Vijande

Sánchez

Rudd

2015

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

102

104

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From a Service-Dominant Logic (S-DL) perspective, employees constitute operant resources that firms can draw to enhance the outcomes of innovation efforts. While research acknowledges that frontline employees (FLEs) constitute, through service encounters, a key interface for the transfer of valuable external knowledge into the firm, the range of potential benefits derived from FLE-driven innovation deserves more investigation. Using a sample of knowledge intensive business services firms (KIBS), this study examines how the collaboration with FLEs along the new service development (NSD) process, namely FLE co-creation, impacts on service innovation performance following two routes of different effects. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) results indicate that FLE co-creation benefits the NS success among FLEs and firm's customers, the constituents of the resources route. FLE co-creation also has a positive effect on the NSD speed, which in turn enhances the NS quality. NSD speed and NS quality integrate the operational route, which proves to be the most effective path to impact the NS market performance. Accordingly, KIBS managers must value their FLEs as essential partners to achieve successful innovation from an internal and external perspective, and develop the appropriate mechanisms to guarantee their effective involvement along the NSD process.

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Section: S-dl and Service Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Frontline employees’ collaboration in industrial service innovation: routes of co-creation’s effects on new service performance

Vijande

Sánchez

Rudd

2015

J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci.

102

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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How to foster frontline employee knowledge sharing within service‐oriented enterprises: Empirical evidence from China

Zhou

Chen

2018

Hum Ftrs & Erg Mfg Svc

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Based on the context of Chinese workplace, the present research aims to explore the combined effects of proactive personality, supervisor–subordinate guanxi (s–s guanxi), and leaders’ innovation expectations on the knowledge sharing of frontline employees (FLEs). Questionnaire data from a sample of 301 FLEs within service‐oriented enterprises in China were used in this study. The results show that proactive personality and leaders’ innovation expectations are both positively related to employees’ psychological empowerment and knowledge sharing, and s–s guanxi significantly impacts psychological empowerment, but has a nonsignificant effect on knowledge sharing. This study expands the understanding of FLEs’ knowledge sharing behavior and enriches our understanding of the guanxi construction process during the interaction between supervisors and subordinates.

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