If employees “go the extra mile,” do customers reciprocate with similar behavior?

Abstract

This study proposes an integrated framework depicting the effects of two types of employee behavior (employee citizenship behavior and employee dysfunctional behavior) on customer satisfaction, which in turn, influences customer commitment. Customer satisfaction and commitment are then expected to affect two types of customer behavior (customer citizenship behavior and customer dysfunctional behavior). A survey of matched responses from 123 employees and 590 customers reveals that employee citizenship behavior, employee dysfunctional behavior, customer satisfaction, and customer commitment are important predictors of customer citizenship behavior and customer dysfunctional behavior. Furthermore, this study identifies variables (relationship age, group size, and communication frequency) that moderate the relationships being considered. The results show that the effects of two types of employee behavior on customer satisfaction are stronger when relationship age and communication frequency are higher

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“…Thus, they are interested in the welfare of the organization and are willing to reciprocate efforts (i.e., citizenship behaviors) with respect to past benefits received (Bettencourt, 1997). Empirical evidence of previous research also supported that commitment leads to CCB (Bartikowski & Walsh, 2011;Bettencourt, 1997;Bove et al, 2009;Curth, Uhrich, & Benkenstein, 2014;Gruen, Summers, & Acito, 2000;Yi & Gong, 2008). Accordingly, we proposed the following hypotheses to examine the relationships between customer commitment and the four dimensions of CCB.…”

“…When customers are satisfied with a service received, they are more likely to reciprocate by engaging in citizenship behavior obligingly (Bettencourt, 1997). The linkage between customer satisfaction and CCB has been established empirically (Groth, 2005;Yi & Gong, 2008). Thus, in the context of fitness center, we hypothesized that:…”

The SAGE Handbook of Social Marketing

“…Additionally, while some studies focus on consumers' overall evaluation of a service (Cronin and Taylor, 1992;Parasuraman et al, 1994) there is an increasing emphasis on the 'service encounter' or 'moment of truth' in determining servicerelated behaviours (Bettencourt and Gwinner, 1996;Yi and Gong, 2008).…”

“…The factors which consumers evaluate have been explored and relationships have been established between internal customer (employee) and external customer (consumer) satisfaction. When employees are satisfied with the service they receive, they are more likely to show care and concern for customers and 'to go the extra mile' to be helpful and responsive to their needs (Yi and Gong, 2008). A 'chain' has therefore been established (Heskett et al, 1997) between the final consumer's behaviour and the 'service' provided to employees by the organizations in which they work.…”

“…Alternatively, where no perceived alternatives exist, this may result in negative behavioural change and a potential increase in 'unwanted' pregnancies (Smith, 2000). Other behavioural responses to service experiences have been described as 'citizenship' and 'dysfunctional' behaviours (Bettencourt, 1997;Yi and Gong, 2008). The former includes sharing positive experiences with other customers, assisting other customers, treating service employees in a pleasant manner, or making suggestions for the improvement of service.…”