Mechanisms linking employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions.

Abstract

Past empirical evidence has indicated that employee affective delivery can influence customer reactions (e.g., customer satisfaction, service quality evaluation). This study extends previous research by empirically examining mediating processes underlying the relationship between employee affective delivery and customer behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 352 employee-customer pairs in 169 retail shoe stores in Taiwan. Results showed that the influence of employee affective delivery on customers' willingness to return to the store and pass positive comments to friends was indirect through the mediating processes of customer in-store positive moods and perceived friendliness. The study also indicated that employee affective delivery influences customers' time spent in store, which, in turn, influences customer behavioral intentions.

Smile for a while: the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer affect and satisfaction

“…Supporting this notion, scenario-based research suggests that pleasure should mediate the effect of employee-displayed smiling on customer satisfaction (Musgrove, 2011;Söderlund and Rosengren, 2008). Although no field studies have explicitly addressed this issue using experimental design, there is indirect evidence for such a process explanation (e.g., Keh et al, 2013; Matila and Enz, 2002;Trougakos et al, 2011;Tsai and Huang, 2002).Although Barger and Grandey (2006) found no support for the hypothesis that employee-displayed smiling should positively influence customers' positive affect, they did demonstrate that the isolated effect of an employee's smile strength and the combined effect of the employee smiling and displaying other positive behaviors were both positively associated with customers' smile strength and encounter satisfaction. However, the positive affect index that they used was a combination of both pleasure-related (pleased, contended) and arousal-related items (excited).…”

“…Some studies (e.g., Pugh, 2001; Hennig-Thurau et al, 2006) have relied on affect measures that almost exclusively relate to arousal, while others (e.g., Musgrove, 2011;Söderlund and Rosengren, 2008) have relied on measures completely associated with pleasure. Yet others (e.g., Barger and Grandey, 2006; Kim and Yoon, 2012;Small and Verrochi, 2009;Tsai and Huang, 2002) have mixed pleasure and arousal-linked measures and collapsed the responses into a single broad affect index. The present study differs from most other studies in that it measured all affective dimensions (that is, pleasure, arousal, and dominance) in the S-O-R model, rather than one or a mixture of two dimensions.…”

“…Respondents surveyed by the positive poll workers reported more favorable attitudes toward the campus organization, and this was partly measured by their overall satisfaction. Based on these studies, the author hypothesizes:H1: Employee-displayed smiling positively influences customer satisfaction.Most of the reviewed literature (e.g., Berg et al, 2015; Gabriel et al, 2015; Kulczynski et al, 2016;Musgrove, 2011;Small and Verrochi, 2009; Sönderlund and Rosengren, 2008;Trougakos et al, 2011;Tsai and Huang, 2002) has also suggested a link between employeedisplayed smiling (either in isolation or together with other positive employee-displayed behaviors) and customers' positive affect -at least when the affect measures used relate to the pleasure dimension in the S-O-R model. Moreover, extant research has documented a positive relation between employee-displayed smiling and customers' smile strength (Barger and Grandey, 2006), as well as between customers' emotional displays during a service encounter and their subsequent levels of pleasurable feelings (Kim and Yoon, 2012; Mattila and Enz, 10 2002).…”

Display Rules and Strain in Service Jobs: What’s Fairness Got to Do With It?

“…During training and socialization processes, managers should strive to make the link between behavior and rewards explicit (Vroom, 1964) and to explain or justify the rationale behind display policies (Greenberg, 1990(Greenberg, , 1994. This may mean discussing research that demonstrates the linkages between displays and rewards such as tips, customer satisfaction, and customer repatronage intentions (Pugh, 2001;Tidd & Lockard, 1978;Tsai, 2001;Tsai & Huang, 2002).…”

“…In order to manage the public's impressions effectively, service workers are expected to maintain positive expressions, regardless of true feelings. In support of this requirement, the display of positive emotions to customers has been linked with service ratings, customer satisfaction and intentions to return ( Pugh, 2001;Tsai, 2001;Tsai & Huang, 2002). In fact, positive displays are often enforced by secret shoppers, supervisors, or customer comment cards, and are an explicit part of employee training programs (Hochschild, 1983;Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987;VanMaanen & Kunda, 1989).…”