The Service Models of Frontline Employees

Abstract

Service literature has implicitly assumed that frontline employees (FLEs) share a common understanding of the term “customer service.” Perhaps because of this assumption, differences in FLE attitudes, behaviors, and performance have been ascribed to organizational characteristics, social environment, job characteristics, or personality. This article shows that FLEs’ interpretations of customer service also matter. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this study finds that three distinct interpretations of customer service, or service models, exist among retail FLEs: (1) the act of giving customers what they ask for, efficiently and courteously; (2) a means to accomplishing immediate objectives, such as sales quotas; and (3) the formation of mutually beneficial relationships with customers through problem solving. Service models are related to FLEs’ customer orientation, competence, surface and deep acting, and interpersonal values. The findings indicate that differences in FLEs’ attitudes, behaviors, and performance can arise from their keeping of different service models; illuminate individual-level beliefs underlying service typologies, such as goods- and service-dominant logic; and suggest that FLE recruitment and training should take service models into account.

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