The influence of customer characteristics on frontline employees’ customer need knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn A. Hüttel ◽  
Zelal Ates ◽  
Jan Hendrik Schumann ◽  
Marion Büttgen ◽  
Stephanie Haager ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Employee Training ◽  
Frontline Employees ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Interaction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Customer Need

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the influence of individual customer characteristics on frontline employees’ (FLEs) customer need knowledge (CNK), a construct that objectively measures FLEs’ ability to accurately identify a given customer’s hierarchy of needs.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses hierarchical data involving the customer and bank advisor levels in the banking sector of three European countries. The matched sample consisted of 1,166 customers and 332 employees. To account for the nested structure of the data, the study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) using HLM software.FindingsThe results show that customers’ financial experience and risk aversion positively influence CNK and customer-perceived responsibility for the service outcome negatively impacts CNK. The results further show the impact of individual customer cultural values on CNK, which can be influenced by customer-oriented employee training. Cross-level interaction effects indicate that training measures can reverse negative influences of customers’ high power distance and uncertainty avoidance on CNK, whereas for customers characterized by high long-term orientations, training measures can backfire.Originality/valueThis study contributes to research on the antecedents of FLEs’ CNK by examining the currently overlooked influence of individual customer characteristics that are pertinent to the employee–customer interaction process. The study reveals customer characteristics as a new area of antecedents influencing FLEs’ accurate perceptions of customer needs.

The influence of national cultural values on the use of rewards alignment to improve sales collaboration

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Magnusson ◽  
Robert Peterson ◽  
Stanford A. Westjohn
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Reward Structure ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sales Organizations ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how national cultural values affect sales collaboration directly and how it interacts with the firm's reward structure. The results are linked with firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – The conceptual framework is tested on a large sample of sales organizations across 26 countries. Due to the nested nature of the data, hierarchical linear modeling is used to test the hypothesized framework. Findings – Sales collaboration is positively related to firm performance, while individualism and masculinity are negatively related to sales collaboration. Rewards alignment leads to greater sales collaboration and is particularly important in highly individualistic and masculine societies. Practical implications – The study identifies rewards alignment as an actionable management tool to foster greater sales collaboration and, in turn, enhanced firm performance. The study suggests that this is particularly important in cultures associated with high individualism and masculinity. These two values can hinder sales collaboration within the firm, but firm practices (rewards alignment) can counter societal tendencies. Originality/value – The effects of cultural values have been neglected in prior research on sales collaboration and firm performance. The findings in this study suggest that culture is important and, at times, it can be beneficial for the organizational culture to counter the dominant national cultural values.

CEO duality and bribery: the roles of gender and national culture

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 218-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Velasquez Tuliao ◽  
Chung-wen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Future Orientation ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Ceo Duality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cross-cultural impact of CEO-Chair’s gender to the likelihood of CEO duality firm’s bribery. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze data of 5,837 CEO duality firms from 21 countries. Findings Firms with male CEO-Chairs were found to have higher propensity to bribe than their female counterparts. Moreover, cultural values of institutional collectivism and performance orientation strengthened gender’s impact to bribery. In contrast, future orientation weakened the gender-bribery relationship, as opposed to the proposed effect. Practical implications Key findings of this study can be utilized to increase awareness and widen perspective on the roles of CEO-Chair’s gender and national culture on bribery. These can also be useful in the selection of CEO-Chair, design of educational programs on ethics as well as government and non-governments’ programs and policies to minimize incidents of bribery. Originality/value There are no existing studies on CEO duality firm’s bribery which performed cross-cultural analysis on the impact of CEO-Chair’s gender, making the study a novel contribution to business ethics, organizational structure, corporate governance, management decision, transparency, and accountability.

Converting service encounters into cross-selling opportunities

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 491-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Yu ◽  
Paul Patterson ◽  
Ko de Ruyter
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Joint Influence ◽  
The Impact ◽  
A Performance

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how the motivation and ability of individual employees to sell influences their units’ capability to align their service delivery with sales in a way that satisfies customers. It also addresses the potential influence of employees’ confidence in their supervisor’s ability to sell, such that they predict a joint influence of personal and proxy agency. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to address the research issues. Findings – Employees’ learning orientation has a positive influence on service-sales ambidexterity, but the impact of a performance-avoidance goal orientation is negative, and a performance-prove orientation has no influence. Proxy efficacy enhances the positive impact of learning orientations due to the manager’s ability to lead by example, facilitate knowledge sharing and provide advice. However, it attenuates the impact of self-efficacy on service-sales ambidexterity, because skilled supervisors tend to take over and eliminate opportunities for employees to build their own skills. It also confirms the positive influence of service-sales ambidexterity on branch performance. Originality/value – To examine the emerging service-sales ambidexterity issues raised in frontline service units, this study adopts a motivation and capability paradigm. It is among the first studies to address service-sales ambidexterity issues by considering both individual and branch contextual factors.

Triple-down model of capability, job characteristics and burnout

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 506-523
Author(s):  
Thuy Thi Thanh Nguyen ◽  
Man-Ling Chang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Job Involvement ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type

Purpose A Chinese proverb states: “Able people should do more work.” Although working hard is a common workplace phenomenon, does it lead to burnout in capable people? This study aims to examine the interactive effects of superior-perceived capability and subordinates’ self-efficacy on subordinate job demands, job involvement and burnout in frontline employees in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach Data on 41 superiors and 161 subordinates from 16 hotels in Taiwan were collected. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to examine the research hypotheses. Findings The findings support the hypothesis that self-efficacy leads to high levels of burnout and job involvement. However, superior-perceived capability has no impact on subordinate job demand, job involvement or burnout. While job demands are positively related to the emotional exhaustion of burnout, job involvement is negatively related to depersonalization of burnout. In addition, job involvement partially mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and depersonalization of burnout. Originality/value Based on the job demands–resources theory, this study reveals the fresh point of view for the effect of self-efficacy on burnout. This paper explores the dark-side role of self-efficacy for burnout – higher self-efficacy leads to higher burnout – that is contrary to the findings from previous studies and hinges on Chinese cultural values. In addition, the current study provides guidelines for top managers to protect capable employees from burnout by enhancing intrinsic motivation and job involvement.

Masking the bullwhip effect in retail: the influence of data aggregation

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 814-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao 'Henry' Jin ◽  
Brent D. Williams ◽  
Matthew A. Waller ◽  
Adriana Rossiter Hofer
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Data Aggregation ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Bullwhip Effect ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Demand Variability ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The accurate measurement of demand variability amplification across different nodes in the supply chain, or “bullwhip effect,” is critical for firms to achieve more efficient inventory, production, and ordering planning processes. Building on recent analytical research that suggests that data aggregation tends to mask the bullwhip effect in the retail industry, the purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether different patterns of data aggregation influence its measurement. Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing weekly, product-level order and sales data from three product categories of a consumer packaged goods manufacturer, the study uses hierarchical linear modeling to empirically test the effects of data aggregation on different measures of bullwhip. Findings – The authors findings lend strong support to the masking effect of aggregating sales and order data along product-location and temporal dimensions, as well as the dampening effect of seasonality on the measurement of the bullwhip effect. Research limitations/implications – These findings indicate that inconsistencies found in the literature may be due to measurement aggregation and statistical techniques, both of which should be applied with care by academics and practitioners in order to preserve the fidelity of their analyses. Originality/value – Using product-weekly level data that cover both seasonal and non-seasonal demand, this study is the first, to the author’s knowledge, to systematically aggregate data up to category and monthly levels to empirically examine the impact of data aggregation and seasonality on bullwhip measurement.

The conceptual difference really matters

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Alipour
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Database ◽  
The Common ◽  
Causal Impact ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior ◽  
The Impact

Purpose In spite of the common label, uncertainty avoidance (UA) across Hofstede and GLOBE models has been found to be negatively correlated and capture distinct concepts. Nevertheless, the empirical research focusing on the impact of UA on a variety of constructs has strongly neglected this conceptual difference, assuming them equivalent constructs and using one as an alternative for the other, or merely applying one for reasons other than conceptual relevance. Challenging this taken-for-granted assumption, the purpose of this paper is to show that their conceptual difference matters by showing that their causal impact on a given construct is not consistent given their conceptual difference. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical linear modeling analyses on firms from Compustat Global Database across 44 countries within the time span of 1990–2017. Findings The findings show that the causal effects of Hofstede UA index (UAI) and GLOBE UA society practices on the risk-taking behavior of firms are not consistent. Unlike Hofstede UAI, GLOBE UA (society practices) does not reduce the risk-taking behavior of firms. Originality/value This study is valuable in that it raises awareness on the conceptual differences between UA dimensions across Hofstede vs GLOBE and challenges one of the taken-for-granted assumptions in the empirical literature that the two are equivalent by empirically showing that their impacts on a given construct (i.e. the risk-taking behavior of firms) are not consistent.

Contingent conditions on the effectiveness of salesperson acquisition-retention ambidexterity: the motivation–opportunity–ability framework

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaqin Zheng ◽  
Dong Liu ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Zhimei Zang
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Sales Performance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moa Framework ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to investigate moderators affecting the impact of salesperson acquisition-retention (AR) ambidexterity on sales performance based on the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) framework. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected triadic data through 391 questionnaires from salespeople, 50 questionnaires from sales managers and archival data about each salesperson’s performance. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to test the hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that salesperson AR ambidexterity positively affects sales performance. The positive effect is strengthened by capability control but weakened by outcome control and activity control. The authors also find that sales experience and market attractiveness hurt the effectiveness of salesperson AR ambidexterity. Research limitations/implications First, this study does not examine the mediating mechanism underlying the effect of salesperson AR ambidexterity. Second, sales-service ambidexterity is another ambidextrous variable for salespeople. Future research can consider AR and sales-service ambidexterity together. Practical implications First, managers should be cautious when encouraging experienced salespeople to conduct AR ambidexterity. Second, managers need to use capability control to motivate salespeople with AR ambidextrous behaviors. Third, AR ambidexterity could be not required in a market with many opportunities. Originality/value Although some studies have examined the effectiveness of salesperson AR ambidexterity, they reveal inconsistent findings, which suggest contingent conditions on the effectiveness of salesperson AR ambidexterity. However, the attention on the contingent conditions is limited. Therefore, this paper systematically investigates the contingent conditions from the MOA framework. The findings provide some insights into when salesperson AR ambidexterity is effective.

Signaling and social influence: the impact of corporate volunteer programs

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-196
Author(s):  
Yinyin Cao ◽  
Frits K. Pil ◽  
Benn Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Employee Reactions ◽  
Volunteer Experiences ◽  
Volunteer Programs ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to provide insight on how work–life initiatives impact employees. Using corporate volunteer programs as an example, the authors examine the role of coworker social influence in shaping the reactions of both employee participants and non-participants of the program. The paper further identifies several factors that may moderate these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed employees before and after the implementation of a new corporate work–life initiative. 99 employees provided data pre and post. OLS regression and hierarchical linear modeling were used to test hypothesized relationships.FindingsEven in the context of low participation, work–life initiatives engendered positive organization-related perceptions among employees. These positive outcomes were due in part to coworkers' sharing of their volunteer experiences and were most prominent for employees in positions that afforded flexibility, and employees who reported close ties with coworkers.Practical implicationsThe study deepens our understanding of employee reactions to work–life programs and underlines the importance of these programs even when employee participation is low. The role of coworker influence as a determinant of employee reactions suggests there may be value in purposefully fostering participants' sharing of volunteer experiences in the workplace.Originality/valueThis study takes a unique approach to examining the role of coworker influence in shaping employee reactions to corporate initiatives.

Impact of relatedness, uncertainty and slack on corporate entrepreneurship decisions

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Garrett ◽  
Shaunn Mattingly ◽  
Jeff Hornsby ◽  
Alireza Aghaey
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Corporate Entrepreneurship ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Slack Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of opportunity relatedness and uncertainty on the decision of a corporate entrepreneur to pursue a venturing opportunity.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a conjoint experimental design to reveal the structure of respondents' decision policies. Data were gathered from 47 useable replies from corporate entrepreneurs and were analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).FindingsResults show that product relatedness, market relatedness, perceived certainty about expected outcomes and slack resources all have a positive effect on the willingness of a corporate entrepreneur to pursue a new venture idea. Moreover, slack was found to diminish the positive effect of product relatedness on the likelihood to pursue a venturing opportunity.Practical implicationsBy providing a better understanding of decision-making schemas of corporate entrepreneurs, the findings of this study help improve the practice of entrepreneurship at the organizational level. In order to make more accurate opportunity assessments, corporate entrepreneurs need to be aware of their cognitive strategies and need to factor in the salient criteria affecting such assessments.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the limited understanding of corporate-level decision-making with regard to pursuing venturing opportunities. More specifically, the paper adds new insights regarding how relatedness and uncertainty affect new venture opportunity assessments in the presence (or lack thereof) of slack resources.

Good problem solvers? Leveraging knowledge sharing mechanisms and management support

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1017-1038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambra Galeazzo ◽  
Andrea Furlan
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Management Support ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
Good Problem

Purpose Organizational learning relies on problem-solving as a way to generate new knowledge. Good problem solvers should adopt a problem-solving orientation (PSO) that analyzes the causes of problems to arrive at an effective solution. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this relevant, though underexplored, topic by examining two important antecedents of PSO: knowledge sharing mechanisms and transformational leaders’ support. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were performed on a sample of 131 workers in 12 plants. A questionnaire was designed to collect data from shop-floor employees. Knowledge sharing was measured using the mechanisms of participative practices and standardized practices. Management support was assessed based on the extent to which supervisors engaged in transformational leadership. Findings Knowledge sharing mechanisms are an antecedent of PSO behavior, but management support measured in terms of transformational leadership is not. However, transformational leadership affects the use of knowledge sharing mechanisms that, in turn, is positively related to PSO behavior. Practical implications The research provides practical guidance for practitioners to understand how to manage knowledge in the workplace to promote employees’ PSO behaviors. Originality/value Though problem-solving activities are intrinsic in any working context, PSO is still very much underrepresented and scarcely understood in knowledge management studies. This study fills this gap by investigating the antecedents of PSO behavior.

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