مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

 مجله تحقیقات بازاریابی – Journal of Business Research

Conventional wisdom indicates that customer-oriented behaviors of frontline employees (FLEs) are important to build new and maintain existing customer relationships (Bettencourt & Brown, 2003; Chakrabarty, Brown, & Widing, 2012; Guenzi, De Luca, & Troilo, 2011) and to increase customer satisfaction (Huang, 2011). Particularly for interpersonal services, which require “close, personal contact between customers and employees” (Meuter, Bitner, Ostrom, & Brown, 2005, p. 61), FLEs are the face of the organization in the eyes of the customer (Homburg, Wieseke, & Hoyer, 2009). FLEs are “service workers who personally interact with customers in retail and service encounters” (Sirianni, Castro-Nelson, Moralse, & Fitzsimons, 2009, p. 966).

However, approximately 20% of FLEs are demoralized by a lack of challenge, and more than 15% even quit their jobs because of it (Skaer, 2006; Uduji, 2009). Practitioners estimate that this problematic state costs the United States over $750 billion a year, which is more than $5000 per employee (Rothlin & Werder, 2008). In parallel, researchers reveal increased service failure owing to a lack of engagement by FLEs (e.g., Harris & Ogbonna, 2002, 2006). Firms’ display rules and scripted communication have reduced the variance in customer interactions, making the service delivery process far less exciting (Batt & Moynihan, 2002; Graban, 2010; Grandey, 2000, 2003; Wilk & Moynihan, 2005), and some researchers note that “many service operations are embracing mass production” (Batt, 1999, p. 540).

Despite the service encounter’s significance, research is surprisingly silent about customer-related consequences of FLEs’ lack of challenges at the service encounter. Research into lack of challenging work indicates that it can lead to undesirable outcomes, including job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, and turnover (Kass, Vadanovich, & Callender, 2001; Melamed, Ben-Avi, Luz, & Green, 1995) as well as reduced work effectiveness (Drory, 1982) and withdrawal (Spector et al., 2006). Most researchers focus on assembly line jobs, but some recent studies suggest that white collar jobs may also be short on challenge (Bruursema, Kessler, & Spector, 2011; Fisher, 1993; Van der Heijden, Schepers, & Nijssen, 2012). In turn, FLEs who suffer from boreout might engage in habitualized behaviors (Van Dyne, Jehn, & Cummings, 2002) and are less innovative (Stock, 2015) rather than seeking the best solution for customers.