Engaged customers as job resources or demands for frontline employees?. Issue 3 (9th May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Verleye, Katrien; Gemmel, Paul; Rangarajan, Deva
• Is Part Of: Journal of service theory and practice. Volume 26:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 363
• Page End: 383
• Publication Date: 2016-05-09
• Subjects: Frontline employees -- Role stress -- Nursing homes -- Customer engagement behaviours -- Job demands-resources model -- Job strain; Service industries -- Management -- Periodicals; Service industries -- Marketing -- Periodicals; Service industries -- Quality control -- Periodicals; 338.4700068
• DOI: 10.1108/JSTP-09-2014-0208
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2055-6225

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a theoretical model on how different customer engagement behaviors (CEBs), such as giving feedback and helping other customers, affect the role stress-job strain relationship among frontline employees. Design/methodology/approach: – Drawing from the job demands-resources model, this paper hypothesizes that some CEBs weaken the role stress-job strain relationship among frontline employees, whereas the opposite holds for other CEBs. To test these hypotheses, the study involved a survey among 279 frontline employees in 20 nursing home teams in Belgium. Findings: – The results reveal that the impact of role stress on job strain is stronger when frontline employees notice more helping behaviors among customers and weaker when frontline employees receive more customer feedback or notice that customers spread positive word-of-mouth about the nursing home. Originality/value: – This research contributes to the customer engagement and frontline employee literature by showing that CEBs can act as both job demands and job resources for frontline employees.