Abstract
The marketing literature suggests that frontline employees are the central determinant of how customer-oriented a service organization is perceived to be by its customers. However, little is known about the contingencies of employees’ customer orientation (CO) beyond personality traits and broadly construed work attitudes. Based on the social identity approach, the present article develops a multilevel model whereby CO is the result of identity-based management of frontline employees. Two empirical studies in the travel industry show that employees’ CO depends on employees’ organizational identification and their leaders’ acting as role models of CO.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahearne, M., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Gruen, T. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of customer–company identification: Expanding the role of relationship marketing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(3), 574–585.
Albert, S., & Whetten, D. A. (1985). Organizational identity. In L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (eds.), Research in organizational behavior. Greenwich: JAI
Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1–18.
Armstrong, J. S., & Overton, T. S. (1977). Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. Journal of Marketing Research, 14(3), 396–402.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research and management applications (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press.
Brown, T. J., Mowen, J. C., Donavan, D. T., & Licata, J. W. (2002). The customer orientation of service workers: Personality trait determinants and effects on self-and supervisor performance ratings. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(1), 110–119.
Bryk, A. S., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Newbury Park: Sage.
Cardador, M. T., & Pratt, M. G. (2006). Identification management and its bases: Bridging management and marketing perspectives through a focus on affiliation dimensions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 174–184.
Dutton, J. M., Dukerich J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39(2), 239–263.
Edwards, M. R. (2005). Organizational identification: A conceptual and operational review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 7(4), 207–230.
Ellemers, N., de Gilder D., & Haslam, S. A. (2004). Motivating individuals and groups at work: A social identity perspective on leadership and group performance. Academy of Management Review, 29(3), 459–478.
Ellemers, N., Spears, R., & Doosje, B. (1997). Sticking together or falling apart: Ingroup identification as a psychological determinant of group commitment versus individual mobility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(3), 617–626.
Guion, R. M. (1998). Assessment, measurement, and prediction for personnel decisions. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2), 159–170.
Hackman, J.R., & Oldham, G.R. (1980). Work redesign.Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Hartline, M. D., & Ferrell, O. C. (1996). The management of customer-contact service employees. Journal of Marketing, 60(4), 52–70.
Hartline, M. D., Maxham, J. G. III, & McKee, D. O. (2000). Corridors of influence in the dissemination of customer-oriented strategy to customer contact service employees. Journal of Marketing, 64(2), 35–50.
Haslam, S. A., Postmes, T., & Ellemers, N. (2003). More than a metaphor: Organizational identity makes organizational life possible. British Journal of Management, 14(4), 357–369.
Haslam, S. A. (2004). Psychology in organizations: The social identity approach. London: Sage.
Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. J. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 121–140.
Homburg, C., & Stock, R. M. (2005). Exploring the conditions under which salesperson work satisfaction can lead to customer satisfaction. Psychology & Marketing, 22(5), 393–421.
Jones, E., Busch, P., & Dacin, P. (2003). Firm market orientation and salesperson customer orientation: Interpersonal and intrapersonal influences on customer service and retention in business-to-business buyer–seller relationships. Journal of Business Research, 56(4), 323–341.
Kelley, S. W. (1992). Developing customer orientation among service employees. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20(1), 27–36.
Kohli, A. K., & Jaworski, B. (1990). Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. Journal of Marketing, 54(2), 1–18.
Liao, H., & Chuang, A. (2004). A multilevel investigation of factors influencing employee service performance and customer outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 47(1), 41–58.
Licata, J. W., Mowen, J. C., Harris, E. G., & Brown, T. J. (2003). On the trait antecedents and outcomes of service worker job resourcefulness: A hierarchical model approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(3), 256–271.
Lichtenstein, D. R., Drumwright, M. E., & Braig, B. M. (2004). The effects of corporate social responsibility on customer donations to corporate-supported nonprofits. Journal of Marketing, 68(4), 16–32.
Mael, F., & Ashforth, B. E. (1992). Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(2), 103–123.
McIntyre, R. P., Claxton, R. P., Anselmi, K., & Wheatley, E. W. (2000). Cognitive style as an antecedent to adaptiveness, customer, orientation, and self-perceived selling performance. Journal of Business and Psychology, 15(2), 179–196.
Meyer, J. P., Becker, T. F., & Van Dick, R. (2006). Social identities and commitments at work: Toward and integrative model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(5), 665–683.
Meyer, J. P., & Herscovitch, L. (2001). Commitment in the workplace: Toward a general model. Human Resource Management Review, 11(3), 299–326.
Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal-of-Vocational-Behavior, 61(1), 20–52.
Miller, V. D., Allen, M., Casey, M. K., & Johnson, J. R. (2000). Reconsidering the organizational identification questionnaire. Management Communication Quarterly, 13, 626–658.
Peccei, R., & Rosenthal, P. (2000). Frontline responses to customer orientation programmes: A theoretical and empirical analysis. International Journal of Human Resources Management, 11(3), 562–590.
Pettijohn, C. E., Pettijohn, L. S., & Taylor, A. J. (2002). The influence of salesperson skill, motivation, and training on the practice of customer-oriented selling. Psychology & Marketing, 19(9), 743–757.
Pratt, M. G. (1998). To be or not to be? Central questions in organisational identification. In D. A. Whetten & P. C. Godfrey (eds.), Identity in organizations: Building theory through conversations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Reicher, S. D., Haslam, S. A., & Hopkins, N. (2005). Social identity and the dynamics of leadership: Leaders and followers as collaborative agents in the transformation of social reality. Leadership Quarterly, 16(4), 547–568.
Riketta, M. (2005). Organizational identification: A meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(2), 358–368.
Rozell, E. J., Pettijohn, C. E., & Parker, R. S. (2004). Customer-oriented selling: Exploring the roles of emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. Psychology & Marketing, 21(6), 405–425.
Stock, R. M., & Hoyer, W. D. (2002). Leadership style as driver of salespeoples’ customer orientation. Journal of Market—Focused Management, 5(4), 355–376.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations. Monterey: Brooks-Cole.
Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thomas, R. W., Soutar, G. N., & Ryan, M. M. (2001). The selling orientation–customer orientation (S.O.C.O.) scale: A proposed short form. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 21(1), 63–70.
Turner, J. C. (1985). Social categorization and the self-concept: A social cognitive theory of group behavior. In E. J. Lawler (ed.), Advances in group processes (vol. 2, pp. 77–122). Greenwich: JAI.
Van Dick, R. (2001). Identification and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts: Linking theory and research from social and organizational psychology. International Journal of Management Reviews, 3(4), 265–283.
Van Dick, R. (2004). My job is my castle: Identification in organizational contexts. In C. L. Cooper & I. T. Robertson (eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (vol. 19, pp. 171–203). Chichester: Wiley.
Van Knippenberg, D., & Hogg, M. A. (2003). A social identity model of leadership effectiveness in organizations. In B. Staw & R. M. Kramer (eds.), Research in organizational behavior. Greenwich: JAI.
Voss, G. B. & Voss, Z. G. (2000). Strategic orientation and firm performance in an artistic environment. Journal of Marketing, 64(1), 67–83.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the German National Science Fund (WI 3146/1-1).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wieseke, J., Ullrich, J., Christ, O. et al. Organizational identification as a determinant of customer orientation in service organizations. Market Lett 18, 265–278 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-007-9021-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-007-9021-2