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When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine internal marketing relationships and their influence on salesperson attitudes and behaviors in retail store environments. The authors investigate the moderating role of customer complaining behavior on the nature of these relationships. Specifically, they examine the relationship between organization-employee and supervisor-employee relationships and their association with salesperson job motivation and commitment to customer service. Customer complaints are expected to have differential moderating effects on the relationship between organizational and supervisory support and these salesperson outcomes. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 392 retail employees within 115 stores of a national retail organization. The model was partially supported. Theoretical and managerial implications are explored.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, UK

    Simon J. Bell

  2. Brock University, Canada

    Bülent Mengüç

  3. Telstra Corporation Ltd., Australia

    Sara L. Stefani

Authors
  1. Simon J. Bell
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  2. Bülent Mengüç
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  3. Sara L. Stefani
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Additional information

Simon J. Bell (s.bell@jims.cam.ac.uk) (Ph.D., University of Melbourne) is a university lecturer in marketing at the Judge Institute of Management, Business School of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. His research has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, andMarketing Theory, among others. His areas of research interest include organizational learning, sales force management and internal marketing, services and relationship marketing, and corporate social responsibility.

Bülent Mengüç (Ph.D., Marmara University, Turkey) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Brock University, Canada. His research has appeared in theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theEuropean Journal of Marketing, among others. His areas of research interest include sales force management, relationship marketing, and cross-cultural research methodology.

Sara L. Stefani (B.Comm.(Hons), University of Melbourne) is a customer satisfaction analyst at Telstra Corporation Ltd., Australia.

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Bell, S.J., Mengüç, B. & Stefani, S.L. When customers disappoint: A model of relational internal marketing and customer complaints. JAMS 32, 112–126 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070303261467

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