Service Excellence by Inspired Frontline Employees
Type
conference keynote
Date Issued
2023-05
Author(s)
Abstract
Retailers struggle to stay competitive without cutting payroll expenses for frontline employees (FLEs). Against rising cost pressure, they need to deliberate about how to achieve excellent service offerings without increasing costs. Therefore, retailers try to reengage with their customers by positioning themselves as providers of inspiring shopping experiences. FLEs are one important source of such inspiring shopping experiences. Indeed, recent findings in the literature have indicated that inspired FLEs pass on new ideas to customers. Inspired FLEs’ new ideas help uncover customers' latent needs faster, solve service problems creatively, and promote adaptive service offerings. We administered an online survey to 248 FLEs and showed that FLE inspiration significantly mediates the effect of retailers’ perceived service climate and structural empowerment on three FLE variables, namely empathy, anticipation, and creativity. These three variables precede adaptive service offerings.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Event Title
EMAC Annual Conference 2023
Event Location
Odense, Denmark
Event Date
23.-26.5.2023
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
269166
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
221205_EMAC Paper_ServiceExcellencebyInspiredFLE_Abstract.pdf
Size
164.84 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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