Amit Poddar and Ramana Madupalli
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee attitudes and subsequent turnover intentions from the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee attitudes and subsequent turnover intentions from the organization and also the occupation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from five semi‐structured depth interviews and 215 quantitative surveys using structured questionnaires were used to develop and test the theoretical model. Customer service employees working in different call center companies serving American customers were approached using an established survey panel.
Findings
Results using the partial least squares (PLS) methodology showed that problematic customer behaviors drain customer service employees emotionally. Emotional exhaustion is negatively related to job satisfaction, and subsequently, employees' turnover intentions. The results also show that turnover intentions with organization and occupation are positively related to each other.
Research limitations/implications
As regards implications, this study provides an understanding of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and employees' turnover intentions. Future researchers can utilize the findings from this study for investigating other consequences and antecedents of problematic customer behaviors. A limitation of the study is its use of cross‐sectional data.
Practical implications
This paper provides call center managers with an understanding of the effects of problematic customer behaviors on employee attitudes. It discusses the need for understanding problematic customers and ways to manage the effects of such experiences.
Originality/value
The study investigates an under‐researched phenomenon, i.e. problematic customer behaviors. The study provides evidence of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and turnover intentions in service employees. This study is also one of very few in marketing to investigate the relationship between organizational and occupational turnover intentions.
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Amit Poddar, Timucin Ozcan and Ramana Kumar Madupalli
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of customer service employees’ (CSEs) competence and service recovery outcomes on service evaluations of foreign and domestic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of customer service employees’ (CSEs) competence and service recovery outcomes on service evaluations of foreign and domestic CSEs.
Design/methodology/approach
Three experiments were conducted to test and validate the proposed hypotheses. The participants were told a cover story that they were either listening to (Study 2) or reading (Studies 1 and 3) a real conversation between a customer service representative of a bank and a customer and the authors wanted their views about the service encounter. While country of origin (COO) and competency were common independent variables across three studies, Study 2 included service recovery with a full refund and Study 3 had both full and partial refund and apology offered or not.
Findings
Results from three experiments show that while competent CSEs are evaluated the same, regardless of their COO, the domestic CSE is evaluated more negatively than the foreign CSE when both are incompetent. The authors also find that when competent CSEs deliver no service recovery, the foreign CSE evaluations are significantly lower than the domestic one. Study 3 results show that this effect is mediated by participants’ ethnocentric beliefs.
Research limitations/implications
For implications, this study provides a deeper understanding of the role of COO in services contexts. Future researchers can utilize the findings to investigate the important role that expectations play in determining service excellence and how it affects the COO effect.
Practical implications
The paper provides managers in both offshoring client and provider firms with an understanding of the effects of offshoring on employee evaluations. It discusses the relevance/irrelevance of COO on the customer evaluations of service employees.
Originality/value
The study investigates an under researched phenomenon – offshoring of services. This paper is one of the few looking at the role of different interaction factors, such as competence, recovery on service evaluations.
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Ramana Kumar Madupalli and Amit Poddar
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee (CSE) attitudes and subsequent retaliation toward customers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of problematic customer behaviors on customer service employee (CSE) attitudes and subsequent retaliation toward customers.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from five semi-structured in-depth interviews and a structured survey with 434 responses are used to develop and test the theoretical model. CSEs working in different call center companies serving American and European customers were approached using an established survey panel.
Findings
Results using partial least squares methodology showed that problematic customer behaviors have significant effects on emotional dissonance and drain CSEs emotionally. Negative emotional reactions are positively impacted by higher emotional dissonance and exhaustion levels and, subsequently, lead to higher employees’ retaliation.
Research limitations/implications
For implications, this study provides an understanding of the relationship between problematic customer behaviors and CSEs’ retaliation. Future researchers can utilize the findings to investigate employee retaliation in other marketing employees. Limitation was use of cross-sectional data.
Practical implications
This paper provides call center managers with an understanding of the effects of problematic customer behaviors on employee attitudes. It discusses the need for understanding problematic customers and ways to manage the effects of such experiences. This research helps call center and customer service managers recognize the existence of problematic customer behaviors and retaliation of employees, and different levels of antecedents to such employee responses.
Originality/value
The study investigates an under-researched phenomenon, problematic customer behaviors. It provides evidence of relationship between problematic customer behaviors and CSE retaliation. This study is one of the few to investigate employee retaliation in services.
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James Boles, Ramana Madupalli, Brian Rutherford and John Andy Wood
This paper aims to examines the relationships between various facets of salesperson job satisfaction as assessed by the INDSALES measure and salesperson organizational commitment…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examines the relationships between various facets of salesperson job satisfaction as assessed by the INDSALES measure and salesperson organizational commitment. The paper also seeks to explore salesperson gender as a moderator of the relationship between facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses survey research of one firm's business‐to‐business salespeople to examine the relationships between facets of salesperson job satisfaction and salesperson organizational commitment.
Findings
Study results indicate that various facets of job satisfaction are more strongly related to organizational commitment. Findings also indicate that these relationships are not the same for male and female salespeople.
Practical implications
Findings demonstrate to sales managers that not all types of satisfaction are related to organizational commitment, which has been strongly linked to a salesperson's propensity to leave an organization. Further, various facets of satisfaction such as pay and promotion are more important to men than to women. Women find that satisfaction with co‐workers is more closely related to organizational commitment than it is for men. These findings have significant relevance to sales managers.
Originality/value
The relationship between facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment has not been extensively researched. This is true even though these are two very important issues when dealing with sales force management. Likewise, the issue of men and women valuing different types of satisfaction to varying degrees has not been thoroughly examined in the business‐to‐business sales force literature.
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Alex Hamwi, Brian Nicholas Rutherford, James S. Boles and Ramana K. Madupalli
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of external locus of control on different job characteristic variables – i.e. role conflict, role ambiguity and emotional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of external locus of control on different job characteristic variables – i.e. role conflict, role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion, in addition to the outcome variable, job satisfaction – in a business-to-business sales setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from B2B salespeople were used to test the proposed model using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that a more external locus of control will be: positively related to role stress factors; indirectly and positively related to emotional exhaustion; and negatively related to job satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study provides a managerially actionable foundation for influencing locus of control to increase a salesperson's satisfaction with his/her position.