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FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE ROLE PASSION AND THE IMPACT ON SERVICE ENCOUNTERS

Crawford, Angela Christina
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5470-0008
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1457908139

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
Even with technology driving widespread self-service, we know that frontline service employees are still relied upon to represent organizations to customers and also being asked to become more innovative in their roles. Significant research has been dedicated to understanding how to improve customer satisfaction and documenting dismal frontline employee engagement as a serious problem, while sharing that these service encounters can be detrimental to the frontline employees’ well-being. This research takes an alternative view by focusing on those frontline employees who describe feeling energized and excited by their interactions with customers; introducing frontline employee role passion (FLE role passion) as a central construct to explain this phenomenon and develop a scale to measure these unique experiences. This study shows that frontline employees who experience passion for their roles engage in the same service encounters prior researchers have found to result in burnout and emotional exhaustion. We find that these passionate employees experience positive affect, which reinforces their identities as they personally connect with the customer through their passion to serve (PSE), and/or emphasize solving the customer’s problem through their passion to solve (PSO). Through this research, we also illustrate that frontline employee’s role passion positively influences their psychological empowerment and engagement depending on how the frontline employee perceives the service encounter. By introducing the new concept of frontline employee role passion, this study contextually extends work motivation theory related to passion to contact center work roles. It also meets the call from both practitioners and scholars toward understanding more about how employee’s passion for work is manifested, while providing evidence that management should consider designing effective service encounters by considering factors that influence both the frontline employee and the customer experience.
Kalle Lyytinen, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
James Gaskin, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Donna Haeger, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Casey Newmeyer, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
221 p.
Management; Marketing
Frontline employees; services marketing; passion;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Crawford, A. C. (2016). FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE ROLE PASSION AND THE IMPACT ON SERVICE ENCOUNTERS [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1457908139

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Crawford, Angela. FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE ROLE PASSION AND THE IMPACT ON SERVICE ENCOUNTERS . 2016. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1457908139.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Crawford, Angela. "FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE ROLE PASSION AND THE IMPACT ON SERVICE ENCOUNTERS ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1457908139

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1457908139
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.