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Internal communication and the development of customer-oriented behavior among frontline employees

journal contribution
posted on 2021-01-01, 00:00 authored by Ahmed FerdousAhmed Ferdous, Michael PolonskyMichael Polonsky, David BednallDavid Bednall

Purpose
Frontline employees (FLEs) are a key source of competitive advantage for organizations and have a significant impact on the quality of customer–firm interactions. This study aims to use the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model as a theoretical lens to examine whether internal communication (IC) (stimulus) evokes FLEs’ organizational identification (emotional) and job satisfaction (cognitive), and whether these in turn shape FLE customer-oriented behavior (response). The study also tested whether these mediated relationships are moderated by perceived communication formalization.


Design/methodology/approach
The hypothesized mediated and moderated effects were tested using data collected from a cross-sectional survey of 293 full-time salespeople working for a large general insurance company.


Findings
Both organizational identification and job satisfaction simultaneously mediate the relationship between IC and customer-oriented behavior. Perceived communication formalization was found to weaken the mediated relationship between IC and customer-oriented behavior, but only when this is via job satisfaction.


Research limitations/implications
This study has shown that where IC is positively viewed by FLEs, it can be leveraged as a key driver by organizations to evoke simultaneous positive emotional and cognitive reactions, leading to increased customer-oriented behavior.


Practical implications
This study informs both theory and practice related to effective IC among customer-contact FLEs.


Originality/value
The study shows how IC can simultaneously produce two simultaneous emotional and cognitive reactions leading to FLE customer-oriented behavior and how these mediated relationships can be moderated by perceived communication formalization. The study used the S-O-R model as the theoretical lens to test these relationships.

History

Journal

European Journal of Marketing

Volume

55

Issue

8

Pagination

2344 - 2366

Publisher

EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD

ISSN

0309-0566

eISSN

1758-7123

Language

English

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal