The effects of service climate and the effective leadership behaviour of supervisors on frontline employee service quality : a multi-level analysis
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Publication Date
3-1-2007
Volume
80
Issue
1
First Page
151
Last Page
172
Abstract
A supervisor's behaviour may not be the only factor that determines the performance of team members (Kerr & Jermier, 1978). Taking this postulation as a basis, we formulated a model to describe how service climate moderates the effects of the leadership behaviour of supervisors. When the organization and working environment are not conducive to providing a good service to colleagues and customers, the supervisor's leadership behaviour makes an important difference. However, when the service climate is good, a supervisor's leadership behaviour makes no substantial difference. This hypothesis was supported in an examination of the service quality of 511 frontline service providers as sampled from 55 work groups in 6 service organizations. The employee service quality was low when both the service climate and the supervisor's leadership behaviour were lacking. However, when the service climate was unfavourable, effective leadership behaviour played a compensatory role in maintaining performance standards towards external customers. When the leadership was ineffective, a favourable service climate nullified the negative effect on service quality to internal customers.
DOI
10.1348/096317905X89391
Print ISSN
09631798
Funding Information
This research is partially supported by a research grant (Project B-Q416) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. {B-Q416}
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2007 The British Psychological Society. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Hui, C. H., Chiu, W. C. K., Yu, P. L. H., Cheng, K., & Tse, H. H. M. (2007). The effects of service climate and the effective leadership behaviour of supervisors on frontline employee service quality: A multi-level analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80(1), 151-172. doi: 10.1348/096317905X89391