Customer orientation of frontline employees and organizational commitment

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of alignment between employee and firm customer orientation (FCO) on the organizational commitment of frontline service employees. Furthermore, the study examines how the size and nature of the discrepancy between employee customer orientation (ECO) and FCO affects organizational commitment. The results suggest that organizational commitment is stronger when employee and FCO are matched than when they are not. Furthermore, organizational commitment is slightly stronger when ECO exceeds FCO than when the reverse is the case. The results suggest that efforts expended by firms in hiring and retaining customer-oriented service workers will be unlikely to yield optimal commitment benefits without simultaneous investments to improve firm-level customer orientation.

Keywords:

• customer orientation
• customer orientation gap
• organizational commitment
• response surface methodology