Service staff attitudes, organisational practices and performance drivers

Abstract

We provide conceptual and empirical insights elucidating how organisational practices influence service staff attitudes and behaviours and how the latter set affects organisational performance drivers. Our analyses suggest that service organisations can enhance their performance by putting in place strategies and practices that strengthen the service-oriented behaviours of their employees and reduce their intentions to leave the organisation. Improved performance is accomplished through both the delivery of high quality services (enhancing organisational effectiveness) and the maintenance of front-line staff (increasing organisational efficiency). Specifically, service-oriented business strategies in the form of organisational-level service orientation and practices in the form of training directly influence the manifest service-oriented behaviours of staff. Training also indirectly affects the intention of front-line staff to leave the organisation; it increases job satisfaction, which, in turn has an impact on affective commitment. Both affective and instrumental commitment were hypothesised to reduce the intentions of front-line staff to leave the organisation, however only affective commitment had a significant effect.