A generational study of employees’ customer orientation: a motivational viewpoint in pandemic time

Abstract

This study represents a scholarly endeavour to explore the effects of Covid-19 perceptions on customer orientation via job insecurity, burnout and workplace motivation alongside generational effects non-equivalency amongst a sample of customer service employees working in different businesses located in three countries in the MENA region. We received 752 responses composed of three generations (i.e. X, Y, and Z) that were analysed mainly using Partial-Least-Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach and that included path and multigroup analyses. Our results show that intense Covid-19 perceptions have indirect adverse effects on customer orientation via a sequence of mediators comprising job insecurity, burnout and workplace motivation. Non-equivalency is spotted across generations regarding the relationships between job insecurity and burnout, burnout and motivation as well as motivation and customer orientation. Besides, intense Covid-19 perceptions act more substantially as an indirect trigger of less favourable levels of customer orientation amongst younger generations.