When do customer contact employees satisfy customers?

Abstract

Previous service workplace research has indicated the impact of supportive supervisors, teams, other departments, and technology on employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. These variables in turn have been shown to influence customer contact employee behavior and customer satisfaction. In this article, the authors explore how these variables relate to employees' capacity to satisfy customers. Using a structural equation modeling methodology, the authors found that in terms of direct effects on employees' capacity to satisfy customers, some variables (e.g., other department support) were more important than others (e.g., technology). Some variables (e.g., other department support) had a direct effect on employees' capacity to satisfy customers, some had a mediated effect (e.g., supervisor support), and some had both a direct and mediated effect (e.g., technology). The capacity of employees to satisfy customers is strongly dependent on a set of mutually supportive variables. © 2000 Sage Publications, Inc.