Human resource management practices, service climate and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: A review and proposed model

Abstract

In light of the increasing dominance of service businesses worldwide and given that the effectiveness of service delivery is often linked with the qualities of customer-contact employees, service organizations need to motivate these employees to perform behaviors that go beyond their call of duty. Such behaviors are generally known as Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs). Due to the peculiar nature of services and the central role played by customer-contact employees, specific form of OCBs labeled as Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (SO-OCBs) are considered more appropriate. Despite its beneficial outcomes, conceptual and empirical work on the antecedents of SO-OCBs remains scarce. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to propose a framework linking Human Resource Management (HRM) practices (training, orientation, performance appraisal, compensation and employment security) as predictors of SO-OCBs of customer-contact employees. Since work climate perceptions have an impact on behavior, service climate has been identified as a potential moderator in the above-mentioned relationship. A review of the literature to support the model within the context of the Malaysian hotel industry is given. © Medwell Journals, 2012.