Fostering employee-customer identification: The impact of relational job design

• Published in: International journal of hospitality management 2021-04, Vol.94, p.102832, Article 102832
• Main Authors: Li, Yan, Guo, Weining, Armstrong, Steven J., Xie, Yi (Fionna), Zhang, Yuanyuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Employee-customer identification; Frontline service employee; Relational identification; Relational job characteristics; Relational job design
• ISSN: 0278-4319; 1873-4693
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102832

•The role of work context in affecting Employee-Customer Identification was examined.•An identity-based mechanism was identified to explain the relationships between relational job characteristics and service performance.•This study provides the first empirical evidence linking relational job design to employees’ service performance.•This study provides an empirical examination of the restorative side of customer interactions. By integrating insights from the literature on relational job design and relational identification, we provide theoretical and empirical account of whether relational job design can foster employee-customer identification (ECID) and subsequently, enhance service performance. This research suggests that relational job characteristics likely foster service employees’ ECID by relating employees to the positive impact they have on customers as well as by leading employees to gain valuable personal resources from customer interactions. Using time-lagged data collected from 255 frontline service employees matched with 92 supervisors in 47 restaurants, we found that job impact on customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was mediated by ECID. Results also showed that job contact with customers positively influenced service performance, and this influence was partially mediated by ECID.