How customer contact energizes organizations: : The vivid proof of making a difference

This study explores how customer contact energizes organizations. We propose that average customer contact is positively linked to average prosocial impact which, in turn, is positively linked to productive organizational energy. Furthermore, we suggest that transformational leadership climate positively moderates this mediation. Thereby, we integrate literature on human energy in organizations and transformational leadership with research on relational job design. Based on organizational sensemaking processes and relational job design, we develop hypotheses at the organizational level. We test the hypotheses in a dataset containing 15'361 employees from 86 organizations. The results support the proposed moderated mediation model. Thus, this study provides a fresh perspective for research and practice on how to energize organizations through customer contact.