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Petra Kipfelsberger
Increasing energy and performance through customer passion: An organizational level study
How customer contact energizes organizations : The vivid proof of making a difference
2014-07-29
,
Kipfelsberger, Petra
,
Bruch, Heike
,
Ashkanasy, Neal M.
,
Zerbe, Wilfred J.
,
Härtel, Charmine E. J.
This study investigates the situations in which productive organizational
energy (POE) and organizational performance increase through
customer passion, that is, perceived customers' affective commitment and
customers' positive word-of-mouth behavior. We integrate research on
POE with research on customer influences on employees. Based on
emotional contagion processes we develop hypotheses for the energizing
influences of customers at the organizational level. We test the hypotheses
using a dataset containing 495 board members and 8,299 employees
of 152 organizations. The results show that customer passion is positively
related to POE, which is in turn positively related to organizational performance.
Furthermore, the findings indicate that the effect of customer
passion on organizational performance through POE depends on top
management team's (TMT's) customer orientation. By providing first insights into the linkages and contingencies of customer passion, POE,
and organizational performance, this study puts forth a more holistic
understanding of the energizing effect of customers on organizations.
2014-08-04
,
Kipfelsberger, Petra
,
Bruch, Heike
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.