The Service Climate - Customer Satisfaction Link: Boundary Conditions of Service Attribute and Mediation Effect of Service-oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Abstract

Drawing on service climate theory, this study
examined the mediating effect of service-oriented organizational
citizenship behavior on the relationship between service climate
and customer satisfaction, and the moderating effects of three
potential factors for service core attributes (customer contact
frequency, service intangibility, and service employee
interdependence) on service climate-customer satisfaction link.
The research objective in this study is banking service industry in
Taiwan. Sample data from 40 branches will be collected from
employees, customers, and their supervisors. In this study
constructs with three sources (e.g., customers rated customer
satisfaction, and contact employees rated their perceived service
climate, and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior
in individual level, while their supervisor rated service attributes
in work unit level) will be measured in order to reduce the
possibility of same source bias. Confirmatory factor analysis,
reliability, correlation and regression analyses and hierarchical
linear modeling were conducted to test research hypotheses. The
results showed that (1) a positive, direct relationship is expected
between frontline contact employees’ perceptions of climate for
service and customer satisfaction; (2) service-oriented
organizational citizenship behavior of employee does not mediate
the relationship of service climate on customer satisfaction; (3)
service employee interdependence moderates the relationship
between service climate and customer satisfaction, this
relationship will be significantly stronger when service
intangibility is high.