Does Role Clarity Explain Employee-Perceived Service Quality? A Study of Antecedents and Consequences in Call Centres

International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2006, pp. 444-473

30 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2012

See all articles by Avinandan Mukherjee

Avinandan Mukherjee

Clayton State University - University System of Georgia; Montclair State University - School of Business; Rutgers Business School

Neeru Malhotra

DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology

Date Written: 2006

Abstract

Purpose – Role clarity of frontline staff is critical to their perceptions of service quality in call centres. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of role clarity and its antecedents and consequences on employee-perceived service quality.

Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model, based on the job characteristics model and cognitive theories, is proposed. Key antecedents of role clarity considered here are feedback, autonomy, participation, supervisory consideration, and team support; while key consequences are organizational commitment, job satisfaction and service quality. An internal marketing approach is adopted and all variables are measured from the frontline employee’s perspective. A structural equation model is developed and tested on a sample of 342 call centre representatives of a major commercial bank in the UK.

Findings – The research reveals that role clarity plays a critical role in explaining employee perceptions of service quality. Further, the research findings indicate that feedback, participation and team support significantly influence role clarity, which in turn influences job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Research limitations/implications – The research suggests that boundary personnel in service firms should strive for more clarity in perceived role for delivering better service quality. The limitations are in sample availability from in-house transaction call centres of a single bank.

Originality/value – The contributions of this study are untangling the confusing research evidence on the effect of role clarity on service quality, using service quality as a performance variable as opposed to productivity estimates, adopting an internal marketing approach to understanding the phenomenon, and introducing teamwork along with job-design and supervisory factors as antecedent to role clarity.

Keywords: Customer service quality, Call centres, Employee attitudes, United Kingdom

Suggested Citation

Mukherjee, Avinandan and Malhotra, Neeru, Does Role Clarity Explain Employee-Perceived Service Quality? A Study of Antecedents and Consequences in Call Centres (2006). International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2006, pp. 444-473, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1618995

Avinandan Mukherjee (Contact Author)

Clayton State University - University System of Georgia ( email )

College of Business
2000 Clayton State Boulevard
Morrow, GA Metro Atlanta Area 30260
United States
(678) 466-4516 (Phone)
(678) 466-4599 (Fax)

Montclair State University - School of Business ( email )

Partridge Hall
School of Business
Montclair, NJ New Jersey 07043
United States

Rutgers Business School ( email )

Janice H. Levin Bldg., Room 121
94 Rockafeller Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8054
United States

Neeru Malhotra

DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology ( email )

Kabir Nagar
Jalandhar, Punjab 144008
India

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