Jeffrey J. Bailey

Emotional Labor and the Difficult Customer: Coping Strategies of Service Agents and Organizational Consequences

ABSTRACT While the service quality literature suggests the importance of courteous service agents, the emotional labor literature has shown that there are important negative personal consequences associated with emotional work requirements. In this study, a survey which evaluated employee responses to the emotional labor involved in serving difficult customers is detailed and significant consequences for the organization are considered. Some of these consequences have the potential to negatively impact several determinants of service quality.

Service Encounter Emotional Value

ABSTRACT A model is developed that identifies individual and dyadic antecedents and outcomes for a construct we have named service encounter emotional value (SEEVal). Service encounter emotional value is defined as the net emotional value the customer experiences added to the net emotional value the service provider employee experiences. Individual cognitive and affective antecedents are identified. Emotional dyadic antecedents are identified and include rapport, emotional contagion, co-production of emotional labor, and relationship quality. The customer outcomes associated with SEEVal broadly include satisfaction, loyalty, and customer voluntary performance. Service employee outcomes include satisfaction, organizational loyalty, and organizational citizenship behaviors. We use existing research to logically support the model and the relationships therein. Fourteen propositions are developed and additional suggestions for future research are provided.

Students as Clients in a Professional/Client Relationship

In this article, the author suggests the use of a professional/client metaphor for conceptualizing the relationship of professors and students. The framework suggested by the use of this metaphor provides a useful and explicit alternative to the problematic student-as-customer metaphor. The advantages of invoking this metaphor are illustrated by discussing the professional/client relationship in general and by discussing four specific cases of professional/client relationships. Suggestions are provided for inculcating a professional/client atmosphere in the classroom.

Viewpoint: Applying the Distinction Between Market-Oriented and Customer-Led Strategic Perspectives to Business School Strategy

Abstract The mission-linked AACSB accreditation standards suggest the importance of the strategic management process for business schools. The standards also emphasize customer-driven curriculum changes. This article presents an application of strategic management literature for consideration in the strategic management process of business schools. Specifically, the distinction between market-oriented and customer-led strategies is described, and the particular relevance and importance of this for business schools is explained.

A Review of Major Influences on Employee Retirement Investment Decisions

The recent retirement plan debacle of the Enron employees has caused regulators and lawmakers to think about new ways to protect and help retirement plan participants. When investigating participant investment decisions, researchers have traditionally studied the retirement plan characteristics and employee characteristics. More recently, some researchers have extended the analysis to social influences, such as social norms and peer affects. Others have expanded into behavioral finance and examined the role of various psychological biases. This paper combines and summarizes these four sets of influences so that researchers and policy makers can better understand all the influences affecting an employee when making retirement plan contribution and investment decisions.

Admission/Continuance Standards as Predictors of Academic Performance of Business Students

Abstract This research tests the relative efficacy of a number of predictors of academic achievement in a business college setting. Correlational and discriminant analyses were used to examine records of 483 students who graduated between 1989 and 1992. The results suggest that business colleges can set standards that adequately predict the future success of students seeking admittance to the business program.

The effects of transgressor sex on judgments of unethical behavior

This study investigated the effect of gender stereotypes on evaluator judgments of unethical behavior. Subjects were working adults who completed a mailed survey in which they evaluated unethical behavior depicted in written scenarios. Sex of the transgressor in the scenarios was manipulated. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that there are no stable differences in evaluations of men and women across scenarios. These results suggest that evaluators do not hold different standards of ethical behavior for men and women, they do not make different causal attributions for the behavior of men and women, nor do evaluators treat men and women differently when an ethical transgression has been committed.

Individual Scapetribing and Responsibility Ascriptions

Individual scapetribing is identified as pointing the finger of blame at organizations (or groups, institutions, and systems) as a means of excusing or inaccurately ascribing responsibility for ones own actions and their consequences. This type of behavior is shown to be related to corporate scape-goating as described by Wilson (1993). The paper addresses responsibility ascriptions and the importance of corporate responsibility as a significantly influential multi-person system.

Socially Engineered Groups in Business Curricula: An Investigation of the Effects of Team Composition on Group Output

Abstract Group activities, a common feature of business education, are expected to continue to increase in popularity. This article explores the formulation of groups and “social-engineering” methodology. The formulation process differs from the more traditional random assignment or self-selection in that it attempts to create groups with diverse backgrounds, talents, abilities, perspectives, and so forth. The results of an experiment suggest that for certain task types, social engineering and groups can be more effective than random assignments or self-selection.