Osman M. Karatepe

Antecedents and outcomes of service recovery performance: an empirical study of frontline employees in Turkish banks

This study investigates the potential impact of organizational variables on the service recovery performance of frontline employees, and the impact of successful service recovery on frontline employees’ job satisfaction and intensions to resign. Data obtained from a survey of frontline employees working in several banks in two cities in Western Turkey serve as the study setting. Results and their implications are discussed.

Outcomes of customer verbal aggression among hotel employees

Purpose – The central purpose of this study is to develop and test a model which examines the effects of customer verbal aggression on emotional dissonance, emotional exhaustion, and job outcomes such as service recovery performance, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. The model also investigates the impact of emotional dissonance on emotional exhaustion and the effects of emotional dissonance and exhaustion on the above‐mentioned job outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from a sample of frontline hotel employees in Northern Cyprus via self‐administered questionnaires. A total number of 204 questionnaires were obtained.Findings – As hypothesized, emotional dissonance and emotional exhaustion were found to be significant outcomes of customer verbal aggression. The results demonstrated that emotional dissonance amplified exhaustion. The results further revealed that customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance intensified turnover intentions. As expected, emotional exhaust...

Measuring service quality of travel agents: evidence from Northern Cyprus.

Service quality delivered by travel agents in Northern Cyprus was examined using a SERVQUAL scale. The translated instrument was purified using an item-categorisation technique and administered to 337 current users of travel agents in the region. Expectations and performance (SERVPERF) scores indicated that respondents were concerned most with the efficiency and least with the personalisation of the services offered. The largest service gaps were identified with the ‘modern’ appearance of the service and service-scape, and the smallest with interpersonal qualities of service. Multiple regression showed promptness, empathy, efficiency and service-scape aesthetics to be the main determinants of customer satisfaction. SERVPERF scores gave a better prediction of overall satisfaction and showed marginally better reliability and validity than those from which expectations were subtracted. Instead of the predicted SERVQUAL five-factor solution, factor analysis showed an underlying uni-dimensionality that is consistent with the findings of other authors. Possible management actions suggested by the findings are discussed in the context of the small business environment in Northern Cyprus.

Perceived organizational support, career satisfaction, and performance outcomes: A study of hotel employees in Cameroon

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop and test a research model that examines career satisfaction as a mediator of the effect of perceived organizational support on service recovery performance and job performance.Design/methodology/approach – Based on data obtained from frontline hotel employees with a time lag of one month and their immediate supervisors in Cameroon, the hypothesized relationships were tested using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling.Findings – The results suggested that the fully mediated model had a better fit to the data when compared to the partially mediated model. As hypothesized, perceived organizational support influenced service recovery performance and job performance only via career satisfaction.Research limitations/implications – Investigating the study relationships over a longer period of time than was done in this study would be useful for making causal inferences conclusively. Replication studies with larger sample sizes in different hospitality ...

The effect of positive and negative work‐family interaction on exhaustion: Does work social support make a difference?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a conceptual model, which investigates the effects of work‐family conflict, family‐work conflict, work‐family facilitation, and family‐work facilitation simultaneously on exhaustion. This study also aims to examine work social support as a moderator in the relationship between two directions of conflict and facilitation and exhaustion.Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected from a judgmental sample of full‐time frontline employees of the four‐ and five‐star hotels of Albania. Respondents self‐administered the questionnaires. A total number of 107 questionnaires were retrieved.Findings – The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrate that both work‐family conflict and family‐work conflict amplify exhaustion. The results also indicate that work social support buffers the relationship between work‐family conflict and exhaustion and strengthens the negative relationship between work‐family facilitatio...

The effects of organizational responses to complaints on satisfaction and loyalty: a study of hotel guests in Northern Cyprus

This study investigates the effects of various organizational responses to complaints on post‐complaint customer behaviors. Specifically, the study investigates the effects of apology, atonement, promptness, facilitation, explanation, attentiveness and effort on complainant satisfaction and loyalty, and the association between satisfaction and loyalty. The study uses a sample of Turkish guests in the Northern Cyprus hotel industry. The hypothesized relationships are tested using LISREL 8.30 through path analysis. Results provide empirical support for ten of the 15 hypotheses examined. The path analysis reveals that apology, explanation, and effort are three organizational response options that exert significant positive effects on complainant satisfaction and loyalty. Empirical findings also suggest that effort appears to be the most influential organizational response affecting satisfaction and loyalty. Discussion of the results, implications, and limitations of the study are also presented.

Customer Complaints and Organizational Responses: A Study of Hotel Guests in Northern Cyprus

ABSTRACT This study investigates outcomes of organizational responses to customer complaints by using a sample of hotel guests in Northern Cyprus as its setting. Results suggest that organizational response options have varying degrees of influence on customer satisfaction and revisit intentions. Implications of the results for hotel managers and public policy makers are discussed.

High‐performance work practices, work social support and their effects on job embeddedness and turnover intentions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a research model that examines whether job embeddedness mediates the effects of high‐performance work practices and work social support on turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Based on data gathered from 174 full‐time frontline employees in the four‐ and five‐star hotels, with a time lag of two weeks in Iran, the relationships were tested using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling.Findings – Results suggest that job embeddedness fully mediates the effects of high‐performance work practices and work social support on turnover intentions. Specifically, frontline employees with high‐performance work practices and work social support are more embedded in their jobs, and therefore, are unlikely to display intentions to leave the organization.Research limitations/implications – Testing hope as a moderator of the effects of high‐performance work practices and work social support on job embeddedness in future studies would add to ...

Does Job Embeddedness Mediate the Effect of Work Engagement on Job Outcomes? A Study of Hotel Employees in Cameroon

We develop and test a research model that investigates the mediating role of job embeddedness in the relationship between work engagement and two organizationally valued job outcomes. Data for this empirical investigation were obtained from full-time frontline hotel employees with a time lag of one month and their immediate supervisors in Cameroon. The hypothesized relationships were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results reveal that all hypotheses receive support from the data. Specifically, the results indicate that job embeddedness partially mediates the impact of work engagement on turnover intentions and job performance. Implications of the results are discussed and future research directions are offered.

The effects of work overload and work-family conflict on job embeddedness and job performance: the mediation of emotional exhaustion.

Purpose – The present study seeks to propose and test a research model that investigates emotional exhaustion as a mediator of the effects of work overload, work‐family conflict, and family‐work conflict on job embeddedness and job performance.Design/methodology/approach – The study evaluated the aforementioned relationships using LISREL 8.30 through structural equation modeling (SEM) based on data collected from 110 full‐time frontline hotel employees and their managers in Romania.Findings – The results of SEM suggest that emotional exhaustion functions as a full mediator of the effects of work overload, work‐family conflict, and family‐work conflict on job embeddedness and job performance. Specifically, employees who have heavy workloads and are unable to establish a balance between work (family) and family (work) roles are emotionally exhausted. Such employees in turn are less embedded in their jobs and display poor performance in the service delivery process.Research limitations/implications – In futu...