- Service climate
"Climate for service" refers to
employee perceptions of the practices, procedures, and behaviors that get rewarded, supported, and expected with regard tocustomer service and customer service quality. For example, to the extent that employees perceive that they are rewarded for delivering quality service, their organization's service climate will be stronger. Additionally, perceptions that customer service is important to management will also contribute to a strong service climate. Schneider, B. White, S. Paul, M.C. (1998) Linking Service Climate and Customer Perceptions of Service Quality: Test of a Causal Model Journal of Applied Psychology Volume 83(2): 150–163 ]Service climate is a collective and shared phenomenon. This climate is built in the light of organizational practices focused on customer service.The way boundary workers (employees with whom customers physically interact in the course of doing business with an organization) perceive their organizations' service climates are related to the service quality perceived by those organizations' customers [ Schneider, B., & Bowen, D. (1995). Winning the service game. Boston: Harvard Business School Press] .
Importance of the service climate
Research has shown that service quality is ultimately related to customer loyalty and retention and, eventually, to higher profits for the organization. [ Rust, R., & Zahorik, A. (1993). Customer satisfaction, customer retention, and market share. Journal of Retailing, 69, 193–215] [ Storbacka, J., Strandvik, T., & Gronroos, C. (1994). Managing customer relationship quality. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 5, 21–28 ]
Antecedents of the service climate
The recent research had confirmed the previous findings regarding the positive relationship between organizational resources as an antecedent of service climate, and also showed that this relationship is fully mediated by engagement at the group level. Thus, at the work-unit level, engagement contributes to improve shared service climate among service units. Salanova, M., Agut, S. and Peiró, J.M. (2005) Linking organizational resources and work engagement to employee performance and customer loyalty: the mediation of service climate, Journal of Applied Psychology 90(6): 1217-27 ]
As well, the research shows that when employees working in work units perceive that the availability of organizational resources (i.e., training, autonomy and technology) remove obstacles at work, they feel more engaged in work, which in turn is related to a better climate for service. Working in an organization that facilitates work for the customers exerts a powerful influence on collective engagement (i.e., the members of the work unit feel more vigorous and persistent, dedicated and absorbed in their tasks). This in turn has a very positive impact on shared service climate perceptions.
The relation between the service climate and customer loyalty seems to be reciprocal, since it was found that the greater is the service climate, the higher is the customer loyalty, (partially mediated by performance) and the higher is the customer loyalty, the greater is the service climate.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
