The Role of Perceived External Prestige in Predicting Customer‐Oriented Citizenship Behaviors

• Author: Kenneth R. Bartlett,Dae‐seok Kang
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21165
• Date: 01 September 2013
• Published date: 01 September 2013

The Role of Perceived External

Prestige in Predicting Customer-

Oriented Citizenship Behaviors

Dae-seok Kang, Kenneth R. Bartlett

Increased attention on the relationships between customer service training and

organizational results is prompting human resource development (HRD)

scholars and practitioners to more broadly consider outcomes. This study

examined the role of perceived external prestige, an underexplored area in the

service excellence literature. We proposed that employee perceptions of

organizational prestige relate positively with customer-oriented citizenship

behaviors (COCBs). In the perceived external prestige−COCBs relationship, we

also explored the mediating role of psychological empowerment, as well as the

moderating effect of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and leader–

member exchange (LMX). Valid and reliable self-report and supervisory

evaluation measures were collected from a sample of employees from luxury

hotels in South Korea. The results indicate that perceived external prestige was

a signifi cant predictor for service employees’ citizenship performance and the

perceived reputation impact was indirect through psychological empowerment.

The study also identifi ed LMX as a key precondition for service organizations to

engage employees in customer-oriented behaviors beyond formal role. In

discussing these results, we present signifi cant insights in terms of reputation

management as a motivational and competitive strategy to be included in HRD

practices focused on customer service.

Introduction

Many organizations invest substantial resources to provide training programs

aimed at improving customer service (Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, &

Schlesinger, 1994; McColl-Kennedy & White, 1997). Research supports the

notion that perceptions of service quality are a strong component of

ARTICLES

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 3, Fall 2013 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21165 285

This work was supported by a research grant from Inha Uuniversity. The authors are grateful for their

funding and support of this work. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable

comments.

286 Kang, Bartlett

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

organizational image that identifi es a company and differentiates it from its

competitors (Fombrun & Van Riel, 2004). Service quality is equally vital along

with product quality in building and maintaining a company’s reputation.

Service quality has unique aspects of character that distinguish it from other

organizational processes in that it is created and delivered at the same point in

time. A recognized role of human resource development (HRD) exists in deliv-

ering learning events to employees that highlight the importance of service

quality (Grimm, 1990; Mafi , 2000; Russ-Eft, 2004). Furthermore, research

evidence has shown that HRD activity is helpful for achieving quality service

(Chand, 2010; Ellinger, Elmadag˘, & Ellinger, 2007; Schneider & Bowen,

1993). Paying due regard to the importance of service encounters, much

research has been devoted to the interaction between customer contact

employees (also called frontline service employees) and customers (Hartline

& Ferrell, 1996). Yet, dominant paradigms of theory and professional practice

have often overlooked additional important aspects of the customer service

relationship. This research addresses this need to highlight how HRD theory

and practice can foster employee perceptions of the external prestige of the

organization which, in turn, may help predict the performance of customer-

oriented citizenship behaviors (COCBs).

Existing research has suggested that employees’ service behavior is not

only associated with the future behavioral intentions of customers (Alge,

Gresham, Heneman, Fox, & McMasters, 2002; Zeithaml, Berry, &

Parasuraman, 1993), but also acts as a positive refl ection of company reputa-

tion (Heung, 2008; Williams & Sanchez, 1998). Although the positive effect

of service quality has been supported by empirical and conceptual studies,

there has been little explicit attention to the effect of company reputation on

service excellence. While research in this area has largely dealt with the impact

of corporate image on customer loyalty and repeat patronage (e.g., Andreassen

& Lindestad, 1998; Nguyen & LeBlanc, 1998), the imperative question of

how reputation infl uences employees’ discretionary service behaviors has

been ignored. Somewhat mirroring the state of research on reputation and

service is the literature on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Few

studies have examined the relationship between perceived organizational rep-

utation and employee citizenship behaviors and to date, only a handful of

antecedents have been identifi ed as related or predictive of employee service-

oriented OCBs. In these studies, researchers have emphasized attitudinal pre-

dictors such as job involvement (Dimitriades, 2007), organizational

commitment (Rank, Carsten, Unger, & Spector, 2007), and perceived fairness

(Bettencourt & Brown, 1997) as important constructs for infl uencing discre-

tionary service behavior.

This article investigates perceived external prestige as a predictor of cus-

tomer service citizenship behavior within the context of the international

luxury hotel industry. The term perceived external prestige refers to employee

beliefs about how other people outside the organization evaluate the status