earticle

영어

This research tested a model involved in the antecedents and consequences of service climate. Specifically, the study determines (a) the relationship between both psychological empowerment and customer orientation and perceived service climate, (b) the influence of perceived service climate to service performance, including in-role and extra-role performance, (c) the role of organizational identification in moderating the relationship between perceived service climate and service performance. The present study contributes to the literature on service climate in that both perceived empowerment and customer orientation were used as antecedents of service climate, which have usually been treated as consequent variables in the previous studies. Our empirical findings indicated the positive effect of both psychological empowerment and customer orientation on perceived service climate, which, consequently led to a positive influence on service performance as hypothesized. this result suggests that salespeople who have a customer orientation tend to increase not only their feelings of obligation and positive reciprocity but also feeling of self-enhancement. The more salespeople were empowered, the stronger their recognition of being supported by the company. In addition, organizational identification positively moderated the relationship between the perceived service climate and extra-role performance, which was in accordance with the research of Zang et al.(2011) suggesting the positive role of social identity. However, the results did not provide support for the moderating effect of organizational identification on the relationship between the perceived service climate and in-role performance. This could possibly occur for this reason. The sample of the present study was drawn from Korean automobile salespeople who work for the car dealerships. Because car agents generally have more transactional and contractual relationships with one of the major manufacture companies, salespeople in the agents are considered to have lower quality of relationships with a car manufacture firm than salespeople recruited by the firm have. Thus, organizational identification of salespeople in the agents do not affect the relationship between service climate and in-role performance. In contrast, salespeople in the agents have stronger social exchange relationship with the agent to which they belong, which consequently leads them to go beyond the call of duty for the agent. We also found that higher perceived service climate was associated with improved service performance. This result is in accordance with that of Zang et al.(2011) and that of Tang and Tang(2011). The high level of service climate perception indicates that car agents value salespeople's customer-oriented selling behaviors and care about their well-being. Social exchange theory, as mentioned to above, provide a major explanatory foundation for perceived service climate. Feeling supported and valued by the agents probably can enhance salespeople’s adaptive selling behaviors which lead to the sales growth of the agents. Our study’s findings also suggest the perceived service climate serves as an integral mediating mechanism between customer orientation and service performance and between psychological empowerment and service performance. Salespeople with a stronger customer orientation enjoys the process of satisfying customer needs and feels higher level of self-achievement than Salespeople with a weaker customer orientation. The Korean automobile dealerships are recommended to focus more on fostering the individual level of empowerment than the organization-based empowerment. In order to enhance the individual level of empowerment, the dealerships should offer various human resources programs to increase their motivation, aspirations, and a sense of being supported. Considering that a salesperson with a strong customer orientation help customers make purchase decisions that satisfy the long-term wants and needs of customers, it may be helpful for managers to evaluate salespeople’s selling performance in a long-term base rather than assess them in a monthly base. This study has several limitations. First, this research was conducted with a convenience sample from only independent automobile dealerships of a single manufacturer. It is necessary to investigate sample from manufacturer-owned dealership as well, which may lead to produce different moderating effects of organizational identification from that of the present study. Second, more antecedent variable of perceived service climate need to be added to expand the present research such as personality, attitudes, and knowledge sharing.

한국어

본 연구는 한국의 자동차 판매 대리점의 종사원들을 대상으로 서비스 분위기의 선행요인과 결과요인에 관한 모델을 실증 분석하였다. 즉, 고객지향성과 심리적 임파워먼트가 서비스 분위기에 미치는 영향과 서비스 분위기가 서비스 성과(역할내 성과와 역할외 성과)에 미치는 영향을 분석하고 조직동일시가 서비스 분위기-서비스 성과 관계에 조절역할을 하는지에 관한 연구이다. 실증분석 결과, 조직동일시가 서비스 분위기-역할내 성과의 관계에 조절역할을 할 것이라는 가설을 제외하고 모든 가설들이 채택되었다. 즉, 영업직원이 인식하는 조직동일시는 영업직원의 지각된 서비스 분위기와 역할외 성과 간의 관계에서는 조절효과를 보였으나, 영업직원의 지각된 서비스 분위기와 역할내 성과 간의 관계에서는 조절효과를 보이지 않았다. 이는 대리점의 영업직원들은 주로 영업성과 즉 역할내 성과가 자신의 보상과 직결되는 거의 유일한 요소이기 때문이라는 추측을 가능하게 한다. 연구 결과에 근거하여 연구적 시사점과 실무적 시사점을 제시 하였다. 기존 연구에서는 임파워먼트와 고객지향성을 서비스 분위기의 하나의 속성, 혹은 결과요인으로 다뤘으나, 본 연구에서는 지각된 서비스 분위기의 선행요인으로 분석했다는 데에 선행연구와의 차별성이 있다. 본 연구는 주로 대리점을 연구의 대상으로 하였는데, 향후 직영점 채널에서 조직동일시의 효과를 검정해 볼 필요가 있다