earticle

영어

This paper aims to identify the influence of customer demand on the adaptive selling of department store employees based on the job demand and resource(JD-R) model. Store managers consider front-line employees as one of the important resources to obtain a competitive advantage. It is because employees contribute greatly to securing new customers and loyal customers when they interact with customers. Customers sometimes, however, ask the salespeople for excessive demand and use insulting words toward the salesperson. Negative experience from customers makes salesperson get stressed, emotionally exhausted. The JD-R model well explains the relationship between employees’ burnout and job engagement. Based on the JD-R model, the authors try to check the effect of customers’ hindrance requirements on work engagement and adaptive selling. In addition, this study examines customer(selling) orientation as a moderating variable that mitigates(reinforces) the negative effect of customer demand on employees’ work engagement. Salespeople must respond to customer requests. According to the JD-R model, customers’ excessive and diverse requests can be a demanding factor for salespeople. For employees, customer demands naturally lead to negative job outcomes because they create tension or emotional burnout. When salespeople perceive customer needs as barriers or obstacles, they experience negative emotions. Job resources, however, alleviate these negative impacts. Intrinsic motivation of salespeople such as customer orientation helps to reduce role conflict and manage task pressure. Customer-oriented employees are interested in learning about their customers and providing optimal solutions to them. Since encounters play a key role in delivering value by interacting with customers, customer orientation can be considered as a job resource that enhances employees’ work engagement. Selling orientation, on the other hand, reinforces the negative impact of customer requests on work engagement. As an opposite concept of customer orientation, selling orientation focuses on sales performance, not customers’ well-being or needs. It means that sales-oriented employees tend to maximize their short-term profits through sales activities. If employees who value short-term goals are required to handle hindrance demands from customers, they will focus only on the given situation. Therefore, rather than feeling enthusiasm, dedication, or a positive sense of achievement for the job, they will focus on completing the task in front of them. It means that the negative impact of customer requests on work engagement will be stronger. Numerous studies claim that work engagement is associated with positive job performance. Employees with high work engagement showed higher in-role and extra-role behaviors than employees who did not. In other words, salespeople with high work engagement not only do the assigned work but also care for customer needs and change sales behavior while interacting with customers. For this study, salespeople working in department stores in South Korea were asked to participate in the survey. Hypotheses were tested based on 437 responses using SmartPLS and SPSS. It is found that customer’s hindrance requests negatively influence employee’s work engagement, and consequently weaken the adaptive selling. Customer orientation, however, alleviates the negative impacts of hindrance requests on work engagement, while selling orientation intensifies. This study suggests the following academic and practical implications. First, this study broadens the understanding of the JD-R model. In previous studies, sales orientation was considered as a positive moderator. However, this study covered that when employees face a negative situation, their selling orientation worsens the negative impact of customer requests on work engagement. Second, the authors suggest store managers should support and take measures to support salespeople being treated unfairly by customers. It is undeniable that salespeople are crucial resources for the organization. Since customer demands can harm employees, timely support and response must be prepared. This will not only improve the individual salesperson's performance but also the company's performance. Third, education to improve customer orientation should be conducted. Customer orientation was found to be a factor that mitigates the negative influence from customers. Although hiring employees with customer-oriented attitudes is important, education and support are needed for existing employees.