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Understanding the role of frontline employee felt obligation in services

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posted on 2022-10-05, 23:01 authored by N Malhotra, Nicholas AshillNicholas Ashill, CR Lages, A Homayounfard
Drawing on social exchange theory, this study investigates the mechanism of felt obligation underpinning the link between three key forms of perceived support (organization, supervisor, and team) and three key frontline employee work outcomes. The study also examines felt obligation - employee work outcomes relationships under the boundary condition of perceived fairness in reward allocation to explore if felt obligation preserves employee support despite unfair outcomes. Data obtained from 347 frontline employees in a call center organization largely support our hypotheses. Our findings demonstrate that perceived supervisor and team support exert a greater influence on felt obligation than the commonly investigated perceived organizational support. Our findings underscore the importance of felt obligation as an influential social exchange force that stimulates affective commitment and reduces turnover intentions of employees even under conditions when fairness in reward allocation is perceived to be lower. Felt obligation also influences service recovery performance positively.

History

Preferred citation

Malhotra, N., Ashill, N., Lages, C. R. & Homayounfard, A. (2022). Understanding the role of frontline employee felt obligation in services. Service Industries Journal, 42(11-12), 843-871. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2020.1858062

Journal title

Service Industries Journal

Volume

42

Issue

11-12

Publication date

2022-01-01

Pagination

843-871

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Publication status

Published

Online publication date

2020-12-12

ISSN

0264-2069

eISSN

1743-9507

Language

en