How and why (imagined) online reviews impact frontline retail encounters
How and why (imagined) online reviews impact frontline retail encounters
This research examines how frontline retail employees respond to customers whom they think might write an online review about their experience. Across six experiments (one field and five online) we show that when employees identify potential online review authors, often by what the customer says or does, it catalyzes them to deliver better service. This ensues because they experience a rise in determination to do well, motivated by the prospect of being associated with a positive review, which they believe will impress the retailer. Thus, they go ‘above and beyond’. However, determination is tempered by two boundary conditions. When employees (i) do not consider that being associated with an online review is beneficial (i.e., not goal relevant) or (ii) feel poorly equipped to serve the customer (i.e., low in self-efficacy), then a better service delivery will not occur. We also show that retailers can enhance customer service through internal championing of the importance of online reviews, so long as this is framed as promotional rather than punitive.
Employee performance, Frontline employees, Goal relevance, Monitoring, Online reviews, Self-efficacy
265-279
Marder, Ben
6c556d4a-af17-4625-b03b-fe84159fdf2d
Angell, Rob
ca8389e4-2a83-43a8-b331-c262eda37674
Boyd, Eric
de7713e4-36fe-45c5-89d4-9cf7fc38db23
June 2023
Marder, Ben
6c556d4a-af17-4625-b03b-fe84159fdf2d
Angell, Rob
ca8389e4-2a83-43a8-b331-c262eda37674
Boyd, Eric
de7713e4-36fe-45c5-89d4-9cf7fc38db23
Marder, Ben, Angell, Rob and Boyd, Eric
(2023)
How and why (imagined) online reviews impact frontline retail encounters.
Journal of Retailing, 99 (2), .
(doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2023.03.004).
Abstract
This research examines how frontline retail employees respond to customers whom they think might write an online review about their experience. Across six experiments (one field and five online) we show that when employees identify potential online review authors, often by what the customer says or does, it catalyzes them to deliver better service. This ensues because they experience a rise in determination to do well, motivated by the prospect of being associated with a positive review, which they believe will impress the retailer. Thus, they go ‘above and beyond’. However, determination is tempered by two boundary conditions. When employees (i) do not consider that being associated with an online review is beneficial (i.e., not goal relevant) or (ii) feel poorly equipped to serve the customer (i.e., low in self-efficacy), then a better service delivery will not occur. We also show that retailers can enhance customer service through internal championing of the importance of online reviews, so long as this is framed as promotional rather than punitive.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 April 2023
Published date: June 2023
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
Keywords:
Employee performance, Frontline employees, Goal relevance, Monitoring, Online reviews, Self-efficacy
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 476219
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/476219
ISSN: 0022-4359
PURE UUID: a4eb6c5d-2262-40ca-aacd-4c7f700c7df7
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Date deposited: 14 Apr 2023 16:44
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:54
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Contributors
Author:
Ben Marder
Author:
Eric Boyd
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