Another missing link in the service profit chain: Composite self-regulation as a mediator

Abstract

The service profit chain contends that service-related human resource practices and management influence service behavior, performance, and ultimately organizational performance. This study builds upon recent work implicating service climate as the missing link in the service profit chain by explicating yet another missing link in the chain: composite self-regulation. Self-regulation is a core construct within the motivation literature, and it is a multifaceted process of monitoring and regulation. I propose that employees engage in self-regulation when interpreting the service-related predictors of service performance. In this study, I hypothesized that high involvement management, service climate, and composite self-regulation drive group-level service performance. In order to test my hypotheses, I collected data in two phases. In the first phase, I assessed the psychometric properties of new scales intended to measure composite self-regulation using data collected from Mechanical-Turk. In the second phase, I collected data from several companies and through snowball sampling to assess the hypothesized model. I found support for the validity of both a long form scale and short form scale for composite self-regulation. The results partially supported my hypotheses. Based upon the results, I performed post hoc analyses to assess alternative methods of testing the model. In addition to discussing the findings, I provide a summary of implications and potential avenues for future research in the area.