Impact of customer expectations on service employees

Abstract

This dissertation introduces the concept of customer expectations as a group-level construct impacting employee outcomes such as satisfaction and turnover. In addition, a new construct, Expectation Management Behaviors, is theorized and empirically tested as a means of employee coping with customers with high expectations. The author finds no evidence linking group-level customer expectations to job stress or other outcomes. Evidence is, however, provided that lends support for Expectation Management Behaviors as a driver of service employee job satisfaction and job performance, especially when working in a more structurally empowered culture.