Consequences of Customer Orientation in Highly Relational Services

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the customer orientation of service employees (COSE) and its consequences in a highly relational service (HRS) context. To do so, a HRS is chosen and studied qualitatively. This working paper presents some preliminary results. A quantitative study is to be completed in the following months. Front-line employees from private banking (PB) services were chosen for this study because their level of judgement and involvement during the service delivery identifies them as front-runners in HRS. New consequences of COSE were identified, namely: trust, loyalty, word of mouth and customer-oriented deviance, plus one specific for the PB - the increase of assets under management. A new COSE model is thus proposed and five hypotheses are presented. Then, a questionnaire for the quantitative study has been developed. This study offers original contributions for academics and practitioners in the service sector. The main academic contributions are: (1) the proposal of a new and more comprehensive model of CO, (2) the identification of new consequences, and (3) the development of a measurement instrument. This study can also be relevant for practitioners in order to gain a deeper understanding of the customer orientation of front-line employees in a HRS.