1991
Article
Human Resource Planning

Job Satisfaction, Service Capability and Customer Satisfaction: An Examination of Linkages and Management Implications

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Jeffrey Zornitsky

Format:Print

Abstract

Survey data from 1,277 employees and 4,269 customers of a personal lines insurance organization were analyzed with the following results: (a) employee perceptions of service quality are positively related to both job satisfaction and self-perceived service capability; (b) job satisfaction, service capability, and employee perceptions of service-quality rise over the employee-tenure cycle; (c) discrepancies between employee perceptions of service quality and actual customer satisfaction are negatively related to both job satisfaction and service capability; and (d) service capability is a key promoter of job satisfaction with a number of organizational attributes affecting both. Results are discussed from the perspective of promoting strategies which simultaneously manage both the delivery of high quality service and the achievement of high levels of job satisfaction. It is suggested that employee tenure significantly effects the nature of the strategies chosen.