Customer oriented behaviour (COBEH) – research on nature, effects and development

Abstract

In light of the increasing importance of service, managers as well as academics are interested in how to make sure employees provide good service to customers. New theories in this field emphasize customer oriented behaviour as a two?dimensional phenomenon that consists of continuous improvement and helping behaviour (Peccei & Rosenthal 1997). Until now the validity of these theories has not been studied extensively with quantitative methods.
This article describes three studies intended to shed light on the usefulness of the concept customer oriented behaviour. Participants were 2693 employees of seven Icelandic service companies. Results supported the idea of the two?dimensional nature of customer oriented behaviour. Further, this factor structure seems stable over time and across service industries. The most important antecedents of customer oriented behaviour appeared to be the affective orientation, organizational commitment, normative orientation, and job competence of the employee. Service training positively influenced continuous improvement behaviour of employees but it had no significant impact on helping behaviour. Academic implications of the results are discussed as well as implications for managers of service companies. Finally, the importance of continuing research on customer oriented behaviour is addressed.