The interplay between employee and firm customer orientation: substitution effect and the contingency role of performance-related rewards

Herhausen, Dennis, De Luca, Luigi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2492-3075 and Weibel, Michael 2018. The interplay between employee and firm customer orientation: substitution effect and the contingency role of performance-related rewards. British Journal of Management 29 (3) , pp. 534-553. 10.1111/1467-8551.12230

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Abstract

This paper identifies and explains a potential tension between a firm's emphasis on customer orientation (CO) and the extent to which employees value CO as a success factor for individual performance. Based on self‐determination theory and CO implementation research, the authors propose that firm CO may represent both autonomous and controlled motivations for CO, but that employees’ CO is more strongly linked to individual performance when employees experience solely autonomous motivation. Hence, the authors expect a substitution effect whereby the link between employees’ CO and their performance is weaker when firm CO is high. Furthermore, the authors examine a boundary condition for the previous hypothesis and propose that performance‐contingent rewards have a positive effect on the internalization of the extrinsic motivation stemming from firm CO. Two multilevel studies with 979 employees and 201 top management team members from 132 firms support these hypotheses. Against previous research, these findings offer a new perspective on the effectiveness of CO initiatives, propose employees’ motivational states as the theoretical explanation for the heterogeneity in the link between employee CO and performance, and reappraise the role of performance‐contingent rewards in CO research. Managerial implications for the effective implementation of customer‐oriented initiatives within firms are provided.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	1045-3172
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 February 2017
Date of Acceptance:	10 February 2017
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2025 12:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/98349

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