This study explores how organizational energy can be increased through customer passion, i.e. the perceived affective commitment and positive word-of-mouth of customers. We integrate literature on organizational energy with research on customers' influences on employees and develop hypotheses for such a relationship at the organizational level. We test our hypotheses in a dataset containing 495 board members and 8'299 employees from 152 organizations. The results show that customer passion is positively related to organizations' productive energy which in turn is positively related to overall company performance. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the relationship between customer passion and organizational energy is stronger when the customer orientation of the top management team is high compared to organizations with a top management team with low customer orientation. By providing first insights into the consequences of customer passion for employees in organizations, this study opens a new avenue for scientific inquiry on the energizing impact of customers on organizations.
This study explores how energy in organizations can be influenced through recognition from customers. We propose that recognition from customers is positively linked to productive energy. Furthermore, we suggest that prosocial impact climate mediates this relationship, and that transformational leadership climate positively moderates this mediation. Thereby, we integrate literature on energy in organizations with research on customers' positive influence on employees and develop hypotheses for such a relationship at the organizational level. We test our hypotheses in a dataset containing 11,421 employees from 93 organizations. The results support the proposed hypotheses. By providing first insights into the mechanisms of customers' energizing effects on organizations, this study opens a new avenue for scientific inquiry on the external factors of energy in organizations.
An energetic workforce is imperative for corporate success. However, organizations often fail to reach their full potential as they do not master to create and sustain high productive organizational energy (POE). Hence, new approaches are needed in order to enable companies and employees to flourish in the long term and to achieve excellence. Whereas knowledge about intra-organizational determinants of POE is accumulating, external factors such as customers and their influences on POE have not yet been examined. In the course of this dissertation, three empirical studies were carried out providing new linkages, mechanisms, and contingencies of the energizing influences of customers on organizations.
Study 1 relies on a sample of 80 companies and demonstrates that both positive and negative customer feedback has an impact on an organization's positive affective climate and thereby on organizational well-being, i.e. overall employee productivity, employee retention, and emotional exhaustion among employees. Based on 93 companies, Study 2 examines how customers energize organizations by introducing prosocial impact climate as a mechanism at the organizational level linking customer recognition with POE. Additionally, transformational leadership climate strengthens this relationship. Study 3 is based on a sample of 152 companies and establishes the positive linkages between customer passion, POE, and organizational performance. Furthermore, it reveals top management team's customer orientation as a boundary condition of the relationship between customer passion and organizational performance.
Overall, across the three studies, positive customer influences are positively related to POE and organizational performance supporting the notion that customers effectively energize whole organizations. Hence, this dissertation provides a starting point for future investigations of external factors influencing POE. Moreover, an extensive discussion of the practical implications and recommendations on how to enable, stimulate, and amplify positive customer influences in the pursuit of corporate success is provided.
3-4 mal pro Jahr veranstaltet die Migros, die grösste Detailhändlerin der Schweiz, die sogenannte Nacht der Belohnung für ihre treuesten Kunden. Diese Events lassen sich als collective emotional event mit "Ansteckungsgefahr" klassifizieren. Die positive Stimmung wird nicht nur unter den Kunden gesteigert, sondern überträgt sich vielmehr positiv und nachhaltig auf die Mitarbeiter.
Our study provides comprehensive insights into the experiences of workplace accommodation recipients and hereby highlights the idea that affected employees do not necessarily benefit from the accommodation. Building on organizational change and accommodations literature, we propose a theoretical framework of negative experiences during accommodation processes and apply it to qualitative data from interviews with accommodation recipients. Although problems associated with the health-related impairment are solved by the accommodation, affected employees often experience interpersonal problems and conflicts similar to those that typically occur during organizational change. Lacking social support as well as poor communication and information are frequently criticized. Moreover, discrimination, bullying, and maltreatment appear to be common during accommodation processes. The findings suggest that "well-meant is not always well-done" - in order to make accommodation processes more successful, we derive recommendations from organizational change literature and apply it to the accommodation context. Moreover, unique characteristics of the accommodation setting are emphasized and translated into practical implications.
With the present study, we aim to advance the understanding of the role of leadership in the vocational inclusion of employees with disabilities. We argue that transformational leadership can be an important approach that fits particularly the requirements of people with disabilities because it positively influences their self-concept and consequentially heightens their job performance while it prevents emotional exhaustion. Applying a mixed-methods approach, both qualitative interview and quantitative survey data from employees of an Israeli call center were gathered and analyzed. The interview results indicated that all facets of transformational leadership could be observed in the present context. Moreover, it provides evidence for the assumption that a lack of self-esteem is a key problem with which employees with disabilities deal in daily work. The survey results support the view that transformational leadership can enhance employees' organization-based self-esteem and prevent their emotional exhaustion, thereby also affecting job performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
