Professional Documents
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Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
8
orientation is intuitively appealing and should come as a
source of comfort to both academicians and managers. This
association reinforces the notion of matching people
organizational characteristics for achieving better effectiveness
and efciencies in organizations, especially service
organizations such as restaurants (Adkins et al., 1994; Cable
and Judge, 1994; Judge and Bretz, 1992). Employees with
lower feedback-seeking orientation may actually resent it and
even ignore it. All of the organizational and managerial efforts
in trying to inculcate an open and trusting organizational
climate may in fact prove to be counter productive if the
employees do not have a corresponding feedback-seeking
orientation. The other side of the coin is that a closed
organizational climate might prove stiing for employees with
high feedback-seeking orientation. Matching personality traits
with organizational characteristics should be a vital concern
for managers trying to enhance motivation and customer
service. While this may sound very attractive, there may be a
danger in taking this philosophy to an extreme. For example,
some managers may feel that a certain organizational
environment is good for their franchise restaurant. In
situations like this, there may be a temptation to t like-
minded people into the organization and weed-out employees
that do not t into the desired organizational environment.
This is likely to result in an organization that is homogenous
and has lower levels of richness in terms of traits,
characteristics and the ability to deal with divergent
customers and other stakeholder bases. Carried to an
extreme, this philosophy of matching people trait with
personality characteristics may lead to organizations that are
amorphous monoliths and do not have the ability to adapt.
The hypothesized relationship between perceived
managerial sincerity and feeling of motivation is positive and
corroborates the ndings from existing services literature
(Bitner et al., 1994; Conduit and Mavondo, 2001;
Parasuraman et al., 1991). Employees with higher perceived
openness and trust in their organizational climate seem to be
more enthused about their job than those with lower levels of
perceived openness. They may nd their current job
fascinating, creative, worthy of respect, fullling, and good
enough to recommend to their friends. An organization could
not possibly ask for more in terms of motivated employees
and in order to keep these employees happy and productive,
the franchise rm and its managers must continue to engage
in activities that create a feeling of trust and openness in the
organizational climate. Trying to impose the rules and norms
on these employees without offering adequate explanations
and opportunities for participation are likely to prove counter
productive. This is important since this group is not
insignicant in size (about 43 percent in our sample). Even
in rms where this group is small, care should be taken to
cultivate such employees because they are likely to be not only
more productive in terms of customer service, but also a good
source of future higher level employees. Peterson and Dant
(1990) alluded to such notions in their study, where they
found that people are attracted to working at franchise
restaurants because they see it as a good training ground, and
there is a greater amount of independence without the fear of
being completely alone.
However, not all employees have the same drive and
enthusiasm. Some may be very happy with simply being told
what to do without any concern for involvement or
motivation. The results of our study indicate that employees
with lower levels of perceived managerial sincerity climate
seem to be also low on feedback need orientation. They also
disagree more with sentiments such as my present job is
boring, simple, anybody could be trained to do my current
job, and I can easily nd a better job. Employees with higher
levels of perceived managerial sincerity, on the other hand,
disagreed with these sentiments to a lesser degree. They are
likely to be more eager to learn, seek out feedback, and
perhaps learn more quickly. It is also conceivable that these
employees are likely to become bored with the mundane
routine aspect of their proximal work environment, be less
satised with the status quo, and be eager to move on to
bigger and better things.
Employees with lower levels of managerial sincerity, on the
other hand seem to be more satised with the status quo, and
are probably content with the job even if it is boring and
mundane. One might also speculate that if these employees
were faced with a more challenging and open organizational
climate environment, they may actually be overwhelmed and
consequently become less productive. It is also quite possible
that these employees are happy to be told what and how to
perform their job. Given that most organizations have a mix
bag of tasks at the proximal work environment; one could
conjecture that it is probably better for rms to have some
employees that would follow orders without questions. This
perspective nds some oblique support in franchise literature
that suggests there may be a mismatch between what
franchisors and franchisees want from the relationship (see
Wattel, 1968).
Several explanations could be given for this phenomenon,
of which the most compelling would be rooted in the
respondent characteristics. These are rst line employees and
they are likely to work long hours to make both ends meet.
Some may be students who are working at a fast food
restaurant to earn some disposable income. It is conceivable
that everybody sees the job equally fascinating, challenging or
respectable (in terms of social status) enough. In addition,
they may all feel equally strongly about receiving any job-
related feedback from others in the franchise unit. In a similar
vein one could argue that both groups (high and low
openness) feel that it would be easy to nd a better job than
their present one, because of the respondent prole described
earlier. However, irrespective of the possible explanation, if
these sentiments are reections of the employees in the fast-
food franchise restaurant industry, it is not a very comfortable
position from which to manage.
Limitations and implications
This exploratory investigation has several limitations. The
sampling design was constrained to a subset of restaurant
units that are part of a single, multinational fast-food
franchise system. While the focal franchise system may be
representative of many large franchise systems, there likely
exist differences in both operational and strategic settings
across various size restaurant franchise systems. As such, the
respondents may not represent similar characteristics of front-
line employees in small to medium franchise systems, or those
front-line employees in independent restaurants. In this
regard, the ndings of this study may be limited in scope.
However, given the theoretical grounding of the constructs
and their relationships investigated in this study, the
nomological relationships should be fairly consistent across
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
9
large franchise systems. A related limitation is the sample size.
It would be desirable to replicate this investigation across
additional franchise units and systems, and across
independent (non-franchised) units. We also recognize that
several measures were only deemed adequate with respect to
internal consistency. In future studies, multiple measurements
may result in more reliable measures of each focal construct.
Another limitation of this study is the limited scope of
states-of-mind and behaviors measured; the motivation-
hygiene framework suggests that a multitude of other front-
line employee characteristics should be measured in future
studies. We have concentrated on only the feedback-seeking
orientation trait, perceived managerial sincerity and trust.
Future studies should investigate other personality traits in
conjunction with other managerially-relevant organizational,
political, and economic constructs. Finally, we have focused
our attention on the outcomes of managerial activities and
rm characteristics that result in job satisfaction (related to
both motivating and hygiene factors). It would be interesting
to investigate the managerial- and rm-related activities,
practices and policies, and relate these to the traits as well as
outcomes both affective and behavioral. This study should
provide an impetus for further investigation to enrich the
understanding of what leads to better service performance.
Given the common customer complaints about deteriorating
customer service, high turnover rate, and inability to nd the
right kind of employees, such investigation would be highly
desirable.
In terms of managerial implications, unlike personality
dimensions that cannot be inuenced by managerial actions
in any signicant manner, at least not directly, the
organizations internal environment can be determined by
managerial actions. This dimension has also been proposed as
a key determinant of internal customer orientation and
consequently of market orientation (Chebat and Kollias,
2000; Conduit and Mavondo, 2001). Employees with a
higher feedback-seeking orientation may be more demanding
of their managers and fellow workers than employees who
have a low feedback-seeking orientation. This is probably due
to the fact that employees with a high feedback-seeking
orientation are likely to be driven and do not fear criticism.
They view their job at the franchising unit as a launching
platform toward a career path. As such, managers would be
well advised to keep front-line employees motivated to remain
with the rm. It should be considered that many front-line
employees actually become managers in these same franchise
systems. At the same time, trying to deal with every employee
with the same level of openness may not be very effective.
Managers must try to balance a portfolio of diverse employee
traits with relevant managerial styles to achieve desired
motivation levels and ensuing service quality outcomes.
An often overlooked, but seemingly relevant, dimension of
management training is front-line employees retention levels
especially in franchise restaurant systems where turnover
rates are exceedingly high. This study suggests that front-line
employees perceptions of managerial sincerity may impact
their retention rates. Given the high costs associated with
recruitment and hiring of front-line employees, franchise
systems may afford greater training attention to supervisors
interpersonal communication skills. By utilizing interpersonal
communication techniques to maximize front-line employees
perceptions of managerial sincerity, supervisors may exercise
play a pivotal role in increasing front-line employees
motivation, retention and ensuing job satisfaction.
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Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
10
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Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
11
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Executive summary and implications for
managers and executives
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in
toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the
research undertaken and its results to get the full benets of the
material present.
Research by Paswan et al. into 26 US restaurants in a global
fast-food franchise reveals that the more sincere that
employees perceive their managers to be, the more likely
they are both to seek managerial feedback and to be motivated
in their work.
Employees seek managerial encouragement, feedback
and help
These ndings are important for small service businesses such
as franchise restaurants, for two key reasons. First, employees
in these organizations are likely to lean heavily on their
managers for encouragement, feedback, help and possibly
even career and personal growth opportunities.
Employee motivation
Second, front-line employees in these organizations, many of
whom work only part time, constantly face uncertain and
unpredictable situations such as angry customers and special
requests. Employees who are more likely to seek out feedback
are likely to be more concerned about learning and doing
things right. In contrast, employees who are less likely to seek
out feedback are more likely to be apathetic and unconcerned
about the job they carry out.
Customers are more likely to feel they have received a
superior service if an employee who is motivated serves them.
Employees who believe they work for an open and trustworthy
organization are more likely to be enthusiastic, productive and
fullled and perhaps to recommend the organization to
their friends. This may be a source both of new clients and of
new potential employees.
Matching employees to the organizational culture
Because of factors such as these, managers should try to
match employees personalities with the organizational
culture. All management efforts to bring about an open and
trusting climate in the organization will be thwarted if the
people who work in it resent or even ignore the feedback they
receive. Conversely, employees who like to seek out feedback
from their managers will feel stied in an organization where
this is not encouraged.
Managers should not, however, go too far in tting like-
minded people into the organization and weeding out those
who do not t the desired organizational environment,
because this might make the organization too monolithic and
insufciently adaptable.
Employees who are more likely to seek feedback may be
more demanding of their managers and fellow workers. They
may view their job at a small restaurant franchise as simply a
launching platform toward a career path with a bigger
organization. They may therefore add to staff turnover
problems in an industry that already has problems retaining
its employees.
Moreover, not all employees have the same drive and
enthusiasm. Some may be very happy with simply being told
what to do, without any concern for involvement or
motivation. Satised with the status quo, they may be less
eager to move on to bigger and better things. If they faced a
more challenging and open organizational environment, they
may be overwhelmed and consequently less productive.
Training in interpersonal skills
Supervisors should therefore try to tailor their management
style to the individual employee involved. This may demand
that the supervisors receive more or better training in
interpersonal skills. The company could recoup the money it
spends on such training through having employees who are
more motivated, more satised with their work, and more
likely to remain with their current employer.
(A precis of the article Perceived managerial sincerity, feedback-
seeking orientation and motivation among front-line employees of a
service organization. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for
Emerald.)
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
12