The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0960-4529.htm

MSQ
16,5 Links between service climate,
employee commitment and
employees’ service quality
460
capability
Marie Mikic Little
Monash University, Churchill, Australia, and
Alison M. Dean
The University of Newcastle, Callghan, Australia

Abstract
Purpose – Studies have demonstrated that the service climate in an organisation, as perceived by
employees, is positively related to service quality, as perceived by customers. However, no studies
appear to have tested the link to service quality from an employee perspective. Hence, the major aim of
this study was to investigate the relationships between service climate, employee commitment and
employees’ service quality capability (SQC).
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by a cross-sectional field study of frontline
employees in a telecommunications call centre (n ¼ 167; 58 percent). A call centre was chosen because
of the perceived poor service climate and the high levels of employee turnover.
Findings – Global service climate (GSC) in the call centre was found to be positively related to
employees’ SQC, with partial mediation by employee commitment. Regression analysis showed that
three factors: managerial practices, customer feedback and human resource management contributed
to GSC but, unexpectedly, customer orientation did not.
Research limitations/implications – The findings indicate that the service climate in a call centre
affects employees, both in terms of their commitment, and their self-reported feelings about the
delivery of service quality to customers. Unexpected findings suggest that further work on service
climate in call centres is warranted.
Practical implications – This study demonstrates the important effects of service climate in
general, and HRM in particular, on frontline employees in call centres. Managers should benefit from
noting the links and the likely service quality outcome for customers.
Originality/value – This paper applies and extends theory developed in other contexts to call
centres.
Keywords Service climate, Job satisfaction, Customer services quality, Call centres, Australia
Paper type Research paper

Managing Service Quality
Vol. 16 No. 5, 2006
pp. 460-476
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0960-4529
DOI 10.1108/09604520610686133
Introduction
In recent years the service sector has witnessed some extreme changes in the
workplace. Companies have linked information technology advances with
telecommunications to re-invent their customer service activities and sales via call
and contact centres (Knights and McCabe, 2003). The call centre phenomenon suggests
what some have described as a transfer from “routine” to “knowledge” work in
employment (Blackler et al., 1993; Frenkel et al., 1995). Frenkel et al. (1995) highlight the
appearance of a new form of “info-normative” control, where administrative
procedures are one of the main media of work. This situation involves performance
benchmarks that allow automatic generation of performance data and managers can Service climate
adopt practices to improve employees’ performance using specific objectives and
targets (Knights and McCabe, 2003). Such efficiency-focused practices generate
questions about control and employee stress (Knights and McCabe, 1998) and the role
and importance of the organisational climate in a centre set up with the specific goal of
providing service to customers.
In tandem with their recent growth worldwide, call centres have received negative 461
publicity concerning how they are managed (Armistead et al., 2002). In general,
researchers have found that managers do emphasise efficiency goals and productivity
targets (Singh, 2000), and that they frequently subject employees to high levels of
monitoring and stressful working environments (Knights and McCabe, 1998; Taylor
and Bain, 1999; Wallace et al., 2000). The reputed focus on efficiency, at the expense of
employee well-being, suggests that a poor service climate may exist in call centres, and
that employees may have difficulty delivering high levels of service quality to
customers. However, there are few studies that have investigated employees’
perceptions about customer service in call centres (Armistead et al., 2002; Gilmore,
2001) or the climate that contributes to it. This study aims to address that gap.
Service climate is defined as “the shared perceptions of employees concerning the
practices, procedures, and kinds of behaviours that get rewarded and supported with
respect to customer service and service quality” (Schneider et al., 1998, p. 151). That is,
service climate is built on foundations of caring for both customers and employees
(Burke et al., 1992; Schneider et al., 1992). The importance of the elements of service
climate to customers and employees has been demonstrated in various studies. For
example, Rogg et al. (2001) found that service climate facilitates the delivery of
customer satisfaction, while Schneider et al. (1998) demonstrated a positive link
between the way employees perceive service climate and customers’ perceptions of
service quality. More recently, Schneider et al. (2002) showed that the strength of
service climate has a moderating effect on the link between employees and customers.
Additionally, service climate has been found to be related to employee commitment
(Lux et al., 1996) and to increase the empowering leadership behaviours of a service
worker’s supervisor, with flow on effects to the worker (Yagil and Gal, 2002). With its
potential implications for both customers and employees, service climate is therefore of
considerable interest in call centre research.
Another issue of great concern in call centres is employee commitment, and the high
levels of employee withdrawal and turnover (Deery et al., 2002; Malhotra and
Mukherjee, 2004). In this study, employee commitment is defined in terms of
employees’ beliefs in the goals and values of the organisation, their willingness to exert
effort, and their intention to maintain membership of the organisation (Mowday et al.,
1979, p. 226). Thus, employee commitment encapsulates both employees’ feelings
about the organisation and their desire to remain with it. In a related call centre study,
de Ruyter et al. (2001) found an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and
employee turnover. Using a meta analysis of studies on employee commitment,
Griffeth et al. (2000) found that employee commitment is a valid and reliable predictor
of employee turnover. Hence, employee commitment is important in the call centre
context of the study because it reflects turnover intentions.
Despite compelling findings on the importance of managerial policy and practice to
service climate (Schneider et al., 1998; Schneider et al., 1992), and the role of employee
MSQ commitment in organisational success (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), few studies appear to
16,5 have explored the manner in which service climate affects employees and the resultant
effects on their ability to service customers. Exceptions include studies which have
demonstrated the partial mediation, by employee commitment, of the relationship
between organizational characteristics and service climate (Lux et al., 1996); the
mediation of the link between HRM practices and customer satisfaction by
462 organisational climate (Rogg et al., 2001); and the role of service climate in
empowering the service worker’s supervisor which, in turn, enhances the service
worker’s sense of empowerment (Yagil and Gal, 2002). Thus, the major aim of this study
was to investigate employees’ perceptions of, and responses to, the service climate with
respect to frontline positions in a call centre. In particular, relationships between the
service climate in the call centre, employees’ commitment to the organisation, and their
ability to provide high levels of service quality to customers were proposed and tested.
Service climate can be investigated in terms of global service climate (GSC), or its
dimensions. Thus, a secondary aim of the paper was to investigate the direct
relationships, if any, between the dimensions of service climate with employee
commitment and service quality capability. GSC is distinguished from the dimensions
of service climate by drawing on the explanation and scale development work of
Schneider et al. (1998, p. 153). They describe global service climate (GSC) as a
“summary measure of the organization’s climate for service” and state that GSC is “not
a composite of the three scales” (discussed below), but rather “it is its own distinct scale
designed to tap the ‘molar’ aspect of service climate”.
Schneider et al. (1998, p. 157) showed that global service climate was significantly
related to each of three predictors: customer orientation (CO), managerial practices
(MP) and customer feedback (CF), with the strongest link to CO. While Schneider et al.’s
(1998) managerial practices included some aspects of human resource management,
other literature emphasises the role that human resource management (HRM) and, in
particular, learning and development, has in influencing service climate and customer
service (Babin and Boles, 1996; Burke et al., 1992; Rogg et al., 2001). In the current
study, global service climate is therefore expected to consist of four dimensions: CO,
MP, CF, and HRM. Precise definitions of these dimensions are included towards the
end of the next section. All four dimensions were expected to relate positively to the
global service climate variable but their relative contribution is unknown and,
apparently, untested.

Development of hypotheses
First, we test the relationship between global service climate and employee
commitment. As stated previously, Schneider et al. (1998) describe service climate in
terms of employees’ perceptions of the practices, procedures and behaviours that are
expected, supported and rewarded with respect to customer service and service
quality. That is, the service climate communicates a message to employees about what
is valued by the organisation, and the attitudes and behaviours that are desired and
will be rewarded. Thus, service climate can influence employee attitudes, and some
scholars have suggested that businesses must be concerned with improving
employees’ perceptions of service climate because those perceptions help to define
employee attitudes (Lux et al., 1996). We propose that employee commitment is one
such attitude. However, few studies have examined organizational commitment in Service climate
relation to employee perceptions of organizational climate for service (Lux et al., 1996).
The existing studies have demonstrated various associations and links between
elements of service climate and employee commitment. For example, Rogg et al. (2001)
included employee commitment (the degree to which employees would support
organisational goals and welfare) in their conceptualisation of service climate and found
that it correlated with other components that are relevant to the definition of climate in 463
the current study, for example, management practices (0.59) and customer orientation
(0.68). In a call centre study, Singh (2000) found that boss support reduced employees’
burnout tendencies and enhanced their perceived commitment levels. Similarly, Lux
et al. (1996) found strong support for the hypothesis that when management provides
support and resources to overcome technical and social obstacles encountered by
employees, employees will exhibit higher levels of commitment to the company. Finally,
Schmit and Allscheid (1995) found that variables assessing climate (such as
management support) were strongly associated with employees’ affective response to
the organisation, which was strongly associated with service intentions. With the other
studies mentioned above, Schmit and Allscheid’s (1995) link between climate and affect
also supports the relationship hypothesised here. That is:
H1. Global service climate will be positively related to employee commitment.
The present study also tests whether there is a relationship between global service
climate and employee’s service quality capability in a call centre. Service quality
measures how well the service level received by customers matches their expectations
(Parasuraman et al., 1985). In call centres, service quality is delivered by frontline
employees during encounters with customers, and is influenced by the extent to which
the organisation supports employees in their endeavours (Singh, 2000). We are
interested in employees’ responses to the service climate and, more specifically,
whether these responses influence employees’ self-reported service quality capability.
Schlesinger and Zornitsky (1991) defined service quality capability (SQC) as the extent
to which employees are satisfied with their ability to deliver service quality to
customers. We adopt this definition.
As noted above, service climate is built on foundations of caring for customers and
employees (Burke et al., 1992), and it is designed to empower, assist and motivate
employees to provide superior customer service and high levels of service quality
(Schneider, 1990). Various scholars, in linkage research studies, have found a
relationship between the organisation’s attitude to its employees and outcomes for
customers. Using empirical evidence from 29 studies that involved both employees
and customers, Dean (2004a) provides a review of major links between organisational
and customer variables in service delivery. The review shows studies that demonstrate
relationships between organisational features and service quality (e.g. Parasuraman
et al., 1992) or customer satisfaction (e.g. Johnson, 1996). While linkage studies use
customer data to assess to service quality outcomes, it is alleged that where these
outcomes are positive, employees will be relatively satisfied with their service quality
capability. Hence, the second hypothesis is proposed:
H2. Global service climate will be positively related to employees’ service quality
capability.
We now consider the possible relationship between employee commitment and service
quality capability. As defined above, employee commitment is concerned with
MSQ employees’ identification, involvement, and intent to remain with an organisation, and
16,5 has been linked to employees’ attitudes and responses to their workplaces (Grebner
et al., 2003; Lux et al., 1996; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990). Few studies appear to have
investigated employee commitment and employees’ opinions about the service they
deliver to customers (Malhotra and Mukherjee, 2004). However, scholars have found
that service workers are more likely to deliver quality to customers when they perceive
464 positive management approaches to them (Grönroos, 1984; Singh, 2000) and are likely
to treat customers in the same way that they are treated by the organisation (Yagil and
Gal, 2002). Bettencourt and Brown (1997, p. 39) stated:
Leading firms and scholars propose a possible relationship between the fair treatment of
employees and excellence in service delivery.
Similarly, using a sample from six occupations, Eisenberger et al. (1990) reported
positive relationships between employees’ feelings of perceived organisational support
with their commitment, job attendance and performance. Finally, a recent study by
Malhotra and Mukherjee (2004), conducted in four call centres of a UK bank,
demonstrated that the organisational commitment of employees had a significant
impact on their self-evaluated service quality performance. Hence, we propose:
H3. Employee commitment will be positively related to employees’ service quality
capability.
Figure 1 provides a summary of the variables and hypotheses guiding the study.
As well as testing the hypotheses shown in Figure 1, the study investigates whether
employee commitment mediates the proposed link between service climate and service
quality capability. That is, we are interested in whether employees’ feelings about their
organisation transmit the effects of service climate to their satisfaction with their
ability to deliver a quality service to customers. Based on the logic of internal quality in
the service profit chain, where employees’ attitudes are developed and reflected in their
delivery of value to customers (Heskett et al., 1997), we propose that this will be the
case. Further, in a study closely related to the current one, Yoon et al. (2001) found that
both service climate and supportive management contribute to employees’ job
satisfaction and work effort, and indirectly impact on customers’ perceptions of
employee service quality. Therefore we propose:
H4. Employee commitment will mediate the relationship between global service
climate and employees’ service quality capability.

Figure 1.
Conceptual model guiding
the study
Dimensions of service climate Service climate
The secondary aim of the study was to investigate the proposed relationships between
service climate and the dependent variables, using the dimensions of service climate,
rather than global service climate. We used the four dimensions shown in Figure 1,
essentially adopted from Schneider et al. (1998), and defined as follows. Customer
orientation measures the degree to which an organisation emphasizes, in multiple
ways, meeting customer needs and expectations for service quality. Customer feedback 465
measures the solicitation and use of feedback from customers regarding service
quality. Managerial practices reflect those actions taken by an employee’s immediate
manager that support and reward the delivery of quality service (Schneider et al., 1998).
We have added a fourth dimension, human resource management, to be concerned
specifically with the policies, procedures and resources to support frontline staff. It
emphasises training, problem-solving, and the role of on-line e-learning in call centres.
When investigating the dimensions of service climate, we aimed to identify which
dimension of service climate demonstrates the strongest relationship to each of
employee commitment and service quality capability.

Method
The research setting for the study was an outsourced telecommunications call centre,
which meets the three identifying requirements of a call centre provided by Taylor and
Bain (1999). First, employees are dedicated to the customer service function. Second,
they use telephones and computers concurrently and third, all the calls are processed
by a computerised distribution system. The centre provides a 24-hour service for
inbound customer enquiries. Frontline employees are divided into two departments. In
one department employees respond to a variety of customer enquiries including billing,
new products and telecommunications contracts options, and they are expected to
complete calls within an average handling time of three minutes. In contrast,
employees in the other department provide a routine messaging service and are
expected to average 20 seconds for each call. The study had approximately equal
numbers of respondents from each department.
A cross-sectional survey design was utilised. An employee questionnaire was
developed from the literature and pilot tested by 10 call centre staff prior to execution.
Team Leaders in the call centre distributed surveys and covering letters (267) to
frontline staff, and the number of respondents (167) provided a response rate of 58 per
cent.
The sample was mostly female (77 per cent) and relatively young (average age 29.5
years). Their work arrangements were predominantly permanent full time (71 per
cent), and half the sample had only been with the organisation for 1 to 2 years (52 per
cent). The human resources manager in the call centre considered the sample to be
representative of the overall profile of frontline staff.

Measures
The survey used scales for global service climate, the dimensions of service climate,
service quality capability, and employee commitment. Each item in the scales was
measured using a seven-point Likert scale. Bipolar anchors of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7
(strongly agree) were used for all the scales except global service climate and service
quality capability. In these cases, anchors of 1 (poor) to 7 (excellent) were used. In
MSQ addition, items in service quality capability that assessed satisfaction used anchors of 1
16,5 (very dissatisfied) to 7 (very satisfied). Table I provides a summary of the measures,
their source, and typical items.
The definitions and scales for global service climate (GSC) and the dimensions of
service climate are drawn predominantly from the work of Schneider et al. (1998). The
scale for GSC by Schneider et al. (1998) was adopted in its entirety. The measure for
466 human resource management drew on work facilitation issues (Schneider et al., 1998)
and relevant HRM practices (Rogg et al., 2001). Four new items were included in HRM
to encompass e-learning.
Three items of the service quality capability measure were developed based on
areas noted in Schlesinger and Zornitsky (1991), namely employees’ satisfaction with
their ability to meet customers’ needs, their assessment of the service quality delivered,
and their evaluation of customers’ satisfaction with service quality. Three new items
were added to encapsulate specific elements of capability relevant to call centres (Dean,
2002). These three items covered job knowledge and skills, the time to perform tasks,
and the authority to perform tasks. Other scales were adopted as shown in Table I.
Alpha values for the scales are provided in Table II.
Prior to performing the regression analyses to test hypotheses, items and scales
were checked for normality. Exploratory factor analyses of several variables together
were used to identify cross-loading items and to demonstrate discriminant validity
between major variables. Varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization was used and

No. of
Variable and source items Typical items
a
Global service climate (Schneider et al., How would you rate the job knowledge
1998) and skills of employees to deliver superior
7 quality work and service?
Customer orientationa (Schneider et al., We maintain a high level of commitment
1998) 6 to our customers
Customer feedbacka (Schneider et al., This company informs us about customer
1998) evaluations of the quality of service that
5 we deliver
Managerial practicesa (Schneider et al., My immediate manager/team leader puts
1998) a lot of emphasis on giving good service to
5 customers
Human resource managementa (eight Policies and procedures in the
items customized from work facilitation organisation contribute to the delivery of
issues in Schneider et al., 1998; four new excellent service. E-learning provides me
items) 12 with adequate training on new products
Employee commitment (Mowday et al., I talk up this company to my friends as a
1979) 9 great organisation to do business with
Service quality capability (three items On average how would you rate your
from Schlesinger and Zornitsky, 1991; the delivery of service quality to your
other three developed for the study) customers? How satisfied do you think
your customers are with the service that
Table I. 6 you provide?
Measures used in the
a
study Note: Specific items provided by the lead author
 Service climate
Inter-correlations
Scale
Mean SD alpha GSC CO CF MP HRM EC

Global service climate (GSC) 4.42 0.97 0.86 1.00

Customer orientation (CO) 4.96 1.02 0.86 0.52 * * 1.00
Customer feedback (CF) 4.34 1.00 0.82 0.58 * * 0.60 * * 1.00 467
Managerial practices (MP) 5.01 1.43 0.94 0.61 * * 0.50 * * 0.45 * 1.00
Human resource management
(HRM) 4.16 0.97 0.88 0.63 * * 0.62 * * 0.59 * * 0.52 * *
Employee commitment (EC) 4.35 1.15 0.88 0.49 * * 0.39 * 0.43 * 0.45 * 0.51 * *
Service quality capability Table II.
(SQC) 5.37 0.78 0.80 0.41 * * 0.36 * 0.40 * 0.31 * 0.44 * 0.38 * Means and
inter-correlations for all
Notes: *p , 0.01; * *p , 0.001 major variables

items loading greater than 0.32 (10 per cent variance) were retained (Tabachnick and
Fidell, 2001). Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were
used to test the hypotheses outlined in the previous section.

Results and discussion

Preliminary analyses
An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the items constituting the
dimensions of service climate. Cross-loading items in customer orientation and
customer feedback were deleted, reducing those scales to four items (from six), and four
items (from five), respectively. Managerial practices constituted a separate factor with
all five items loading between 0.77 and 0.95. The 12 items in HRM split into three
factors, representing policies and procedures, training and resources, and problem
solving. However, together the 12 items demonstrated a reliability of 0.88 so they were
retained as one scale in the current study. Other scales demonstrated the expected
factor patterns.
Table II provides a summary of all major variables arising from the scales, their
means, standard deviations, Cronbach alpha values, and intercorrelations. Scales were
considered adequate if they exhibited a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.8 or higher (Nunnally
and Bernstein, 1994).

The dimensions of service climate as predictors of global service climate

Table II shows that global service climate is positively associated with the four
dimensions of service climate adopted in the study (r values ranging from 0.52 to 0.63).
To test the simultaneous associations of the dimensions with global service climate, the
dimensions were used as independent variables in a multiple regression. Table III
provides the results.
Table III shows that all dimensions of service climate except customer orientation
demonstrated a significant relationship with global service climate. The Adjusted
R-squared value indicates that 52.3 per cent of the variance is explained. Since
customer orientation is concerned with understanding and satisfying customers, and
was the best predictor in Schneider et al.’s (1998) study, this was an unexpected
finding. It is possible that the unique nature of call centre work and call centre
MSQ environments changes the emphases that employees perceive with respect to service
16,5 delivery. A study by Dean (2004b) found that services theory is different in call centres.
This possibility is reinforced by Grebner et al. (2003) who, in their comparative study of
call centre agents with workers in traditional jobs, found that working conditions differ
for call centre agents.
The dimension: managerial practices, is the best predictor of global service climate
468 in the current study. Managerial practices consisted of items that measured the
emphasis managers place on high quality work and service, their commitment to
improving quality and the example they set in doing so. Consequently, this finding
reinforces the role that managers play in establishing the service focus of the call
centre.

Relationship between service climate and employees’ service quality capability (H1)
Table II shows the correlation between global service climate and service quality
capability was 0.41 ( p , 0.001). A regression confirmed this relationship
(Fð1; 151Þ ¼ 30:6, p , 0.001) with a low adjusted R-squared value of 0.164. Hence
H1 was supported but the effect was smaller than expected. It appears that other
factors are contributing more to employees’ service quality capability than are
expectations and rewards with respect to customer service and service quality (that is,
global service climate).
In order to investigate the relationship further, the dimensions of service climate
were used as independent variables in a regression with service quality capability as
the dependent variable. Human resource management (b ¼ 0:25, p , 0.05), emerged as
the only significant predictor of employees’ service quality capability, explaining 21.7
per cent of the variance. Hence, specific activities with respect to HRM (policies and
procedures, training and resources, and facilitation of problem solving) appear to have
the most important influence on service quality capability in this call centre.

Relationship between service climate and employee commitment (H2)

Table II shows an inter-correlation of 0.49 ( p , 0.001) between global service climate
and employee commitment. As expected, a regression involving these two variables
showed that 24.8 per cent of the variance in employee commitment is explained by
global service climate (Fð1; 149Þ ¼ 48:3, p , 0.001). Thus, the second hypothesis is
supported.
As for service quality capability, the relationship between service climate and
employee commitment was investigated further by performing a regression analysis
using the dimensions of service climate as independent variables and employee
commitment as the dependent variable. Again, human resource management

Dimensions of service climate Beta t-value Sig.

Table III. Constant 3.20 0.00

Regression analysis for Customer orientation 0.03 0.35 0.73
global service climate Customer feedback 0.21 2.54 0.01
against the dimensions of Managerial practices 0.36 4.83 0.00
service climate Human resource management 0.29 3.29 0.00
(b ¼ 0:37, p , 0.001), was found to be the only predictor of employee commitment, Service climate
explaining 28.2 per cent of the variance. These findings suggest that employees’
feelings about overall service climate and, in particular, elements of HRM, are likely to
influence employee commitment. Given the emphasis placed on “concern for
employees” in service climate studies (Borucki and Burke, 1999; Schneider et al., 1998)
this finding makes intuitive sense. It also seems to indicate that employee commitment
is influenced neither by the extent of customer orientation and feedback in the call 469
centre, nor the priorities and leadership that managers demonstrate with respect to
customer service and service quality.

The relationships between service climate and employee commitment with service quality
capability (H3 and H4)
Hypothesis three proposed that employee commitment would be positively related to
service quality capability. When regressed against service quality capability, employee
commitment had a beta value of 0.38 ( p , 0.001) for Fð1; 161Þ ¼ 27:13, p , 0.001.
Hence H3 was supported but the adjusted R-squared value indicated that only 14.0 per
cent of the variance was explained.
To compare the effects on service quality capability due to global service climate
and employee commitment, these latter two variables were entered together in a
regression with service quality capability as the dependent variable. Table IV provides
the results. Table IV shows that global service climate and employee commitment are
both related to service quality capability, jointly explaining 27.4 per cent of the
variance (Fð2; 149Þ ¼ 29:11, p , 0.001).
H4 tested for mediation by employee commitment and was partially supported.
Using the logic of Baron and Kenny (1986), the three requirements for mediation are
met. That is, the independent variable (global service climate) is related to both the
dependent variable (service quality capability) (H1) and the mediator variable
(employee commitment) (H2). When the independent variable and the mediator are
regressed together (Table IV), the strength of the relationship between the independent
variable and dependent variables decreases. In this study, the beta value for the global
service climate to service quality capability link changed from 0.41 (Table II) to 0.30
(Table IV). However, Table IV shows that global service climate still demonstrated a
significant relationship with SQC, suggesting only partial mediation.
Rogg et al. (2001) found that service climate mediates the relationship between
human resource practices and customer satisfaction in small business franchises but
has no direct effects on customer satisfaction. This study seems to suggest that the
indirect effects may work, at least in part, through employee commitment and service
quality capability.

Table IV.
Beta t-value Sig. Regression analysis for
service quality capability
Constant 12.76 0.36 against global service
Global service climate 0.30 3.50 0.00 climate and employee
Employee commitment 0.23 2.77 0.01 commitment
MSQ Summary
16,5 In applying the service climate concept, we tested relationships in terms of both global
service climate and the four dimensions: CO, MP, CF and HRM. The hypothesised
relationships shown in Figure 1 were supported, with partial mediation by employee
commitment of the global service climate to service quality capability link. This means
that the way the organisation treats employees and emphasises customers, affects the
470 feelings and attitudes of employees, and their capability to deliver service quality. In
contrast to the hypotheses, the dimensions of service climate did not demonstrate
relationships as expected. Figure 2 provides a summary of associations found in the
current study.
The findings shown in Figure 2 may indicate that managerial practices and human
resource management take precedence over customer factors (customer orientation and
customer feedback), in influencing employees and determining their ability to provide
quality service to call centre customers. Managerial practices contribute to the service
climate in the call centre but human resource management appears to have a greater
influence on employees’ commitment and capability to provide high quality service.

Limitations and future research

This study was conducted in one call centre in the telecommunications industry where
service consultants receive inbound calls only. While the call centre met the definitional
requirements of Taylor and Bain (1999), the definition could be applied to frontline
employees in call centres representing vastly different types of service climate. For
example, employees may be relatively low skilled and low paid service workers who
respond to customer requests within a tightly controlled, heavily monitored and
time-restricted system as in the current study. In contrast, they may be highly skilled

Figure 2.
Findings with respect to
the dimensions of service
climate
employees, such as information technology assistants, who respond to customer calls Service climate
in an environment where quality of service and interaction are emphasised (Dean,
2002). It seems likely that the type of call centre (and its corresponding service climate)
will affect employees’ abilities to deliver high levels of service. Therefore the findings
from the research would be strengthened by further testing and validation in different
types of call centres, preferably located at different ends of the call centre
quality/quantity continuum provided by Taylor et al. (2002). 471
Literature on previous studies involving the constructs of service climate, employee
commitment and service quality capability is available but very little of it has been
developed or tested in call centres. Therefore, the theoretical foundation of this study
had to be primarily derived from other frameworks. It is possible that the lack of
services theory from call centres resulted in omissions, and has contributed to the
unexpected findings and low R-squared values of the relationships. Further, the study
used only regression analysis to test hypothesised relationships. A more
comprehensive model using structural equations would be desirable, following
further preliminary studies to identify major variables that are necessary to specify
alternative structural models for testing.
More research in call centres is warranted because their frontline employees work in
unique circumstances. They work in isolation, continually managing customer
interactions over the telephone; they are generally expected to adhere to strict
efficiency targets, and they are subjected to high levels of monitoring and control
(Knights and McCabe, 1998; Singh, 2000). At the same time, employees are expected to
provide quality customer service. Therefore gaining a greater understanding of the
factors that produce a positive service climate and help employees to feel committed,
when compared to other service encounters, would be useful. This includes identifying
factors, other than those in the current study, that increase employees’ feelings of
capability to provide service quality to customers. Additionally, Yoon et al. (2001)
found that work effort plays a central role in customers’ perceptions of service quality
so inclusion of this measure in future research may help us to better understand the
means by which organisational and employee factors lead to positive customer
outcomes.
Some limitations with respect to the measures used in the study are noteworthy.
Consistent with their theoretical bases, the scales for the main variables have been
developed and tested in contexts other than call centres (Mowday et al., 1979;
Schlesinger and Zornitsky, 1991; Schneider et al., 1998). Further, the inclusion of three
new items in the measure for service quality capability means that its psychometric
properties have not been previously tested. It would be useful to see the scale further
developed. Common method variance may have caused inflation of correlations
because all data were collected in the same form at the same time (Lindell and Whitney,
2001). Finally, all the measures were self-reported which may have resulted in
self-selection bias (Burns and Bush, 2000). Future researchers may wish to gather data
on service climate and service quality capability from sources other than employees,
providing a degree of triangulation to the method.

Practical applications
Two major findings emerge from this research. First, global service climate is a
predictor of both employee commitment and employees’ service quality capability in
MSQ the call centre of the study. Second, managerial practices, HRM, and customer feedback
16,5 all contribute to global service climate. Hence, improving global service climate, and its
dimensions, is likely to benefit the workplace by contributing to a more involved and
stable frontline; and to benefit customers who will be served by employees who are
trained and rewarded in the service endeavour. The two major findings highlight
several specific areas for managerial attention and are now discussed in turn.
472 Global service climate (GSC) was defined in terms of expecting, supporting and
rewarding employees for providing high quality service to customers. The relevant
measure consisted of items that included ratings of the job knowledge and skills of
employees to deliver superior quality work and service; the tools, technology and
resources provided to employees to support them, efforts to measure and track the
quality of work and service, and the overall quality of service provided. As GSC was
directly and indirectly related to the outcome variable, employees’ service quality
capability, each of the above areas provides a practical focus that managers can use for
checking and improvement activities.
As well as service quality capability, GSC demonstrated a relationship to employee
commitment (Table II). Employee commitment was defined in terms of employees’
identification and involvement in the organisation, and measured by items reflecting
employees’ feelings about the company, the work, and the likelihood that they will
remain in the firm. Increasing employee commitment is therefore likely to contribute to
employees feeling valued and consequently delivering good service to customers.
Other items in the GSC measure, which may contribute to such outcomes, include
evidence of leadership in service quality, the effectiveness of communication efforts to
both employees and customers, and the recognition and rewards that employees
receive for the delivery of superior work and service. Recognition and rewards for
employees may be particularly important to employee commitment in the current
context because of the nature of call centre work, discussed previously. This study
seems to suggest that a manager’s emphasis on recognition and rewards via a positive
service climate may be linked to higher levels of employee commitment.
The second major finding concerns the dimensions that contribute to global service
climate (Table III). These dimensions are first, managerial practices: emphasising and
recognising high quality work and service, providing definite quality standards and
setting a personal example. In call centres, team leaders have a role that appears to be
driven by time-based key performance indicators. Managers may wish to rethink the
emphasis on time and commit to improving the quality of work and service, with the
goal of enhancing GSC and, subsequently, service quality. To achieve this, the current
study indicates the importance of providing front line staff with more autonomy and
discretion in dealing with customer enquiries, for example, less stringent, more flexible
talk times and more emphasis on customer satisfaction, discussed next.
The second dimension contributing to GSC is customer feedback: seeking
evaluations of the quality of work and service, informing frontline staff of feedback
and informing customers of changes that affect them. Providing employees with
customer feedback should facilitate changes to practice, increased productivity, and
satisfaction from positive reports. Similarly, developing systems to ensure that
customer feedback is received and acted upon is likely to enhance customer service and
satisfaction.
 Finally, human resource management emerged as a predictor of GSC (Table III) and Service climate
demonstrated separate links to employee commitment and service quality capability
(Figure 2). Hence, HRM is worthy of special consideration by managers. HRM was
measured by items addressing organisational policies and procedures, training in new
products, development of interpersonal and problem-solving skills, technology and
resources to support employees, the role of e-learning in the call centre, and employees’
attitude to it. The findings suggest that improved HRM would contribute to service 473
quality levels and organizational effectiveness via more committed employees.
Comments from respondents indicated that e-learning has a negative impact on
employees’ ability to learn and then to help the customer. The employees noted that
training should be facilitator lead and give adequate time for staff to practice,
understand and comprehend the new knowledge, prior to service delivery.
In conclusion, many businesses use call centres as their only customer interface, and
call centres have the potential to provide a competitive basis for firms. Hence,
understanding the delivery of service quality from call centres is important for
managers. This study has identified specific challenges and highlighted opportunities
for managers to create a positive service climate. Service climate has been shown to
contribute to the commitment of employees to the organisation, and to employees’
service quality capability, potentially improving the service that the customer
experiences. Improved quality of service contributes to the overall consumer benefit
package and should prove beneficial to firms in the long term.

References
Armistead, C., Kiely, J., Hole, L. and Prescott, J. (2002), “An exploration of managerial issues in
call centres”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 246-56.
Babin, J.B. and Boles, S.J. (1996), “The effects of perceived co-worker involvement and supervisor
support on service provider role stress, performance and job satisfaction”, Journal of
Retailing, Vol. 72 No. 1, pp. 57-75.
Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986), “The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social
psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations”, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1173-82.
Bettencourt, L.A. and Brown, S.W. (1997), “Contract employees: relationships among workplace
fairness, job satisfaction and prosocial service behaviors”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 73
No. 1, pp. 39-61.
Blackler, F., Reed, M. and Whitaker, A. (1993), “Special issue on ‘knowledge workers and
contemporary organizations’”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 975-96.
Borucki, C. and Burke, M. (1999), “An examination of service-related antecedents to retail store
performance”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 943-62.
Burke, M.J., Borucki, C.C. and Hurley, A.E. (1992), “Reconceptualizing psychological climate in a
retail service environment: a multiple-stakeholder perspective”, Journal of Applied
Psychology, Vol. 77 No. 5, pp. 717-29.
Burns, A.C. and Bush, R.F. (2000), Marketing Research, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Dean, A.M. (2002), “Service quality in call centres: implications for customer loyalty”, Managing
Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 414-23.
Dean, A.M. (2004a), “Links between organisational and customer variables in service delivery”,
International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 332-50.
MSQ Dean, A.M. (2004b), “Rethinking customer expectations of service quality: are call centres
different?”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 60-77.
16,5
Deery, S., Iverson, R. and Walsh, J. (2002), “Work relationships in telephone call centres:
understanding emotional exhaustion and employee withdrawal”, Journal of Management
Studies, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 471-96.
de Ruyter, K., Wetzels, M. and Feinberg, R. (2001), “Role stress in call centres: its effects on
474 employee performance and satisfaction”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 2,
pp. 23-35.
Eisenberger, R., Fasolo, P. and Davis-LaMastro, V. (1990), “Perceived organizational support and
employee diligence, commitment and innovation”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 75
No. 1, pp. 51-9.
Frenkel, S., Korczynski, M., Donoghue, L. and Shire, K. (1995), “Re-constituting work: trends
towards knowledge work and info-normative control”, Work, Employment and Society,
Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 773-96.
Gilmore, A. (2001), “Call centre management: is service quality a priority?”, Managing Service
Quality, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 153-9.
Grebner, S., Semmer, N.K., Lo Faso, L., Gut, S., Kalin, W. and Elfering, A. (2003), “Working
conditions, well-being, and job-related attitudes among call centre agents”, European
Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 341-65.
Griffeth, R.W., Hom, P.W. and Gaernter, G. (2000), “A meta-analysis of antecedents a correlates of
employee turnover”, Journal of Management, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 463-88.
Grönroos, C. (1984), “A service quality model and its marketing implications”, European Journal
of Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 36-44.
Heskett, J.L., Sasser, J.W.E. and Schlesinger, L.A. (1997), The Service Profit Chain How Leading
Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction and Value, The Free Press,
New York, NY.
Johnson, J.W. (1996), “Linking employee perceptions of service climate to customer satisfaction”,
Personnel Psychology, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 831-51.
Knights, D. and McCabe, D. (1998), “What happens when the phone goes wild?: Staff stress and
spaces for escape in a BPR telephone banking regime”, Journal of Management Studies,
Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 163-94.
Knights, D. and McCabe, D. (2003), “Governing through teamwork: reconstituting subjectivity in
a call centre”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 40 No. 7, pp. 1587-619.
Lindell, M.K. and Whitney, D.J. (2001), “Accounting for common method variance in
cross-sectional research designs”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 86 No. 1, pp. 114-21.
Lux, D., Jex, S. and Hansen, C. (1996), “Factors influencing employee perceptions of customer
service climate”, Journal of Market-Focused Management, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 65-86.
Malhotra, N. and Mukherjee, A. (2004), “The relative influence of organisational commitment and
job satisfaction on service quality of customer contact employees in banking call centres”,
Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 162-74.
Mathieu, J.E. and Zajac, D.M. (1990), “A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates,
and consequences of organizational commitment”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 108 No. 2,
pp. 171-94.
Mowday, R.T., Steers, R.M. and Porter, L.W. (1979), “The measurement of organizational
commitment”, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 224-47.
Nunnally, J.C. and Bernstein, I.H. (1994), Psychometric Theory, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, Service climate
NY.
Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1992), “Perceived service quality as a
customer-based performance measure: an empirical examination of organizational barriers
using an extended service quality model”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 30 No. 3,
pp. 335-64.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985), “A conceptual model of service quality 475
and its implications for future research”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 41-50.
Rogg, K.L., Schmidt, D.B., Shull, C. and Schmitt, N. (2001), “Human resource practices,
organizational climate and customer satisfaction”, Journal of Management, Vol. 27 No. 4,
pp. 430-49.
Schlesinger, L.A. and Zornitsky, J. (1991), “Job satisfaction, service capability and customer
satisfaction: an examination of linkages and management implications”, Human Resource
Planning, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 141-9.
Schmit, M.J. and Allscheid, S.P. (1995), “Employee attitudes and customer satisfaction: making
theoretical and empirical connections”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 521-36.
Schneider, B. (1990), “The climate for service: an application of the climate construct”,
in Schneider, B. (Ed.), Organizational Climate and Culture, 383-412, Jossey-Bass,
San Francisco, CA.
Schneider, B., Salvaggio, A.N. and Subirats, M. (2002), “Climate strength: a new direction for
climate research”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 87 No. 2, pp. 220-9.
Schneider, B., Wheeler, J.K. and Cox, J.F. (1992), “A passion for service: using content analysis to
explicate service climate themes”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 77 No. 5, pp. 705-16.
Schneider, B., White, S.S. and Paul, M.C. (1998), “Linking service climate and customer
perceptions of service quality: test of a casual model”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83
No. 2, pp. 150-63.
Singh, J. (2000), “Performance productivity and quality of frontline employees in service
organisations”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64 No. 2, pp. 15-34.
Tabachnick, B.G. and Fidell, L.S. (2001), Using Multivariate Statistics, 4th ed., Allyn & Bacon,
Needham Heights, MA.
Taylor, P. and Bain, P. (1999), “‘An assembly line in the head’: work and employee relations in the
call centre”, Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 101-17.
Taylor, P., Hyman, J., Mulvey, G. and Bain, P. (2002), “Work organisation, control and the
experience of work in call centres”, Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 16 No. 1,
pp. 133-50.
Wallace, C.M., Eagleson, G. and Waldersee, R. (2000), “The sacrificial HR strategy in call
centres”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 174-84.
Yagil, D. and Gal, I. (2002), “The role of organizational service climate in generating control and
empowerment among workers and customers”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer
Services, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 215-26.
Yoon, M.H., Beatty, S.E. and Suh, J. (2001), “The effect of work climate on critical employee and
customer outcomes: an employee-level analysis”, International Journal of Service Industry
Management, Vol. 12 No. 5, pp. 500-21.
MSQ About the authors
Marie Mikic Little is a PhD student in the Department of Management, Monash University,
16,5 Australia. She is currently investigating service climate and employees’ commitment, service
quality capability and work effort in several call centres. Marie’s interest has been stimulated by
prior employment in the call centre industry. Marie Mikic Little is the corresponding author and
can be contacted: marie.little@buseco.monash.edu.au
Alison M. Dean, PhD is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Newcastle,
476 Australia, specialising in services marketing and management. Her research has been published
in a variety of journals including the International Journal of Service Industry Management, the
Journal of Services Marketing, Managing Service Quality, Health Marketing Quarterly, and
Knowledge and Process Management. Additionally, Alison has served as a guest editor of
Managing Service Quality.

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.