Customer-Oriented Employees: Blessing or Curse for Firms?
I investigate whether the presence of customer-oriented employees benefi ts fi rms in a competitive environment. Employees are defi ned as customer-oriented if they are interested not only in their wage but also in the well-being of their customers. I find that fi rms may obtain higher profi ts by h...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/119266 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/119266 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Selecció de personal Gestió de personal Relacions amb els clients Planificació empresarial Employee selection Personnel management Customer relations Business planning |
| Sumario: | I investigate whether the presence of customer-oriented employees benefi ts fi rms in a competitive environment. Employees are defi ned as customer-oriented if they are interested not only in their wage but also in the well-being of their customers. I find that fi rms may obtain higher profi ts by hiring self-interested rather than customer-oriented employees. This is because the employees' customer orientation has opposing effects on the profi ts obtained by the fi rms. On the one hand, customer-oriented employees provide a given level of quality for a lower wage. On the other hand, the employees' customer orientation increases competition reducing prices. If the second effect dominates, firms fi nd themselves trapped in a prisoners' dilemma as the strategy of hiring self-interested employees is strictly dominated by that of hiring customer-oriented employees. Hence, the very presence of customer-oriented employees may hurt fi rms. If motivated employees are merely interested in the quality of the good provided, the effect on the price outlined before disappears. |
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