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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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Publication Date: | 2017 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repository: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/119266 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/119266 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Selecció de personal Gestió de personal Relacions amb els clients Planificació empresarial Employee selection Personnel management Customer relations Business planning |
| Summary: | 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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