Antecedents and Consequences of Climate for Retail Service Innovation: A Multilevel Investigation
With heightened competition and an uncertain economic environment, many organizations are adopting team-based structures to better compete and survive (Sundstrom 1999). In particular, observers have noted the importance of semi-autonomous frontline employ
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Vision is an idea of a valued outcome which represents a higher order goal and a motivating force at work. Participative safety relates to active involvement in group interactions, wherein members feel able to propose new ideas and solutions in a non-judgmental climate. Task orientation represents a shared concern with excellence of quality of task performance, characterized by evaluations, modifications, and critical appraisals. Support for innovation reflects the expectation, approval and practical support of attempts to introduce improved ways of doing things in the work environment.
While we borrow from West’s (1990) four-facet framework, our conceptualization more narrowly focuses on innovations aimed at enhancing retail customers’ service experiences. We speculate that stores with stronger CRSI are more likely to facilitate employees’ innate abilities to adapt to different customer needs as well as to changes in individual customer demands over time (Merlo et al. 2006). Such work environments are expected to stimulate pro-social employee behaviors in a manner that enhance customer satisfaction, retention, and relationship growth (Gilson et al. 2005). Thus, we predict: H1: Store climate for service innovation will be positively associated with growth in same store sales. Linking High Performance Work Practices with Psychological CRSI As increased global competition in many markets has resulted in more rapid erosion of advantages based upon technological innovations, practitioners and scholars have shown great interest in examining how firms may achieve and sustain competitive advantages through aligning human resource policies and practices with the strategic aims of the organization. In particular, SHRM research has examined the influence of “high-performance work systems” (HPWS) on organizational performance. HPWS describes a system of HR practices designed to enhance employees’ skills, commitment and productivity in such a way that employees become a source of competitive advantage” (Dutta, Guthrie and Wright 2005, p. 136). In keeping with recent conceptual advances in the SHRM literature, the present study categorizes HPWS components into three broad classes. Policies and practices aimed at: x x x
Improving employing knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) Enhancing employee motivation Providing more participative work structures
It is expected that the retailer’s HPWS will provide FLEs with the requisite knowledge, skills, motivation and opportunity to needed to deftly adapt their service delivery to meet the unique demands of customers as well as to come up with new ideas that enhance the efficiency of the retail operation. As a result, we expect that FLEs experience of the three HPWS practice categories will be positively associated with their psychological climate for service innovation. H2a-c: Experienced HPWS will be positively associated with FLE perceptions of retailer climate for service innovation. Specifically, FLE perceptions of the quality of (a) training programs, (b) appraisal systems, and
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