PROPOSED FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 revealed the important relationship between employee engagement and customer experience in a customer-centric culture. The constructs were shown to be supported by a number of pre-requisites with the promise to yield either positive or negative outcomes to an organisation. Joining these constructs and exploring the influence on each other is proposed with the help of a theoretical framework. These postulated associations are depicted in Figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1: Theoretical framework of the influence of employee engagement on customer experience

In Figure 6.1 above, the framework depicts customer-centric climate and culture as influencing employee engagement that in turn influences customers’ experience of service’ interaction (CXSI). The extent of these experiences by customers is in turn postulated to influence total customer experience and ultimately customer loyalty.

Various pre-requisites are further hypothesised to also influence the climate and culture as well as the levels three levels of employee engagement identified. The internal (employee level) constructs are based on the Benchmark of Engagement Quotient (BeQ) model of (Viljoen, 2009), whereas the external (customer level) constructs are based on the Customer Engagement Quotient (CeQ) of Viljoen (2016), and the model by (Salanova et al., 2005:1217).

The framework (Fig. 6.1) required two data sets as a source of information and for this reason a customer and employee questionnaire was required. The data sets will eventually be collated by comparing responses from employees and customers. The framework as a whole hypothesises that the positive influence of various factors/sub-constructs on each level, directly influences employee engagement and in turn influences customer experience of the service interaction. It is further postulated, the customers’ experience from the service interaction together with the customer experience of the product experience affects the total customer experience and ultimately customer loyalty.

6.2.1 The customer-centric climate and culture concept

Customer-centricy entails placing customers at the centre of organisational activities, with employees pivotal to providing great customer experiences (Shah et al., 2006:115). As such, employee engagement or disengagement starts with organisational culture, which directly and indirectly influences the customer experience. The following hypotheses are proposed:

H2: Customer-centric climate and culture is positively related with employee engagement on an individual level.

H3: Customer-centric climate and culture is positively related with employee engagement on a team level.

H4: Customer-centric climate and culture is positively related with employee engagement on an organisational level.

To test the full theoretical framework, the following secondary hypotheses were formulated to support the primary hypotheses:

H1a: Customer vision is positively related with customer-centric climate and culture.

H1b: People and processes vision is positively related with customer-centric climate and culture.

H1c: Management actions or behaviours vision is positively related with customer-centric climate and culture.

6.2.2 The employee engagement concept

MacGillavry and Sinyan (2016:14) describe employee engagement as the cultivation of an environment in which employees are inspired and motivated to make customers happy. Employee engagement occurs at individual, team and organisational level within organisations (Viljoen, in Nienaber & Martins, 2016:22).

The author refers to the individual level as (I-engage domain), the group level (We-engage domain) and the organisational level (Org-(We-engage domain) – each with its own sub-constructs. These employee-engagement domains and sub-constructs are proposed as pre-requisites which form the foundation for the hypotheses below.

H5: Employee engagement on an individual level is positively associated with employee engagement on a team level. The following secondary hypotheses were formulated to support the primary hypotheses.

H5a: Respect will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at individual level.

H5b: Regard will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at individual level.

H4c: Resilience will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at individual level.

H5d: Personal responsibility will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at individual level.

H5e: Competence will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at individual level.

H6: Employee engagement on a team level is positively related with employee engagement on an organisational level. The following secondary hypotheses were formulated to support the primary hypotheses.

H6a: Support will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at team level.

H6b: Leadership will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at team level.

H6c: Accountability will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at team level.

H6d: Valuing diversity will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at team level.

H7: Employee engagement on an individual level is positively related with employee engagement on an organisational level. The following secondary hypotheses were formulated to support the primary hypotheses.

H7a: Trust will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at organisational level.

H7b: Alignment will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at organisational level.

H7c: Inclusivity will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at organisational level.

H7d: Ethics will significantly predict the variance in employee engagement at organisational level.

6.2.3 The employee engagement and customer experience of the service-interaction connection

Employee proficiency and effort used in providing quality services is expected to lead to positive customer experiences, as well as positive perceptions of service quality (Salanova et al., 2005:1217). It is therefore assumed that a positive relationship exists. Markos and Sridevi (2010:92) assert employee engagement is the result of an employee’s qualities which include knowledge about field of work, talents, skills, temperament, way of thinking and personality. From an organisational context, employee engagement includes leadership, physical environment and social setting, combined with the human resources practices, all of which affects employees’ job performance. The following hypotheses are therefore proposed:

H8: Employee engagement on individual level is positively related to a customer-centric service climate and culture.

H9 Employee engagement on a team level is positively related to a customer-centric service climate and culture.

H10: Employee engagement at an organisational level is positively related to a customer-centric service climate and culture.

6.2.4 The service interaction and customer-experience connection

Since customers’ experiences are the result of people embodied in an organisation’s culture (cf. par. 1.2, p. 25), then employee proficiency (quality service interactions) is an essential pre-requisite that will lead to positive customer experiences and relationships, ultimately. It is therefore assumed that a positive correlation exists between customer experience of the service interaction, total customer experience and customer loyalty. Hence, total customer experience and customer loyalty are suggested as outcomes of customer experience of the service interaction. The relationship between customer experience of the service interaction and total customer experience is proposed in this dissertation. For this reason, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H11: Customer experience of the service interaction is positively related to total customer experience.

H12: Customer experience of the service interaction is positively related to customer loyalty.

H13: Total customer experience is positively related to customer loyalty.

6.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY

In this chapter three constructs were examined. Customer-centric culture, employee engagement and customer experience have been motivated and are adopted in this dissertation. A theoretical framework has been recommended to assess whether or not a causal relationship exists between customer-centric climate and culture, employee engagement and customer experience. Various hypotheses are suggested to test the pre-requisites of climate and culture as well as various levels of employee engagement in an organisation. Employee engagement was assumed as pre-requisites to customer experience of the service interaction (CXSI), which also integrates the corresponding influence on total customer experience and customer loyalty. Before testing the research hypotheses suggested in this chapter, the research methodology adopted for the current research is presented in Chapter 7.