ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (4): 398-410.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2022.00398

• Reports of Empirical Studies • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The effect of customer-initiated support on employee service performance: The self-verification theory perspective

ZHANG Hui1(), LIU Yanjun2, SHI Yanwei3, ZHANG Nan4   

  1. 1School of Sociology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
    2School of Economics and Management, North China University of Technology, Beijing 100144, China
    3Department of Human Resource Management, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
    4School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
  • Received:2020-10-27 Published:2022-04-25 Online:2022-02-21
  • Contact: ZHANG Hui E-mail:zhanghui_0927@hust.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    youth program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(71901098);youth program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(72101005);key program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(72132001);independent innovation fund of Huazhong University of science and Technology(2020WKYXQN011)

Abstract:

Drawing on the self-verification theory, the present study aimed to examine the effect of customer-initiated support on employee service performance (in-role service performance and proactive customer service performance) and explore the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem and the moderating roles of promotion focus and internal locus of control. We collected three-wave time-lagged data from 652 nurses nested within 139 department supervisors. Results from multilevel modeling analysis showed that: (1) customer-initiated support was positively related to employee organization-based self-esteem; (2) organization-based self-esteem was positively related to employee in-role service performance and proactive customer service performance; (3) employee organization-based self-esteem mediated the relationship between customer-initiated support and employee in-role service performance and proactive customer service performance; (4) promotion focus strengthened the positive relationship between customer-initiated support and organization-based self-esteem, such that the positive relationship between customer-initiated support and organization- based self-esteem was stronger for employees with higher promotion focus; (5) internal locus of control weakened the relationship between customer-initiated support and organization-based self-esteem, such that the positive relationship between customer-initiated support and organization-based self-esteem was weaker for employees with higher internal locus of control. These findings shed light on potential underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions of the effect of customer-initiated support on employee service performance and provide new ideas for organizations to improve employee service performance.

Key words: customer-initiated support, service performance, self-verification theory, organizational-based self-esteem, promotion focus, internal locus of control