Do satisfied employees deliver better service experiences that result in satisfied customers, and, what are the factors affecting employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction?

• Main Author: CHEONG, Chuen Kong Kevin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: tourist attractions; visitor attractions; employee satisfaction; customer satisfaction; psychological empowerment; zone management; Organizational Behavior and Theory; Sales and Merchandising
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/207; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1207&context=etd_coll
• Institution: Singapore Management University

It is often said that a happy worker is a good worker, but do happy workers in the service industry result in happy or satisfied customers or guests? This research aimed to seek out answers to this anecdotal question by surveying both frontline, customer-facing employees and visitors or guests in several visitor attractions in Singapore and the Philippines. The research found significant correlation between job satisfaction, psychological empowerment and guest satisfaction, particularly in zone-managed visitor attractions. Zone-managed attractions did not deploy the conventional and traditional functional operating structure; employees’ job functions were clustered by customer touchpoints associated with how the customers would be most likely to experience the visitor attraction. Functions in these clusters or zones were based on anticipating customer or guest needs and requirements, and employees in these zones were multiskilled to meet these needs and employees performed a range of functions and duties within the same zone. This research found employees in zone-managed attractions to be more likely to be satisfied, more psychologically empowered and more likely to have longer lengths of service; while guests visiting zone-managed attractions to be more likely to be satisfied with their visits.