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Customer service behavior in retail settings: A study of the effect of service provider personality

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Abstract

Researchers have suggested that service orientation is an aspect of personality that affects service performance. Four studies were done to explore the effect of personality on customer service behavior among frontline sales personnel in a fast-food convenience store chain. An exploratory qualitative study with customers, store managers, and salespeople showed that there was consistency in the trait descriptors used to describe superior service providers. Another study validated scales that measure the personality constructs (extroversion, adjustment, and agreeableness) underlying trait descriptors noted in the exploratory study. Finally, the results of two studies showed that personality does influence customer service and that superior service providers tend to be higher in extroversion and agreeableness. The magnitude of the effect of personality in services and recommendations for future research concerning personality and performance in service roles are discussed.

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Robert F. Hurley is an assistant professor at Fordham University. He received his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research has been published inAdvances in Services Marketing and Management, theCalifornia Management Review, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Marketing. His research is in the area of organizational change and market orientation, innovation, the relationship between organization functioning and customer satisfaction and personality, and its effect on service quality.

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Hurley, R.F. Customer service behavior in retail settings: A study of the effect of service provider personality. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 26, 115–127 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070398262003

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