Frontline Employee Adaptability: Conceptualization, Measurement, Antecedents and consequences

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FRONTLINE EMPLOYEE ADAPTABILITY:

CONCEPTUALIZATION, MEASUREMENT, ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES

A Thesis submitted to Goa University for the Award of the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in

Management Studies

By

MICHAEL SONY

Research Guide

Dr. NANDAKUMAR MEKOTH Professor

Department of Management Studies

Goa University Taleigao Goa

2014

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stAtement of Authorship

I hereby declare that this submission entitled “Frontline Employee Adaptability: Conceptualization, Measurement, Antecedents and Consequences” is my own work carried out under the supervision of Dr.Nandakumar Mekoth, and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person or material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of universities or other institutes of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Michael Sony

Place: Goa University Date:

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DeclArAtion by the supervisor

This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis entitled “Frontline Employee Adaptability: Conceptualization, Measurement, Antecedents and Consequences” is an original work carried out by Mr. Michael Sony, for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management Studies, under my guidance and that no part of this work has been presented for any other Degree, Diploma, Fellowship or other similar titles.

Dr. Nandakumar Mekoth Professor and Dean

Faculty of Management Studies Goa University

Date:

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dEdiCATiON

This thesis is dedicated to all my teachers who have taught me, from the first alphabets in kindergarten to Research Methodology in PhD course, especially to late Prof. Uday J Amonkar, Goa College of Engineering.

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ACKNOWLEdGEMENT

This dissertation would not have been possible without the help of many. As I close my eyes in gratitude, the first and foremost picture that emerges in my consciousness, is of my Guide Prof. Nandakumar Mekoth. I want to thank my guide for his patience; he has shown in guiding me. He has been a constant source of inspiration. When the days were dark and I was wondering hither and thither, through the unknown lanes of my research, it was his guidance which lifted my spirits and filled in me the zeal to move.

On every occasion when there was confusion and my will was down, he always came with up myriad solutions, to handle the mysteries of research. I am thankful for the evening time; he has spent with me, discussing the research, showing me the various facets of the subject which definitely I would have never seen without his assistance.

His exceptional statistical skills were a boon to me, much like finding water on the dessert of research. From my logical mistake to grammatical blunders, he was always there to help me.

Another prominent faces that knock the door my consciousness is Dr. M.S. Dayanand.

His ability to question the existing theories opens another pattern of thinking and it helped me to understand my subject better. I will always be thankful for the mind blowing lecture he delivered to us on qualitative research on a Wednesday morning during the research methodology class.

As I walk further in the lane of consciousness another person I want to thank wholeheartedly is Dr. Purva Hegde Dessai. She has actively guided me in various phases of research. There was a time where I was obsessed with a particular methodology and her questioning the applicability of the methodology in my research led me to rethink my strategies.

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Dr.Nirmala and Dr.Nilesh Borde not only guided me in research, but their comments made this work in the existing form. Their crisp comments during the weekly presentations were incredibly constructive. Dr.Nirmala taught us the importance of academic writing during our research methodology course which was very handy.

Dr.Nilesh Borde’s insight on various measurements Scale during research methodology classes was awfully momentous during my course of study.

I also wish to thank Dr.Tejashree Colvalkar, she gave us insights on literature survey during our research methodology course work. It was very practical and handy during the period of research.

I sincerely thank Dr (Sr). M. Aradhana A.C, Principal of Carmel College, Nuvem for her comments and insights helped to shape the work in its existing form.

Though I only had a brief interaction with Prof. Sreekumar Ancheri but I cherish the moments the most. I remember an illuminating discussion he had during a weekly presentation on critiquing a research paper. That was the first time I ever in my life saw a live critiquing a research paper that too from a reputed Journal.

My profound appreciation and deep gratitude to Dr. V. Mariappan and Late Prof.Uday J Amonkar, professors who taught me at Master of Engineering program in Goa Engineering College, in fact they were the ones who lighted the idea in me of doing a PhD.

I express gratitude to my good friend Dr. Subhash Naik, for being a wonderful friend who was always available whenever I needed guidance whether as a research critique or as a fellow rater, who went through the myriads of data during the qualitative research phase. All I can do my friend is bow my head in gratitude.

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I thank Prof. Mushtak Al-Atabi, Prof. and Dean of Mechanical Engineering, Taylors University, Malaysia for his wonderful insights on emotional intelligence.

The fellow PhD research scholars at GUDMS, especially Aruna, Pankaj, Fatima, Vidya, Dani, Wilson, Vilas, Veeraj, Joshua ,Dereck, Vanita, Raina, Meena, Prisca and others who made the tenure of PhD course an enjoyable experience. Aruna and Pankaj were always kind enough to chart the presentation schedule well in advance and was always accommodating in case if the dates clashed, I will always remember them. The support staff at GUDMS, Goa University, who were there for help especially Mafaldina, Shradha, Babulal.

My colleagues at Goa Electricity Department Nitin, Jayesh, Pradeep, Paresh, Sailesh, Thulsidas , John , Vaze, Sayyed, Udayakumar, Vishnu, Jayesh, Govind, Omkumar and many more who went out of the way to help me in whatever ways they can. From Pilot testing to reading the questionnaire they were all there whenever I needed them. I also thank the Chief Electrical Engineer, Goa Electricity Department for permitting me to do research.

I thank all the respondents who spend some valuable time to complete the survey, interview, focus group discussions etc, which was immensely useful for this research. It is because of you I am in a position to write this dissertation. Time is the most valuable resource in a finite life and you guys spend some time to fill the lengthy questionnaire, thanks for every thing.

I am fortunate to do this course during the era of information technology. From the reliable search engines like Google Scholar to ever increasing Electronic databases and from the short you tube lectures to the student versions of notable software, all such facilities of modern world made the life of a research student easier. I thank all those involved in making this information revolution.

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I express my profound gratitude to my parents who always dreamt that I go to the university in spite of limited means. Their sacrifices and prayers have seen me through the rough times. My sister Sini and brother in Law Roshan for their crisp comments whenever I discussed my topic with them. My wife Beena who was a constant source of motivation and strength. Whenever my hope dived into the sea of despair, it was her faith that kept me afloat. I remember countless times I told her “I am quitting”, “It is not for me” “It is very tough” , I even offered subterfuges to go to comfort zones like

“I will leave it to take care of the family etc” but every time she used to instil the zeal of resilience in me. Her assistance during data collection phase was immeasurably priceless and not to mention the countless reading of my thesis to check for the typos.

It is because of you, my dream of submitting my PhD dissertation, to a university is fulfilled. I fall short of words and expressions to thank my daughter Suzanne for allowing me to steal her share of my time.

Thank you for your tolerance towards ‘The Thesis’.

Michael Sony

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ABSTRACT

This study conceptualised the construct of Frontline Employee (FLE) Adaptability through a qualitative study using Grounded theory. Subsequently, a conceptual model of antecedents and consequences of FLE adaptability were developed. Consequently, the 41 item instrument (FLEADAPT SCALE) was developed to measure the seven dimensions of FLE Adaptability and tested in line with extant literature on scale development. The conceptual model developed was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. Three gaps in literature have given rise to this study: the need for conceptualizing and exploring the dimensions of adaptability among frontline employees, the need to develop a tool to measure frontline employee adaptability, and the need for a study that examine the antecedents and consequences of FLE Adaptability. The context of interest in this study is the frontline employee’s working in the power sector. A major contribution from this work is the conceptualization of the Frontline Employee Adaptability Construct and development of its measurement scale.

Besides, the study also examined the antecedents like a) individual related factors and b) organization factors on FLE adaptability construct and also the consequences of FLE Adaptability Construct like Job Satisfaction and Job performance are also studied.

Among Individual related factors,

 Service Orientation was found to be positively related to FLE adaptability, specifically to Interpersonal, Social and Group adaptability.

 This study suggested a positive relationship between Tolerance for Ambiguity and FLE adaptability, Further, Tolerance for Ambiguity is found to be positively related to Service Offering Adaptability and Physical Adaptability.

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 This study also found a positive relationship between self efficacy and FLE adaptability, particularly to Service Offering Adaptability.

 This study suggested a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and FLE adaptability, mainly Self Emotional Appraisal is found to be positively related to Interpersonal Adaptability. Also, Others Emotional Appraisal found to be positively related to Interpersonal, Service Offering, Social, Political and Group Adaptability. Besides, Regulation of Emotion was positively related to Interpersonal, Political and Group Adaptability. While Use of Emotion, was positively related to Interpersonal and Political Adaptability.

 Employee Spirituality was found to be positively related to FLE adaptability, predominantly positive relationship between meaningful work and Interpersonal, Service offering, Group and Social Adaptability were encountered. Compassion was also found to be positively related to Interpersonal and Social adaptability. Besides, Mindfulness positively affected Service Offering, Group and Organization adaptability.

Among Organization factors;

 Formalization was found to have a positive relationship with FLE Adaptability, particularly; it showed positive relationship with Service Offering adaptability, Group adaptability and Organization adaptability.

 The research finds a significant relationship between Centralization and FLE Adaptability, particularly, Centralization was found to be positively related to Political, Group and Social Adaptability.

 Perceived Organizational Support was found to be positively related to FLE Adaptability, mainly with Service Offering Adaptability, Political Adaptability, Group Adaptability and Organizational Adaptability.

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 Perceived supervisor support was positively related to FLE Adaptability, favorably with Service Offering Adaptability, Political Adaptability, Group Adaptability and Organizational Adaptability.

 This study finds a positive relationship between Servicescape and FLE Adaptability. Specifically, positive relationship was found between Convenience of Servicescape and Physical Adaptability. Safety was positively related to Physical Adaptability and Pleasantness of Servicescape was positively related to Physical Adaptability and Interpersonal Adaptability.

The influence of FLE adaptability construct on consequences such as Job Satisfaction and Job Performance is also discussed. This research showed a positive relationship of FLE Adaptability construct with Job Satisfaction and Job Performance. This study did not find any relationship between Job satisfaction and Job performance and vice versa.

The FLE adaptability construct is also tested for mediation and it is found to fully mediate between the proposed antecedents and consequences. The study concludes with a discussion and implications of the study.

Keywords: Frontline Employee Adaptability, Scale Development, Grounded Theory, Structural Equation Modelling, FLEADAPT Scale.

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LIST OF TABLES

^PAGE

Table 2.1: Excerpts from previous literatures on importance of FLE adaptive behaviours

43

Table 3.1: Composition of Data 66

Table 3.2: Sample Characteristics 71

Table 3.3: Summary of Scale Development Process 76 Table 3.4: Operational definition and measures of research variables 78 Table 3.5: Sample characteristics for phase III research 86 Table 3.6: Breusch Pagan Test for Heteroscedascity 96 Table 4.1: Dimensions and Themes of Frontline Employee Adaptability

construct

102 Table 4.2: Excerpt from Study-Verbal Adaptability 103 Table 4.3: Excerpt from Study-Emotional Adaptability 104 Table 4.4: Excerpt from Study- Nonverbal Adaptability 104 Table 4.5: Excerpt from Study- Professional Adaptability 106 Table 4.6: Excerpt from Study- Skill variety Adaptability 107 Table 4.7: Excerpt from Study- Uncertain and Unpredictable situation

Adaptability

108 Table 4.8: Excerpt from Study- Creative Problem Solving Adaptability 108 Table 4.9: Excerpt from Political Adaptability 110 Table 4.10: Excerpt from Social Adaptability-culture etc 112 Table 4.11: Excerpt for Social Adaptability- Social Consciousness 113 Table 4.12: Excerpt from Physical Adaptability 115

Table 4.13: Excerpt from Group Adaptability 117

Table 4.14: Excerpt from Organizational Adaptability 118

Table 4.15: Excerpts for Service Orientation 131

Table 4.16: Excerpts for Tolerance for ambiguity 135

Table 4.17: Excerpts for Self Efficacy 138

Table 4.18: Excerpts for Emotional Intelligence 142 Table 4.19: Excerpts for Employee Spirituality 148

Table 4.20: Excerpts for Formalization 153

Table 4.21: Excerpts for Centralization 156

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Table 4.22:Excerpts for Organizational Support 158

Table 4.23: Excerpts for supervisor support 161

Table 4.24: Excerpts for Servicescape 163

Table 4.25: Excerpts for Job outcomes 167

Table 5.1: Initial Scale Statistics 175

Table 5.2: Intra- class Correlation for expert assessment of the applicability of the items to each dimension

177 Table 5.3: Correlation for expert assessment of the applicability of the

items to each dimension

177 Table 5.4: Final Statistics of FLEADAPT Scale 179 Table 5.5: Early and late respondents group statistics 181 Table 5.6 : Levene’s test for equality of variances and t test between

early and late respondents

181 Table 5.7: Eigen values and % variance extracted 183

Table 5.8: Rotated Component Matrix 185

Table 5.9: Item-Total Statistics for the Entire scale 187 Table 5.10: Item – Total statistics for the Interpersonal Adaptability 191 Table 5.11: Item – Total statistics for the Service Offering Adaptability 192 Table 5.12:Item – Total statistics for the Political Adaptability 193 Table 5.13: Item – Total statistics for the Social Adaptability 194 Table 5.14: Item – Total statistics for the Group Adaptability 195 Table 5.15: Item – Total statistics for the Physical Adaptability 196 Table 5.16: Item – Total statistics for the Organizational Adaptability 197

Table 5.17: Correlations for test-retest 198

Table 5.18: Fit statistic for confirmatory model 199

Table 5.19: Standardized Regression Weights 202

Table 5.20: Each dimension convergent validity statistics 205 Table 5.21 : Discriminant Validity within dimensions 207 Table 5.22: Discriminant Validity between constructs 209 Table 5.23: Post hoc Harman one-factor analysis 210 Table 5.24: Regression weights with and without common latent factor 213 Table 5.25: Cronbach alpha statistics for BIDR Scale 214 Table 5.26: Correlation between BIDR and FLEADAPT Scale 215

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Table 5.27 : Model Summary for Predictive Validity 217 Table 5.28 :ANOVAresults of FLEADAPT and Job Performance 217 Table 5.29 : Coefficients of the regression model 217

Table 5.30: FLEADAPT SCALE 218

Table 6.1: Description of legends of Tolerance for ambiguity 225 Table 6.2: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for Tolerance

for ambiguity

225 Table 6.3: Description of legends for service orientation 227 Table 6.4: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for service

orientation

227 Table 6.5: Description of legends for self efficacy 228 Table 6.6: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for self

efficacy

229 Table 6.7: Description of legends for Emotional Intelligence 230 Table 6.8: Standardized Regression weights & reliability for emotional

intelligence

231 Table 6.9: Correlation Matrix & Fit statistics 232 Table 6.10: Description of legends for employee spirituality 233 Table 6.11: Standardized Regression weights , reliability and fit statistics

for employee spirituality

234 Table 6.12: Correlation Matrix for employee spirituality 235 Table 6.13: Description of legends for formalization 237 Table 6.14: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for

formalization

237 Table 6.15: Description of legends for centralization 238 Table 6.16: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for

centralization

239 Table 6.17: Description of legends for perceived organization support 240 Table 6.18: Standardized Regression weights & fit statistics for

perceived organization support

241 Table 6.19: Description of legends for perceived Supervisor support 242 Table 6.20: Standardized Regression Weights & fit Statistics for

perceived Supervisor support

242

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Table 6.21: Description of legends for Service Scape 243 Table 6.22: Standardized Regression Weights & fit Statistics for service

scape

244 Table 6.23:Correlation Matrix for service scape 244 Table 6.24: Description of legends for Job Satisfaction 246 Table 6.25: Standardized Regression Weights & Fit statistics 246 Table 6.26: Description of legends for Job Performance 247 Table 6.27: Standardized Regression Weights & fit statistics for Job

performance

248 Table 6.28: Description of legends for frontline employee adaptability 249 Table 6.29: Standardised regression weights & fit statistics for FLE

adaptability

251 Table 6.30: Correlation of each construct with SDR construct 255 Table 6.31: Fit statistics of structural model 259 Table 6.32 : Standardized Regression Weights for structural model 260 Table 6.33: Model Summary for FLEadapt and Antecedents 264 Table 6.34: ANOVA for FLEadapt and Antecedents 264 Table 6.35: Regression Output for FLEadapt and Antecedents 264 Table 6.36 :Model Summary Job performance and FLEADAPT 265 Table 6.37: ANOVA Job performance and FLEADAPT 265 Table 6.38: Regression output Job performance and FLEADAPT 265 Table 6.39: Model Summary Job Satisfaction and FLEADAPT 266 Table 6.40: ANOVA Job Satisfaction and FLEADAPT 266 Table 6.41: Regression output Job Satisfaction and FLEADAPT 266

Table 6.42: Testing for mediation 268

Table 6.43: Direct effect –Direct Model 270

Table 6.44: Indirect Effects - Two Tailed Significance (BC) (Partially mediating model)

271 Table 6.45: Direct Effect of partially medating Model 271 Table 6.46: Summary of hypothesis testing of service orientation 293 Table 6.47: Summary of hypothesis testing of Tolerance for ambiguity 294 Table 6.48: Summary of hypothesis testing of Self Efficacy 295 Table 6.49: Summary of hypothesis testing of emotional intelligence 296

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Table 6.50: Summary of hypothesis testing of employee spirituality 299 Table 6.51: Summary of hypothesis testing of formalization 301 Table 6.52: Summary of hypothesis testing of Centralization 302 Table 6.53: Summary of hypothesis testing of perceived organizational

Support

303 Table 6.54: Summary of Hypothesis testing of perceived supervisor

support

304 Table 6.55: Summary of hypothesis of service scape 305 Table 6.56: Summary of hypothesis of Job satisfaction 307 Table 6.57:Summary of testing of hypothesis of Job Performance 308 Table 6.58: Summary of hypothesis testing for Job Satisfaction – Job

Performance

309

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LIST OF FIGURES ^PAGE

Figure 1.1: Focus of Study 8

Figure 2.1: Conceptualizing previous research of Adaptability 20 Figure 2.2 : Frontline Employee Adaptability Matrix 41 Figure 3.1: Methodological steps for Qualitative study 60 Figure 3.2: Processes for constructing measurement model 82 Figure 3.3: Process for constructing Structural model 83 Figure 3.4: Mediation model requirement as per Baron and Kenny 90 Figure 4.1: Process for classification of condensed meaning units 100 Figure 4.2: Coding Process using Grounded theory 101 Figure 4.3: Themes of Interpersonal Adaptability 105 Figure 4.4: Themes for service offering Adaptability 109 Figure 4.5: Themes for political Adaptability 111

Figure 4.6: Themes for social Adaptability 114

Figure 4.7 : Themes for Physical Adaptability 116

Figure 4.8 : Themes for group Adaptability 117

Figure 4.9: Organizational Adaptability 119

Figure 4.10: Conceptual Schema of Frontline Employee Adaptability dimensions

121 Figure 4.11: Conceptualizing frontline Employee Adaptability 122 Figure 4.12: Conceptual Model of antecedents and consequences of

frontline employee adaptability

132 Figure 5.1: Path Diagram for Confirmatory Model 201 Figure 5.2: Using Common latent factor for common method bias 212 Figure 6.1: Path diagram of Tolerance of ambiguity 226 Figure 6.2: Path diagram of Service Orientation 226

Figure 6.3: Path diagram of Self Efficacy 228

Figure 6.4: Path diagram of emotional intelligence 232 Figure 6.5: Path Diagram for employee spirituality 236

Figure 6.6: Path Diagram for formalization 238

Figure 6.7: Path Diagram for centralization 240

Figure 6.8: Path Diagram for perceived organization support 241

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Figure 6.9: Path Diagram for perceived supervisor support 243

Figure 6.10: Path Diagram for service-scape 245

Figure 6.11: Path Diagram for Job satisfaction 247 Figure 6.12: Path Diagram for Job performance 248

Figure 6.13: Path diagram for FLEADAPT scale 254

Figure 6.14: Path diagram of structural model 258 Figure 6.15: Path diagram of service orientation and FLE Adaptability 272 Figure 6.16:Path diagram of Tolerance for Ambiguity and FLE

Adaptability

273 Figure 6.17: Path diagram of Self Efficacy and FLE Adaptability 274 Figure 6.18: Path diagram of Self emotion appraisal and FLE

Adaptability

275 Figure 6.19: Path diagram of others emotion appraisal and FLE

Adaptability

276 Figure 6.20: Path diagram of regulation of emotion in self and FLE

Adaptability

277 Figure 6.21: Path diagram of use of emotion and FLE Adaptability 278 Figure 6.22: Path diagram of meaningful work and FLE Adaptability 279 Figure 6.23: Path diagram of mindfulness and FLE Adaptability 280 Figure 6.24: Path diagram of compassion and FLE Adaptability 281 Figure 6.25: Path diagram of Formalization and FLE adaptability 282 Figure 6.26: Path Diagram between Centralization and FLE

Adaptability

283 Figure 6.27: Path diagram of Perceived Organizational Support and

FLE adaptability

284 Figure 6.28 :Path diagram of Perceived Supervisor Support and FLE

adaptability

285 Figure 6.29: Path diagram of Pleasantness and FLE adaptability 286 Figure 6.30: Path diagram of safety and FLE adaptability 287 Figure 6.31: Path diagram of convenience and FLE adaptability 288 Figure 6.32: Path diagram of FLE adaptability and Job Satisfaction 289 Figure 6.33: Path diagram of FLE adaptability and Job Performance 290 Figure 6.34: Path diagram of Job Satisfaction and Job Performance 291

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FLE: Frontline Employee

FSE: Frontline Service Employee

KSAO: knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other factors GTM: Grounded Theory Methodology

COBSBs: customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviours OCB: organizational citizenship behaviour

CEA: Central Electricity Authority EFA: Exploratory Factor Analysis CFA: Confirmatory Factor Analysis CMV: common method variance SDR: Socially Desirable Responding AMOS: Analysis of Moment Structures SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences MACR: Missing completely at random test MLE: Maximum likelihood estimation GFI: Goodness of fit indices

RMSR: Root Mean Square residuals

SRMR: Standardized root mean square residuals NFI: Normed fit Index

CFI: Comparative Fit indices TLI: Tucker Lewis Index

PGFI: Parsimony Goodness of Fit Index PNFI: Parsimony Normed Fit Index

RMSEA:Root mean square error of approximation SEM: Structural Equation Modelling

GOF: Goodness of Fit

PRESS: Predicted residual sum of squares KS test: Kolmogorov- Smirnov test CR: critical ratio

Village Zatra: Festival of Village deity

COARSE: Construct definition, Object classification, Attribute classification, Rater identification, Scale formation, and Enumeration

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xvi POS: Perceived Organizational Support PSS: Perceived Supervisor Support EI: Emotional Intelligence

SEA: Self emotional appraisal OEA: Others’ emotional appraisal ROE: Regulation of emotion UOE: Use of emotion

DWB: Deviant Work Behaviour

I-CVI: Item Level Content Validity Index

S-CVI/Ave:Scale-level Content validity index /Average S-CVI/UA: Scale-level Content validity index /Universal Ave NNFI:Non-normed Fit Index

VIF: Variance inflation factor

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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Page | 1 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background and Significance

Among marketing academics and managers, there has been extensive curiosity about Frontline employees, because of the importance that these employees have on overall organization performance (Malhotra et al., 2013; McColl-Kennedy, Sparks, &

Nguyen, 2011; Schwepker & Hartline, 2005). Frontline employees (FLEs) are an integral part of the service experience (Singh, 2000) and play a salient role in customers' satisfaction and perceptions of service quality. Service judgments are based primarily on the specialized skills, techniques, and experiences of the employee with whom a customer interacts (Paulin, Ferguson, & Payaud, 2000). For most organizations, the ability to adapt a service experience is the responsibility of frontline employees (Wilder, Collier, & Barnes, 2014).

In addition, FLEs represent the organization, the brand, and the marketer to customers (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 2006). The notion that FLE’s behavior ultimately has a positive impact on financial performance has been well documented (Koys, 2001; Streukens & Andreassen, 2014). For some customers, FLEs are the only face of the organization they ever see (Hartline, Maxham, & McKee, 2000). From time to time, firms fail in service delivery, because they must rely upon front-line employees to both manufacture and deliver the service, often in real time with no time for inspection of quality prior to delivery (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2009; Pimpakorn &

Patterson, 2010). Hence, it is being increasingly recognized that to consistently deliver, excellent customer service, contact personnel must be both willing and able to perform a task or in other words, they should exhibit behaviors as per the requirement of

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Page | 2 customer or situation. Robertson (1995) stressed, that frontline employees are employees who engage in interactions with individuals who are not constituents of the organization. These employees have three distinctive functions which single out them from other organizational employees. The three functions reported by previous researches are first, Frontline employees disseminate information coming from the external environment back to the organization (Rafaeli, Ziklik, & Doucet, 2008).

Second, they represent the face of the organization to the customer (Gwinner et al., 2005; Karatepe & Kilic, 2007). Lastly, they must display organizationally desired behaviors during interactions with customers (Arnold & Barling, 2003), even if these behaviors are not a reflective of their true feelings (Adelmann, 1995). In addition, they also deliver value in ways that contribute to customer acquisition and customer loyalty making them an essential conduit between companies and their respective customer bases (Korschun, Bhattacharya, & Swain, 2014).

Frontline employees are perhaps, the most critical link in the provision of superior service to customers and their actions (Alexandrov, Babakus, & Yavas, 2007).

However, they are caught in the middle between discerning customers’ service excellence demands and management’s productivity and performance requirements.

While most managers acknowledge that the job performance of frontline employees is critical to business success, many still struggle to get the most out of their employees (Korschun et al., 2014) and Gallup (2013), reports that seventy percent of frontline workers are not reaching their full potential at work. Also, most often they need to participate in unscripted and challenging interactions with customers (Zablah et al., 2012). This leads to altering of behaviors in response to interactions with customers (Hartline & Ferrell, 1996). Different employees respond to such situations differently (Gwinner et al., 2005; Ployhart & Bliese, 2006). Hence, some employees may be good

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Page | 3 at it, and some aren’t. Thus, adaptability of frontline employees attains a perennial dimension, as usually such behaviors being purposeful, in role and organizationally desired behaviors. Gwinner et al. (2005) explicates that, besides, adapting to customer interaction, there would be other factors which may lead to the Frontline Employee Adaptability. Karatepe et al.,(2006), stressed the importance of frontline employee’s ability even as an individual performer. Hesketh, Allworth, and Considine (1996), proposed a concept adaptive performance in order to capture the individual ability to adapt to such dynamic work situations. Besides, employees demonstrate adaptive performance by adjusting their behaviors to the requirements of work situations and new events (Pulakos et al., 2000).

Though others have highlighted the importance of a variety of adaptive behaviors (Allworth & Hesketh, 1999; Hesketh et al., 1996; Hollenbeck, Lepine, &

Ilgen, 1996; London & Mone, 1999), Pulakos et al. (2000), were the first to propose a global model of adaptive performance. They reviewed research on individual performance and adaptability to changes. Then they analysed 1,000 critical incidents involving 24 jobs in the army. Ultimately, they proposed eight dimensions of adaptive performance, including: dealing with uncertain or unpredictable work situations;

handling emergencies or crisis situations; solving problems creatively; handling work stress; learning new tasks, technologies and procedures; demonstrating interpersonal adaptability; demonstrating cultural adaptability; and demonstrating physically oriented adaptability. Thus, for the first time a multidimensional model of adaptive performance was proposed by Pulakos et al. (2000). A vital reflection from their study is that each of the eight dimensions is dependent on the type of job being considered (Gwinner et al., 2005). Besides, another factor, to ponder over, is the disagreement on the number of dimensions. Johnson (2003) criticized that four out of eight dimensions can be viewed

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Page | 4 as a single dimension. They argued that dealing effectively, with unpredictable and changing work situations and learning new tasks, technologies, and procedures uniquely reflects adaptive performance, as opposed to task performance or citizenship behaviors. This model was more parsimonious and predicted adaptive performance.

However, when Pulakos et al. (2002), asked supervisors to rate employees’ adaptive performance using similar items, they found that a single factor best fit the data (Shoss, Witt, and Vera (2012)). Subsequently, researchers have conceptualized adaptive performance as a one-dimensional construct, but one that encompasses adaptation to changes occurring at the task, team, and organizational levels (Griffin, Parker, and Mason (2010); Griffin, Neal, and Parker (2007)).

Studies by Charbonnier‐Voirin and Roussel (2012) viewed employee adaptability as a multidimensional construct with five dimensions and reported significant differences in a non military as proposed by Pulakos et al. (2000) & (2002).

This proves that the generalized model of Pulakos et al. (2000) & (2002) needs further confirmation of its applicability in a business context like assessing adaptability of frontline service employees. Despite the importance of FLEs, research pertaining to these employees' work environments and service behaviors is lacking (Elmadag, Ellinger, & Franke, 2008; Wallace & De Chernatony, 2009). However, there is growing interest in the services literature to identify the factors that influence the attitudes and behaviors of FLEs (Di Mascio, 2010; Whiting, Donthu, & Baker, 2011). Penney, David, and Witt (2011), recommend expanding the performance research domain to include internal and external service-oriented behavior as well as adaptive performance.

As the literature on adaptability stands divided (Stokes, Schneider, & Lyons, 2010), on the setting (laboratory vs ﬁeld), construct dimensionality (uni- vs multidimensional), assessment format (objective task scores vs subjective ratings), and sample (military vs

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Page | 5 non military setting) and hence the research on adaptability often differ, consistently along this divide. Thus, the previous research on adaptability cannot be generalized on the adaptability spectrum of Frontline Employees warranting a revisiting on exploring the attributes of adaptability. Another potential aspect to consider is most studies on FLE adaptability is conducted on Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010) stressed the importance of use of non western samples especially when the interest of study is of human nature. This study is conducted in India which is a non western society (Viswanathan, Rosa, & Ruth, 2010). Another point of view, which underpins the appropriateness of topic, is the dearth of literature exploring the dimensions of frontline employee adaptability and to the best of our knowledge, there has been no scale developed to measure FLE adaptability. An attempt is made through this study to conceptualize, develop and validate an instrument to measure Frontline Employee Adaptability. Identifying the factors contributing to adaptability among FLE is the need of the hour for the organizations. This study intends to extend this research trend and proposes to fulfill the research gap on what constitutes adaptability among FLE’s, how to measure adaptability among FLE’s and lastly, investigate the antecedents and consequences.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

FLE’s are an important part of the service experience and play a salient role in customer’s satisfaction and perceptions of service quality. Service judgments are based primarily on the specialized skills, techniques and experiences of the employee with whom, a customer interacts. Most often, the frontline employees need to participate in an unscripted and challenging interaction with customers (Zablah et al., 2012). These calls for altering of behaviors in response to interactions with customers (Hartline &

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Page | 6 Ferrell, 1996) or environment (Babin & Boles, 1998) or new situation (Stokes et al., 2010). Different employees respond to such situations differently (Gwinner et al., 2005; Ployhart & Bliese, 2006). Some employees may be good at it and some aren’t.

As a result, there is an urgent need to understand the different factors within the employees that contribute to the adaptability of frontline employees. Another point to consider, is different organizations exert different demands on the employees.

Organizations differ along the policies, values, structures, support systems, etc. (Daft, 2006; Jensen, 1983). This warrants the frontline employees to adapt along these dimensions. At times, the Frontline Employees are caught in the conflicting goal between the organization and customers. Yavas, Babakus, and Karatepe (2013), suggested that sometimes a Frontline Employee is caught in the middle between discerning customers service excellence demands along with management’s productivity-performance requirements. Frontline employee burn out occurs due to the duality in strategic demands (Babakus, Yavas, & Ashill, 2009).

Service is not an isolated activity from the society. Depending upon the importance of service to the society, the FLE has to keep an orientation towards the society. In addition, the FLE has to consider the organizational goals and policies.

Thus, the FLE has to dynamically balance the social and organizational needs. FLE is the first interface between stakeholders and organization. Therefore, the FLE has to balance their conflicting demands. A service is seldom an isolated act. For a service encounter to be successful, it demands for working with teams internal as well as external to the organization. Organization exists within the political system of the country. Depending upon the importance of service to the society, there would be a degree of interference from the political system. The frontline employee being the boundary spanners has to deal with such interference. Sometimes the frontline

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Page | 7 employees have to deal with physically unsafe or inconvenient conditions or procedures. Frontline employee’s adaptability behavior is purposeful, in role, organizationally desired and contextual behaviors. In addition, the FLE’s has to deal with sector specific problems. An FLE who does not adapt to such challenges, may not be contented with the job or there may be dip in their performance. While most managers acknowledge that the job performance of Frontline Employees is critical to business success and many still struggle to get the most out of their frontline employees (Korschun et al., 2014). Gallup (2013), further reported that seventy percent of frontline workers are not reaching their full potential at work. These warrants a need for understanding further the aspect and mechanism of Frontline Employee Adaptability.

1.1.1 Purpose of Study

The present study, aims to make substantial contribution to the research on Frontline Employee Adaptability, by addressing research needs as noted above. The primary purpose of the study is to explore what constitutes adaptability among frontline employees. Hence, this study proposes to first explore the dimensions and meaning of adaptability among frontline employees, secondly, it is intended to design a scale to measure adaptability. Lastly, it is intended to unearth the antecedents and consequences of adaptability. Service firm are dependent on the front-line service employee to perform the task. These boundary-spanning positions are particularly critical to the firm because from the customers' perspective, these employees are the firm (Bitner, Booms,

& Tetreault, 1990). The findings of the present study will help the organizations in recruitment, training, performance appraisal and management etc., of the frontline employees.

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Page | 8 1.1.2 Research Focus and Research Question

The formulation of research questions is considered critical in the process of refining the thesis topic (Sarantakos, 1993). This dissertation focuses on exploring the adaptability mechanism in the frontline context. Specially, this dissertation emphasizes the “deliberate” aspect of Frontline Employee Adaptability in which frontline employees engage in their daily performance consciously and mindfully.

The research focuses, on frontline employee’s perceived ability, to handle demands of other constituents, events or new situations. In addition, the FLE has to consider the interests of the organization. The diagrammatic depiction of the process of adaptability is shown in figure 1.1. Frontline employee’s adaptability is envisaged as a deliberate, cognitive, in role engagement as compared to passive, unconscious and extra role behavior. The study is intended to understand adaptability of frontline employees

Organizational Demands and Interests.

Demands of other constituents, events or new situation.

How does an FLE adapt?

Figure 1.1: Focus of Study

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Page | 9 from their perception. It is designed on the premises that, an employee is with himself for 24 hours in a day. Adaptability is a Meta- competency. Hence, the FLE will be the best person to judge whether, FLE is adaptable at the job being performed. With these premises, it is proposed, to study adaptability of frontline employee as, a lived in experience to unearth its dimensions. In this context, the following primary research questions were put forward.

a) What are the dimensions and meaning of Frontline Employee Adaptability?

b) How to measure the Frontline Employee Adaptability?

c) What are the antecedents and consequences of Frontline Employee Adaptability?

1.1.3 Research Objectives

Based on the research questions, the broad objectives have been framed to understand the aspect and mechanism of the phenomenon of Frontline Employee Adaptability. In addition, to enlarge the body of knowledge of this proposed construct a process model of frontline employee adaptability along with its antecedents and consequences will also be studied. Therefore the following objectives are put forward,

i. To identify the meaning and dimensions along which a frontline employee adapts.

ii. To develop the scale in order to measure the frontline employee adaptability.

iii. To identify the antecedents and consequences of frontline employee adaptability.

iv. To test the process model of frontline employee adaptability.

Specific hypotheses related to the research questions and objectives are presented in Chapter 4.

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Page | 10 1.2 Research Setting –Power Sector

The research is carried out on frontline employees in India, which is a developing country. Power sector is legislated by the Government as essential services.

This sector was chosen as being an essential service it calls for minimum operational requirements to contribute to the bare minimum satisfaction level of customers.

Essential service providers like electricity, plays an important role in the economic and social development of the region. Being a developing country with ever increasing living standards and a changeover from cosseted economy to liberalized economy, Indian consumers are exerting demands on utility firms to provide high quality services (Srivastava & Kathuria, 2014). A utility company’s quality-of-service applies to the delivery of services to the end user. The primary objective is to ensure that quality of core services does not deteriorate. ‘‘Delivery’’ in this context includes activities proceeding and following service delivery and the network components (hardware and software) through which those services (electrical power) is provided.

The quality concerns related to customer pertaining to power sector are technical issues, for example timely installations of connections, prompt responses to customer complaints, efficient billing practices, safeguarding of customer accounts, accuracy of customer information, network reliability, quality of power supply etc.

(Holt, 2005). While deciding on the desired quality level for an essential service, the power utility is in dilemma due to competing objectives. Such as expanding the basic services to geographic areas to meet universal service objectives versus improving services to customers already served. Therefore, the optimal level of quality becomes a political decision, as India being a welfare state and the power sector being in the concurrent list of the Indian constitution. India's recent spectacular power failure stretched over two days (Tang, Bu, & Yi, 2012) which blanketed large swathes of the

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Page | 11 country. The power sector in India is considered a disaster, plagued by underinvestment, political mismanagement, petty corruption and theft (Kale &

Mukherji, 2013). Even for those fortunate to be on the grid, power cuts are ubiquitous and unpredictable, imposing severe costs to both citizens and businesses (Min, 2011).

India currently suffers from a major shortage of electricity generation capacity, even though it is the world's fourth largest energy consumer after United States, China and Russia. According to the World Bank, roughly 40 percent of residences in India are without electricity. In addition, blackouts are a common occurrence throughout the country's main cities and villages. Further compounding the situation is that, total demand for electricity in the country continues to rise and is outpacing increases in capacity. In 2007, peak national demand for electricity outstripped supply by 15%, not even taking into consideration the latent demand from the 600 million Indians who lack a household electrical connection (Min, 2011). Additional capacity has failed to materialize in India in light of market regulations, insufficient investment in the sector, difficulty in obtaining environmental approval and lack of funding for new projects. In addition, coal shortages are further straining power generation capabilities. In order, to address this shortfall, the Indian government continues to work towards adding capacity ("The US Energy Information Administration report", 2013). In order to meet the power shortages, this calls for strategies like load shedding, that too even on domestic consumers to meet the demand in order to prevent National Power grid collapse. In addition, technologically poor equipments and financial constraints, impedes the power utility to offer even the basic service.

This result in customer dissatisfaction and also this dissatisfaction is leading to many protests against load shedding, inefficiency etc against power department in India. Electricity, being an essential service, it caters the basic needs of customers.

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Page | 12 Hence, there is a narrow zone of tolerance for the customers, as the expectation of desired service is high. Frontline employees play an important role, being the first interface between the Power utility and customers. They have to bear the brunt of the customer and other stake holders, due to the inherent inability of the power sector to meet needs of the customers. Hence the front line employees in addition to actually offering the technical service like attending complaints etc, the FLE has to exhibit an in role, organizationally desired behavioral requirement, wherein they need to change their behavior in response of customer outrage or dissatisfaction, political interference, capacity constraints etc.

Frontline employees working in power sector must be prompt, positive, polite, perceptive, and personal to deal effectively with multiple and conflicting customer demands. Take a case of decision making in power sector at the frontline jobs, is neither a merely rational thought nor a prepackaged one-size-fits-all action. The customer demands for uninterrupted power supply are changing. A moment of power interruption which was tolerable in the 1980’s has become a source of intolerance in the modern era (Jordan & Troth, 2004). With changing life styles, the human comfort has become a function of modern gadgets. From the air conditioners, that keep the human body cool to the refrigerators which keep the food from putrefying, all these gadgets are powered by electricity. Failure of electricity renders these gadgets useless and thus compounding the woes of human dissatisfaction. Another point worth considering is the quality of power supply e.g. the voltage, the frequency, harmonic distortion etc. To cite an example a drop in voltage by 10-15% or a reduction in frequency of the system by few hertz may lead to from stalling of motors to flickering of lights causing dissatisfaction to all categories of consumers (Anderson & Fouad, 2008).

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Page | 13 The needs of customers are different for different customer segments in power sector. To cite an instance, a power interruption can cause a huge loss to an industrial consumer (Kariuki & Allan, 1996), then, for a domestic consumer. A frontline employee dealing with industrial consumer should exhibit different set of strategies than the ones used on domestic consumers. Besides with in a category of customers, also there is variation. For example, a three phase customer and single phase customer their needs are different. During a brown out condition, sometimes a single phase is faulty and other two phases are healthy, thus a three phase consumer will have partial electricity supply, where as a single phase customer will be subjected to total black out.

Hence, frontline employee cannot use the same strategies to solve problems even within the categories or segment. Even within micro segments also, the needs of customers are different. Because some customers use electricity as a single user and other customers use electricity along with other inmates. Depending upon the inmates demographic and socio economic status of consumers their needs would vary. For example a consumer who has small children or the elderly will have different needs than the youngsters. Such variations found in the need structure of consumers warrant frontline employee to exhibit different strategies to deal with the customer. Electricity services businesses are in a unique position to customize the service experience. Many utilities are able to adapt both the service offering and the service delivery to meet consumers' individual expectations. In electricity services, the hard and soft elements come together to produce the service. The hard elements include the distribution lines, transmission network, transformer, capacitors, inductors, service connection etc.

Depending upon customer needs the power utility can customize these elements as per customer needs for instance customer can avail electricity supply at various voltage

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Page | 14 levels say Low tension, High tension, and Extra High tension etc. Besides, they can avail the benefit of a dedicated line or common line.

The hard elements are also customized based on the power needs of the customer e.g. power requirement. Whereas the soft elements include power tariff strategies or plans, incentive mechanisms for power factor improvement, time of the day tariff, demand management incentives etc. Electricity, produced and delivered to customers through generation, transmission and distribution systems constitutes one of the largest consumer markets in the world. Reliable electrical power system serve customer loads without interruptions. For this to happen the generating system should generate enough power, the transmission system must transport bulk power without overheating or jeopardizing the system stability and the distribution system must deliver electricity to each consumer’s entrance (Brown, 2008). This is a dynamic system which has characteristics of run- repair – run nature. This run-repair–run mechanism introduces an element, where in there is a scope for the FLE and customer interaction for repair and maintenance services. Besides, electricity is supplied by the utility for a consideration, thus, offers a further scope for associated techno-commercial mechanism. Such a dynamics introduces an element where in the FLE and the consumer or other stakeholders have a high interpersonal contact. It may be for commercial or technical reason. For technical reason, for example it could be due faults like no power supply, fuse blown, brown out, low voltage, neutral disconnection, meter jumping etc. For commercial reasons, customer interaction is for a new connection, change of consumers name due to change in owner ship, transfer of consumers name to legal heir, load reduction or increment, change of category, shifting of meter or line, complaints on billing, non-payment of dues, request for reconnection, consumers wanting up to date bill etc., This interpersonal contact is either direct or indirect

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Page | 15 wherein the onus lies on the FLE’s to mitigate the customer needs for electricity. Such an activity results into simultaneous production- consumption aspect of service with little time for inspection of service depending upon the needs of the customers or other stake holders. Such high levels of interpersonal contact between employee and customer allows for the sharing of information regarding customer expectations and provider capabilities (Siehl, Bowen, & Pearson, 1992).

This "real-time" information gathering capability provides front-line employees with insight into service customization opportunities. To perform effectively the complex day-to-day work demands, frontline employees must decide and act on-the- spot. For example even while attending a trivial or routine fault, like a faulty service connection wire a frontline employee has to deal with unexpected situations, thus warranting a frontline employee to decide on the spot with no time take a ratiocinated decision (Sony & Nandakumar, 2012a). The electricity plays a major role in development and upliftment of a region. Electricity also plays a major role in the society. Whether it is community / street lighting or the increase in consumption of electricity supply during festivals or other major social events, the role of electricity service in the society is multidimensional. Such a phenomenon warrants an FLE to change their behavior as per the needs of the society. Whether it is being very swift and responsive during such social events or taking interests about forming various strategies so that major social events pass on smoothly without any interruption, it calls for FLE to exhibiting various strategies in response to social needs.

Frontline employees are often caught-in-the-middle trying to serve effectively customers and also trying to comply with inefficient work procedures. As reiterated earlier the inefficiency of power utilities are common in India due to various reasons.

Hence, the work procedures or practices are bound to be static, not dynamic due to poor

Frontline Employee Adaptability: Conceptualization, Measurement, Antecedents and consequences