服務業第一線人員職能與顧客忠誠度之間的關係: 以關係品質為間接影響關係

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(1)國立高雄大學國際企業管理碩士學位學程碩士論文. The Relationship between Frontline Employee Competencies and Customer Loyalty in Service Industry: The Indirection Role of Relationship Quality. 服務業第一線人員職能與顧客忠誠度之間的關係: 以關係品質為間接影響關係. 研究生：鍾昀燕撰指導教授：吳毓麒博士. 中華民國 2013 年 06 月.

(2) Acknowledgement I would like to express gratitude to everyone who was supporting me and helping me during my research. In professional part, my advisor, Yu Chi Wu, provided me with a great deal of knowledge and experience. In finical part, my parents gave me a lot of support which helped me in the past two years. In editing part, thank Glen Vorel for helping me with layout settings. And finally, I have to thank everyone in IMBA program for their assistance thorough my studies.. Yun Yen Chung International Master of Business Administration, National University of Kaohsiung June 2013.

(3) The Relationship between Frontline Employee Competencies and Customer Loyalty in Service Industry: The Indirection Role of Relationship Quality. Advisor(s): Dr. Yu Chi Wu Institute of Business and Management National University of Kaohsiung Student: Yun Yen Chung International Master of Business Administration National University of Kaohsiung ABSTRACT This paper is aimed to study the relationship between Frontline employee (FLE) competencies and customer loyalty in a service with high degree of customer involvement. Participants who had experience of contacted with insurance agents in Taiwan in past three months (including brought insurance or intending to buy insurance). The 255 participants were asked to rate Frontline employee (FLE) competencies by using FLE service competency scale, to rate relationship quality by using relationship quality scale, and to rate customer loyalty by using customer loyalty scale. This experimental study utilized partial least squares (PLS) path modeling techniques to analyze the data. The findings of this study indicated that the direct effect of relationship-oriented competencies on customer loyalty was not significant. One of the possible explanations is that relationship-oriented competency had no direct but an indirect effect on customer loyalty. In other words, relationship-oriented competency influenced customer loyalty through increasing relationship quality.. Key Words: Frontline Employee; Relationship Quality; Customer Loyalty; High Service Involved.

(4) Content 1.. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1. 2.. Literature review ..................................................................................................... 4 2.1. 2.2. 2.3 3.. Frontline-Employee (FLE) Competence .......................................................... 4 2.1.1. Categories of Competence......................................................................... 4. 2.1.2. The Importance of FLE Competencies in Service Industry ...................... 6. 2.1.3. Definition of FLE Competency ................................................................. 7. 2.1.4. The Linking Between FLE and Customer Loyalty ................................. 10. Relationship Quality....................................................................................... 11 2.3.1.. Definition of Relationship Quality.......................................................... 11. 2.3.2.. The Related Relationship Quality Research ........................................... 13. Customer Loyalty ........................................................................................... 14 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 18. 3.1.. Measure of the Constructs.............................................................................. 18. 3.2.. Instrument ...................................................................................................... 19. 3.3.. Sampling and Respondent Profit.................................................................... 20. 4.. Data Analysis and Results ..................................................................................... 20 4.1.. Data Collection............................................................................................... 20. 4.2.. Statistical Analysis ......................................................................................... 23.

(5) 5.. Discussion and Conclusion ................................................................................... 29 5.1.. Discussion ...................................................................................................... 29. 5.2.. Conclusion...................................................................................................... 30. 5.3.. Limitations and Future Research ................................................................... 30. 6.. References ............................................................................................................. 32. 7.. Appendix I ............................................................................................................ 41. 8.. Appendix II ........................................................................................................... 45.

(6) Figures Figure 1. Levels of criteria and employee competencies. .................................................. 5 Figure 2. The framework .................................................................................................. 17 Figure 3. The structural model .......................................................................................... 27. Tables Table 1. Nature of competencies and organizational context as a function of the type of competency development. ................................................................................................... 6 Table 2. Definition and description of two dimensional FLEs’ service competency........ 10 Table 3. Demography of respondents ............................................................................... 21 Table 4. Construct reliability ............................................................................................. 23 Table 5. Latent variable correlations and square roots of AVEs ....................................... 24 Table 6. Factoring loadings (bold) and cross loadings...................................................... 25 Table 7. The direct, indirect, and total effect on FLE competencies through relationship quality to customer loyalty. ............................................................................................... 28.

(7) 1. Introduction Since 1970s and 1980s, the idea of service value has been accepted (Li, Yang, & Wu, 2009). Nolan, Park, and Estrada (2012, p. 12) said “not only is the service sector now a large part of the economy, but it has also been a huge contributor to overall growth”. Maroto and Rubalcaba (2008) indicated that there is more than 70% of productivity and employment in advanced economies which has kept growing, including financial services, hotel and restaurants, transportation, communication, real estate and so on. As Nolan et al. (2012, p. 18) study shows, the total services of share of service in valueadded in Taiwan has grown from 55% to 66.2% since 1990 to 2010, and the labor of service and industry were among top three in Asia only behind Hong Kong and Singapore. However, although the service sector has been rising across economies in those countries, service productivity is still weaker than the member in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Especially, the modern services in Asia (consisted of PRC, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan) which include information and communication, finance, and professional business service were less 9%13% of the economy comprised than OECD (consisted of France, Japan, and the US). Modern services activities are seen as chaining international and the opportunity of widening cross-nation trade. Therefore, how to enhance the productivity from modern service was built in basic conception. The service profit can be promoted by linking service provider’s attitude and customer’s motive; at the same time, it is inseparably with customer loyalty (Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994). Thus, loyalty could be called an important. Page 1.

(8) link of raising the service productivity. Several researchers considered similar subjects about the effective factors in service industry, such as following: Reichheld, (1993, p 64) mentioned that “when a company consistently delivers superior value and wins customer loyalty, market share and revenues go up, and the cost of acquiring and serving customers goes down”, which means that the companies with the highest retention rates have the best profits earning. A seemingly small change in customer retention rate resulted in impressing improvement in profits as researchers found that 5% point shift in customer retention consistently gave rise to 25-100% profit (Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994). In addition, Bennett and Bove (2002) pointed out that customer loyalty can be a profitable advantage of raising consumer retaining rate. Also, loyal customers would like to provide free word-of-mouth advertising, and sharing experience (Skogland & Siguaw, 2004). Moreover, businesses relationships with each other increased their effectiveness and efficiency by better controlling uncertainty and risk. In a short time, the qualifying employee can affect the customer satisfaction directly and then indirectly affect customer loyalty (Peterson, 1995). In practical, top-level executives understood the role of service industry in economy development developing of service economic, so frontline employees (FLEs) and customers are being in center of management concern. With changeable purchase nature, employee must get closer or build up long-term relationship with customers (Peterson, 1995). For this reason, employee’s competencies intervene in the organization’s prospects. Page 2.

(9) as mean as competitiveness and effectiveness. So a smart service manager will invest employees and provide training program for them, and in turn employees provide sound service for customers to earn the customer loyalty (Heskett et al., 1994; Cardy & Selvarajan, 2006). Thus, strength of connecting between FLEs and customers is likely to affect loyalty in depth. In human resource side, Barney’s (1991, 2001) study stated that the resource-based view (RBV) which is linking internal resources and external competitive advantage, human capital resource is one of the firm resources.. Human capital pool includes. Knowledge, Skill, and Ability (called KSAs, a highly skilled and highly motivated workforce). KSAs have greater potential to constitute a source of sustainable competitive advantage which was not easily to duplicate by competitors (Wright, Dunford, & Snell, 2001). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether relationship quality mediates the relationship between FLEs’ service competencies and customer loyalty. With respect to the main purpose of the study, this study focuses on two general research questions: (1) What is the relationship between FLEs’ service competencies and customer loyalty? (2) Is there the indirect effect of FLE competencies on customer loyalty through relationship quality? In theory, this study examines relationship quality as an indirect effectively between the relationship of FLEs competencies and customer loyalty, and a medium conveys to how or why such effects occur.. Page 3.

(10) 2. Literature review 2.1 2.1.1. Frontline-Employee (FLE) Competence Categories of Competence. In different period, there was several definition of competence. In two decades ago, the FLEs competencies have been identified as customer-convinced competencies with five broad categories: 1) Use of technical knowledge; 2) Demonstrating competence; 3) Proof sources; 4) Explicit statement of availability, ability, capacity to serve customer; and 5) No explicit attempt as competence will become evident over time (Swan, Trawick, & Silva, 1985; Swan J. E., Trawick, Rink, & Roberts, 1988). Then the competencies were classified into five domain model: Conceptual/creative domain, leadership domain, interpersonal domain, administrative domain, and technical domain (Sandwith, 1993). Soon, the competencies translated criteria were separated into a common human resource management hierarchy (Cardy & Porras, 1994), as shows in Figure 1. The ultimate criterion is the strategic prospect for the organization as well as the first-class service organization. The ultimate-level criteria have to be translated into conceptuallevel which means employee competencies included task-orientation, persuasiveness, and manual dexterity. The number of transactions per hour and number of customer service calls are below operational-level criteria which mean that the employee competencies include social skills, adaptability and customer-orientation; on the other hand, customer satisfaction and customer retention will use operational-level criteria. Therefore, it is worth exploring that whether employee competencies have been driven down into the operational-level criteria. Page 4.

(11) Figure 1. Levels of criteria and employee competencies.. Source: Cardy and Porras (1994) Furthermore, competencies have been classified into various frameworks for identifying and developing employee abilities, including two traditional approaches and two alternative approaches (Cardy & Selvarajan, 2006). Traditional approaches include job-based which was derived from an analysis of the job requirement, and future-based which was focused on competencies and needed to achieve a future strategic direction. Alternative approaches include value-based which was based on the value of the organization, and person-based which tended to build up characteristics of people then task, see Table 1 shows.. Page 5.

(12) Table 1. Nature of competencies and organizational context as a function of the type of competency development. Nature of competencies and organizaitonal context as a function of the type of competency development approach Job-based. Future-based. Person-based. Value-based. Static-focus on what gets done. Directional change-focus on what needs to be done. Broad and emergent. Process-focus on how things are done. Nature of competencies. Organizational context. Fixed-static; hierarchical. Fix-future oriented. Innovationorganic and dynamic empowered. Strong process focused. Source: Cardy and Selvarajan (2006) 2.1.2. The Importance of FLE Competencies in Service Industry Service exchange was delivered or provided through frontline-employee (FLE) to. consumer. During the transaction, FLEs likely convinced customer’s behavior and thinking by expert suggestion, more deeply, the satisfaction of customer’s needs and expectation could be promoted through the intangibility service. FLE is a position which has to face customer, and the job could be in everywhere such as inside sales associates, delivery personal, call center personnel and personal interactions at the vanguard of service activities. So their behavior has strong dedication for influencing customers’ satisfaction and improving customer loyalty. Whereas, in dissimilar level contacting, the consumer’s demands and FLE competencies expected would not be same (Jackson Jr. & Sirianni, 2009; Pimpakorn & Patterson, 2010; Li, Yang, Page 6.

(13) & Wu, 2009). After service got everyone attention, firms slowly started investing FLEs training and spent a money to keep eligible employee. This is especially important for financing service organization like banks, investment entities and insurance companies which are high-involving and built on trust between frontline employees and customers (Jackson Jr. & Sirianni, 2009). As Nolan et al.,2012 indicated that finaical industry is a modern service which is a role of international bridge. For this reason, the employee’s ability could be one of careers considered condition. The condition for service employee involves skill inventories, which are mechanized listing of employee’s interests, talents and experience (Jackson Jr. & Sirianni, 2009). On the other hand, the skill of interaction between FLE and customer could be used in interorganization which means that it would be the other valuable contribution in company. As Cardy and Selvarajan (2006) emphasized that FLE competencies could be a competitive advantage because the core competency is a combination of resources and capabilities, it is difficult to imitate and difficult to substitute. 2.1.3. Definition of FLE Competence As the above, service employees should have some special characteristic. In this. study, some scholars’ definition of FLE competence was adopted. Since 1980s, competence has been seen as a unique bundle of resources, and the characters of competence were included knowledge, skill, ability or characteristic associated with high performance demanding tasks, such as problem solving, analytical. Page 7.

(14) thinking or leadership (Mirabile, 1997). In addition, the FLE competencies were not only involved the professional skills but also the emotional intelligence (EI) (Kidwell, Hardesty, Murtha, & Sheng, 2011). Besides, “the competence perspective has brought both significant theoretical extensions and important practical benefits to contemporary management thinking” said by Sanchez (2004, p. 514) and “competence is the ability to sustain the coordinated deployment of assets in ways that help a firm”. Afterward, Winsted (2000 a, b) pointed out three dimensions which were specific behaviors of leading satisfied customers displayed by service personnel. The element of first dimension includes empathy, assurance, and responsiveness; the element of second dimension includes civility, adequate service, protection against dissatisfaction, and avoiding acts like being arrogant and getting annoyed with or ignoring customers; the element of final dimension includes congeniality, related to behaviors such as smiling and being cheerful and enthusiastic. Rapidly, the conception of competence was tending to organization-oriented and characteristic-oriented which consisted of skills, capabilities, knowledge, learning, coordination, organization and relationship (Sanchez, 2004). In addition, the processes of competence have been building and leveraging to three hierarchies (Hasin, Seeluangsawat, & Shareef, 2001; Cardy & Selvarajan, 2006): Assets (including tangible or intangible which the firm can use in its processes of creating), Capabilities (which means repeatable patterns of action in the use of assets to create) and Skills (special forms of capability). Moreover, the definition of competence embodies five elements of diligence, information communication, inducements, empathy, and sportsmanship (Ahearne, Jelinek, & Jones, 2007), called Salesperson Service Behaviors (SSBs). Also Li, Page 8.

(15) et al. (2009) divided the competence into three elements by combining different views with the concept of service industry from various researchers: knowledge and technical skills, social skills and service attitude. In recently research, the service competencies of FLEs in the service industry were defined as they carried out their respective tasks in an attempt to meet customers’ needs, and thus resulting in overall job performance (Wu & Hsiung, 2012). As the Table 2 shows, the service competencies of FLEs included two dimensions: relation-oriented competencies and task-oriented competencies. Relation-oriented competencies were defined as the interactive communication and social skills required in the service industry for the FLEs to carry out their tasks, such as meeting customer needs, thus impacting overall job performance. Task-oriented competencies were defined as the professional knowledge and analytical skills required in the service industry for FLEs to carry out their tasks as related to meeting the needs of the customer, thus impacting overall job performance. Therefore, in this study, element of the FLE competencies will tend to follow Wu and Hsiung (2012) study.. Page 9.

(16) Table 2. Definition and description of two dimensional FLEs’ service competence. Two Dimensional FLEs’ Service Competency. Definition. Description. Relation-oriented Competency. Relation-oriented competency was defined as the interactive communication and social skills required in service industry in carrying out FLEs’ tasks so as to meet customer needs, resulting in overall job performance.. Relation-oriented competency including persuasive, listening and understanding, communication and attitude was related to personal interaction.. Task-oriented competency was defined as the professional knowledge and analytical skills required in service industry in carrying out FLEs’ tasks so as to meet customer needs, resulting in overall job performance.. Task-oriented competency contained the way to apply the knowledge and technical skills, solve consumers’ problems in a proper and efficient way, hold the knowledge to help customer understand the product or service and analyze and identify the problem, and was related to deal with customers’ problems and meet their request.. Task-oriented Competency. Source: Wu and Hsiung study (2012). 2.1.4. The Linking Between FLE and Customer Loyalty FLE is very important in service sector because they can indirectly affect. customer loyalty (Yee, Yeung, & Cheng, 2011). In the other way, “salespeople has unique opportunities to translate customers’ desired value back into their firms as well as understand and influence how the value that has been co-created can be fairly. Page 10.

(17) appropriated in the form of revenue and other strategic benefits” said by Blocker et al.,(2012, p. 150). Therefore, it is necessary that customer service competencies for FLEs as they need to convey high value service and quality. Schlesinger and Heskett (1991) indicated that capable workers provided better service and their consumers were likely to be more satisfied with their performance, return often and even purchase more. Likewise, Peterson and Lucas (2001) stated that the behaviors of front-line service employee have a positive association with customer-oriented behavior. In business marketing, greater emphasis has been placed on creating customer value as a path for building a highly satisfied and loyal customer base, in addition, “loyalty reflects a buyer’s emotional or psychological commitment to a provider or other business entity. Behavioral loyalty captures a buyer’s intention to repurchase or to continue a business relationship” adopted by Blocker et al. (2012, p. 17). As mentioned above, this study expects that FLEs with qualified service competencies can perform high service quality and meet consumer needs while coping with their issues. Based on all of the above, the following hypotheses were proposed: H1a: FLE relation-oriented competencies are positively associated with customer loyalty. H1b: FLE task-oriented competencies are positively associated with customer loyalty. 2.2. Relationship Quality. 2.3.1. Definition of Relationship Quality Previously, the buy-seller relationship was basic on satisfying consumer demands; but. Page 11.

(18) nowadays, keeping customers can be more power strategy than getting a new customer because it is normally less expensive to make a satisfied existing customer buy more compared to what it costs to get a new customer (Gronroos, 1995; Reichheld, 1993; Reichheld et al., 2000). And the new element of relationship involved the buyer’s trust in the salesperson, seller’s ethical orientation, and the seller’s expertise (Bejou, Wray, & Ingram, 1996); meanwhile, the customer satisfaction leaped in an essential station. Then researchers started call that kind of situation as relationship quality (Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990; Berry, 1995) Relationship quality could create long-term service sales relationships by continuing interaction of in fact that seller could on go to understand customer’s needs and to spread new business. Likewise, Dorsch et al. (1998) considered that the relationship quality is a higher-order construct. Also relationship quality provides knowledge of understanding the customer’s requirement and needs (Berry, 1995). More specifically, there are many dimension of relationship quality, including trust, commitment, satisfaction, communication, affective conflict, selling orientation, opportunism, selling orientation, economic benefits, customization benefits, mutual goals, closeness, ethical profile, and equity (Roberts, Varki, & Brodie, 2003; Athanasopoulou, 2009; Bejou, Wray, & Ingram, 1996). However, with a view to Crosby et al. (1990, p. 76) “relationship quality contributes to a lasting bond by offering assurance that the salesperson will continue to meet the customer's expectations (satisfaction), and not knowingly distort information or otherwise subvert the customer's interests (trust)”. Undeniable, consumers will tend to. Page 12.

(19) their favor store then dissatisfied store because of emotion influenced (Dorsch, Swanson, & Kelley, 1998) Thus, although existing literatures have different opinions about which dimensions make up relationship quality, this study is tending to see relationship quality as two dimension construct consisting of customer satisfaction and trust (Berry, 1995; Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990). 2.3.2. The Related Relationship Quality Research In effective relationship marketing, the benefit of customer–to–employee relationships is the key ingredients effecting customer satisfaction in a social exchange relationship (Berry, 1995; Dwyer, Schurr, & Oh, 1987), and customers always customer always expects to getting more and more from salesperson. Especially in a pure service company, product and service are inseparable (Fournier, Dobscha, & Mick, 1998; Sheth & Parvatiyar, 1995) Relationship quality will depend on the salesperson’s attractiveness and competence (Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990; Sheth & Parvatiyar, 1995). Kim and Cha (2002) stated that the relationship quality is not only positively correlated with customer orientation, relational orientation and service providers’ attributes, but is also directly influencing shares of purchases and relationship continuity. Therefore, service provider should be equipped with expertise, experience and professional appearance to enhance customers’ trust and satisfaction. . Bejou et al. (1996) study found that relationship quality has a significant effect on. Page 13.

(20) future salesperson-customer interactions; expertise has a significant effect on relationship quality, and future sales opportunities would be greater due to the quality of relationship established between a customer and a salesperson. However, even firms understood that building relationship quality is a worth strategy, but considered of other variable, maximum firms could not invest in building relationship in any condition (Adjei & Clark, 2010). The strategy may not be beneficial without identifying conditions under which relationship marketing is efficient. Therefore, it was expected that FLE service competencies will increase the relationship quality, which in turn will increase the customer loyalty, and evidence the value of FLE in practical. Thus, hypotheses were proposed as follows: H2a: FLE relation-oriented competencies are positively associated with trust relationship quality. H2b: FLE task-oriented competencies are positively associated with trust relationship quality. H2c: FLE relation-oriented competencies are positively associated with satisfaction relationship quality. H2d: FLE task-oriented competencies are positively associated with satisfaction relationship quality. 2.3. Customer Loyalty. Obviously, the cases of in fact that loyal customer repurchase product in same brand occurs in everywhere. They rarely consider other brands and barely seek more brandPage 14.

(21) related information (Newman & Werber, 1973). And the loyalty has been cogitated that psychological influenced behavioral repetitive purchase (Jacoby & Chestnut, 1978). Jones (1997) indicated the three aspects definition in customer loyalty, such as retention, business repetition and referral. Also, Oliver (1997) mentioned that loyalty is frequently desired to repurchase or re-patronize product/service, thus, repetitive samebrand or same brand-set purchasing. However, researchers tended to advocate their own argument and separated customer loyalty into different measuring approaches, such as attitudinal measurement, behavioral measurement and composite measurements (Vesel & Zabkar, 2009; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Zeithaml V. A., 2000; Dick & Basu, 1994; Oh, 1995). On the attitudinal side, customer loyalty has not only been explained by several psychological researchers as a specific desire to have frequent relationship with service provider, besides, it can be used to understand the cognitive features of purchasing motivation and future action (Czepiel & Gilmore, 1987). On the behavioral side, loyalty has also been defined by some behavioral researchers as repetitive patronage, which means that customers repurchase same product or service when they have similar needing (Vesel & Zabkar, 2009; Bowen & Chen, 2001; Neal, 1999). Moreover, many researches used both attitudinal and behavioral perspectives to be the commonly-used-identifying measures which mean composite measurement (Day, 1969; Yang & Peterson, 2004; Oliver, 1999; Vesel & Zabkar, 2009; Bowen & Chen, 2001; Kumar & Shah, 2004; Koo, 2003; Bodet, 2008; Kim, Park, & Jeong, 2004). Thus, this study was tending to use the composite measurement to measure customer loyalty.. Page 15.

(22) Furthered, customer loyalty has two meanings: long-term and short-term loyalty. Long-term loyalty supporters do not change their own favorite service provider easily, while short-term loyalty supporters will change their mind frequently (Liu, Guo, & Lee, 2011; Jones & Sasser, 1995). Yau et al. (2000) stated that loyalty program’s purpose is to foster long-term relationships with customers so as to enhance repurchase (Krishnamurthi & Raj, 1991). Based on the above, this study adopted the concept that customer loyalty is both of attitudinal and behavioral perspective and long-term relationship. 2.2.1. The Linking Between Customer Loyalty and Relationship Quality For relationship durable, buy-seller has to build up in trust and satisfaction situation (Bejou, Wray, & Ingram, 1996). And the customer loyalty would be effect on consumer expected which was scale by participation (Peterson, 1995). Certainly, customer satisfaction is liked with attitudinal loyalty and repurchasing behavior, which means that satisfied customers tend to have a higher usage level of a service than those who are not satisfied (Bodet, 2008). Therefore, enhancing customer loyalty should through raising customer satisfaction (Yang & Peterson, 2004), besides, they are interaction relationship because of included psychological and social relationship that manifest itself as care, trust, intimacy and communication (Kim, Park, & Jeong, 2004). In addition, the relationship between relationship quality (i.e., satisfaction and trust) and behavioral loyalty is positive (Adjei & Clark, 2010; Wulf, Odekerken-Schroder, & Lacobucci, 2001). Likewise, researchers found out that the satisfaction and trust in relationship quality are significant because Page 16.

(23) customers trust the service provider, so they have direct relation (Dorsch, Swanson, & Kelley, 1998; Liu, Guo, & Lee, 2011; Rauyruen & Miller, 2007; Deng, Lu, Wei, & Zhang, 2010). Based on all of the above, the following hypotheses were proposed: H3a: Trust relationship quality is positively associated with customer loyalty. H3b: Satisfaction relationship quality is positively associated with customer loyalty. Based on literature review above, this study proposed a model integrating FLE competencies, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. The proposed model is presented in Figure 2 showing the effect of FLE competencies on relationship quality which in turn influences customer loyalty. Figure 2. The framework. Page 17.

(24) 3. Methodology The evaluation measurements used were designed on the basis of the literature review and through group discussion with heads of the organization. The measures used in this study come from well-established instruments in different fields. Scale items for assessing key constructs, such as FLE competencies, relationship quality and customer loyalty were adapted from prior studies’ validated measures. Two types of control variables were used in this study. The first type was usage—usage experience and the second type was demographic such as personal information including age, education and gender. 3.1. Measure of the Constructs The study separated three dimensions when evaluating the process of consumer behavior: 1) FLEs competencies which used service competency scale measurement 2) customer loyalty which used customer loyalty scale measurement 3) relationship which used customer loyalty measurement. The service competency scale: This scale developed by Wu and Hsiung (2012) was used to measure the required competencies of FLEs in the service industry as they carried out their respective tasks in an attempt to meet customers’ needs, and thus resulting in overall job performance. This scale includes two dimensions: relation-oriented competencies (4 items) and task-oriented competencies (4 items) as shown in Appendix I. Each item was rated using a 5-point Likert-type scale with anchors of 1: strongly disagree and 5: strongly agree.. Page 18.

(25) Customer loyalty scale: It was used to measure customer loyalty to a customer’s feeling of attachment to the service shop. It is based on a 7-point Likert scale with 1: strongly disagree and 7: strongly agree (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996). The relationship quality scale: This scale was used to measure the health and future wellbeing of long-term service sales relationships. It features a 7-point Likert scale with 1: strongly disagree and 7: strongly agree (Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990). The total items in this study are 26 including 8 for FLE competencies, 5 for customer loyalty, and 13 for relationship quality (4 for trust and 9 for satisfaction); besides, author united the measure scale by the 5-point Likert scale which is 1: strongly disagree to 5: strongly agree. 3.2. Instrument In the recent years, researchers tended to use the evolution of structural equation modeling (SEM) methods to statistical development in the area of social sciences. So, the research model has been tested using partial least squares (PLS) path modeling, also referred to as PLS-SEM. The main character of PLS is its primary objective the minimization of error (or, equivalently, the maximization of variance explained) in all dependent constructs and that objective can be determined by examining the R2 values for the dependent constructs in any particular PLS model accomplished. In addition, there are three advantages of using PLS: (1) assessing the reliability and validity of measures; (2) determining the appropriate nature of the relationships between measures and constructs; and (3) interpreting path coefficients, determining model adequacy, and selecting a final model from the available set of alternatives (Hulland, 1999).. Page 19.

(26) 3.3. Sampling and Respondent Profit Convenience sampling (called reliance on available subjects) method was used in this study in Taiwan. There were two reason of selected insurance industry as sample. Frist, insurance industry is one of most effective modern services activities (Nolan, Park, & Estrada, 2012). Second, insurance industry is under the high-involving and customized service type (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). The FLE competencies in the insurance industry refer to cashier and insurance salesmen who need professional service and emotional service (Wu & Hsiung, 2012). In addition, one of the primary functions performed by life insurance FLE is service customization, and customer is usually recurring interaction with same FLE. Moreover, insurance is a modern service industry (Nolan et al.,2012) and insurance company tends to train their saleperson with high communication skill and relaitonship builded. Therefore, this research used insurance industry as an example for high customer involvement service industry. Participants who had experience of contacted with insurance agents in Taiwan in past three months (including brought insurance or intending to buy insurance).. 4. Data Analysis and Results 4.1.. Data Collection. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed to test the effect of that FLE competencies influencing customer loyalty and involving relationship quality as an indirect. The questionnaires were first checked by pilot test. A total of 350 questionnaires. Page 20.

(27) were distributed and 255 questionnaires were returned, including 47.1% male and 51.4% female. The adequacy of this sample size for the analysis was discussed. And the missing value includes 1.6% for gender, as the Table 3 shows. The average age of respondent is over 30 year-old, 63.5% respondents are over 30 year-old which closes with the conception of Crosby et al. (1990) that participators who were over 24 year-old have more consumption power and higher demand for insurance. Table 3. Demography of respondents Demography of respondents. Frequency. Percentage. Male. 120. 47.1. Female. 131. 51.4. Total. 251. 98.4. Missing System. 4. 1.6. Total. 255. 100. under 30 year-old (including). 93. 36.5. 31-40 year-old. 65. 25.5. 41-50 year-old. 52. 20.4. Gender. Age. Page 21.

(28) 51-60 year-old. 30. 11.8. over 61 year-old (including). 15. 5.9. Total. 255. 100. Junior high school degree or lower. 13. 5.1. High school degree. 72. 28.2. College degree. 51. 20.0. Undergraduate degree. 87. 34.1. Graduate degree or higher. 31. 12.2. Total. 254. 99.6. Missing System. 1. 4. Total. 255. 100. Education. Page 22.

(29) 4.2.. Statistical Analysis. Convergent Validity and Reliability Analysis: To assess construct reliability, composite reliability (which can be interpreted similarly to Cronbach’s alpha) and average variance extracted (AVE) scores were adopted as the internal consistency indicators here. The composite reliability coefficients of each construct were between 0.76 and 0.90 which exceeded the recommended level of 0.7 (Wertz, Linn, & J¨oreskog, 1974), and the AVE for each measure should exceed 0.5 (Hair et al., 1995). As Table 4 shows, all composite reliability coefficients in this study were above 0.8 and all AVE in this study were above 0.5. As mentioned above, the reliability of each variable was dependable. In addition, the result of compared the square root of the AVE score for each construct to its correlations with the other latent constructs (Chin, 1998) to ensure that the square root of AVE exceeded the referenced correlations was supported, which means the discriminant validity of the measures was supported, see the Table 5. Table 4. Construct reliability. Composite reliability coefficients. Average variances extracted (AVE). RO. 0.901. 0.694. TO. 0.885. 0.657. CL. 0.914. 0.680. RQ-S. 0.920. 0.742. Page 23.

(30) RQ-T. 0.944. 0.651. Note: RO= Relation-oriented competencies, TO= Task-oriented competencies, RQ-S= Relationship Quality-Satisfaction, RQ-T= Relationship Quality-Trust, CL= Customer Loyalty. Table 5. Latent variable correlations and square roots of AVEs Constructs. 1. 2. 3. 4. RO. 0.833. TO. 0.789. 0.811. CL. 0.468. 0.506. 0.824. RQ-S. 0.533. 0.546. 0.774. 0.862. RQ-T. 0.540. 0.566. 0.704. 0.801. 6. 0.807. Note: Square roots of average variances extracted (AVE's) are shown on diagonal. The procedures of convergent and discriminate validity proposed by Chin (1998) were adopted here. To assess convergent validity, this study valued individual item reliability and construct reliability. To assess item reliability, this study examined the factor loadings (and cross loadings) of all indicator items to their respective latent constructs. A common rule to indicate convergent validity is that all items should load greater than 0.7 on their own construct. And all items are with the loadings over 0.7 as Table 6 shows.. Page 24.

(31) Table 6. Factoring loadings (bold) and cross loadings. Item. RO. TO. CL. RQ-S. RQ-T. Q1. 0.793. -0.302. 0.127. -0.044. -0.033. Q2. 0.885. -0.110. -0.099. 0.220. -0.086. Q3. 0.835. 0.169. 0.037. -0.122. 0.068. Q4. 0.816. 0.240. -0.054. -0.071. 0.056. Q5. 0.196. 0.830. -0.079. -0.018. 0.224. Q6. 0.136. 0.767. -0.144. -0.062. -0.024. Q7. -0.129. 0.853. 0.074. -0.078. -0.088. Q8. -0.199. 0.790. 0.142. 0.163. -0.118. Q9. 0.068. 0.055. 0.735. 0.104. -0.354. Q10. 0.088. -0.162. 0.833. 0.211. -0.170. Q11. -0.108. -0.006. 0.860. -0.071. 0.110. Q12. 0.007. -0.003. 0.857. -0.075. 0.059. Q13. -0.044. 0.123. 0.830. -0.153. 0.310. RO. TO. CL. Page 25.

(32) Q14. 0.026. 0.017. -0.004. 0.794. -0.235. Q15. -0.086. 0.096. 0.071. 0.889. -0.007. Q16. 0.011. -0.015. -0.026. 0.890. 0.072. Q17. 0.053. -0.098. -0.043. 0.869. 0.149. Q18. -0.134. 0.222. -0.159. 0.391. 0.779. Q19. 0.017. 0.059. 0.003. 0.298. 0.735. Q20. -0.222. 0.148. -0.020. 0.127. 0.825. Q21. -0.002. -0.099. -0.036. -0.049. 0.847. Q22. 0.191. -0.153. -0.138. -0.175. 0.809. Q23. 0.015. -0.066. 0.069. -0.205. 0.841. Q24. 0.082. -0.068. 0.138. -0.011. 0.820. Q25. 0.023. 0.002. 0.069. -0.115. 0.811. Q26. 0.031. -0.028. 0.067. -0.215. 0.789. RQ-S. RQ-T. Partial Least Squares: Figure 3 shows the effects for each hypothesized path (i.e., path coefficients), and the amount of variance explained (R2) for endogenous constructs. Figure 3 show that the RO in EFL competencies is positive with RQ-S (β=0.27, P<0.01) and RQ-T (β=0.25, P<0.01); the TO in EFL competencies is positive with RQ-S (β=0.33,. Page 26.

(33) P<0.01), RQ-T (β=0.37, P<0.01) and CL (β=0.11, P=0.04); RQ-S (β=0.57, P<0.01) and RQ-T (β=0.18, P=0.01) is positive with CL. Therefore, only the RO (β=0.00, P=0.58) is negative with CL. The influence of RO and TO linking with RQ-S is 33 % (R2 = 0.33) and RQ-T is 35% (R2 = 0.35) and the connected of RQ-S and RQ-T with CL is 63% effectible (R2= 0.63). Based on the above-mentioned, five hypotheses in the current study were supported. Figure 3. The structural model. Indirect effect: Table 7 shows that both the direct effect path, relation-oriented to customer loyalty and task-oriented to customer loyalty was weaker than the other paths Page 27.

(34) (relation-oriented to customer loyalty is -0.002 and task-oriented to customer loyalty is 0.105). And the direct and total effect of relationship quality-satisfaction to customer loyalty was 0.57 and relationship quality-truth to customer loyalty was 0.187. The sum of indirect effect of relation-oriented through relationship quality was 0.202 and taskoriented through relationship quality was 0.252. However, the total effect of relationoriented on customer loyalty was 0.2 and the task-oriented on customer loyalty was 0.363. Apparently, both of total effects were outstanding. The result showed that FLE competencies have indirect effects on customer loyalty through relationship quality. Table 7. The direct, indirect, and total effect on FLE competencies through relationship quality to customer loyalty. Indirect Effect for paths with 2 segments. Direct Effect. Total Effect. CL RQ-S. RQ-T. CL RQ-S. RQ-T. Sums. RQ-S. RQ-T. CL. RO. 0.274. 0.251. -0.002. 0.156. 0.046. 0.202. 0.274. 0.251. 0.200. TO. 0.332. 0.374. 0.105. 0.189. 0.069. 0.258. 0.332. 0.374. 0.363. RQ-S. 0.570. 0.570. RQ-T. 0.184. 0.184. Note: RO= Relation-oriented competencies, TO= Task-oriented competencies, RQ-S= Relationship Quality –Satisfaction, RQ-T= Relationship Quality-Trust, CL= Customer Loyalty.. Page 28.

(35) 5.. Discussion and Conclusion. 5.1. Discussion The study proposed FLE competencies enhanced relationship quality, which in turn increased customer loyalty. Based on the above we just mentioned, the proposed hypotheses in the current study were supported except H1a: the relationship between the relation-oriented competency and customer loyalty. One of the possible explanations is that relation-oriented competency had no direct effect but indirect effect on customer loyalty. In other words, relation-oriented competency influenced customer loyalty through relationship quality. H2 (a, b, c, d) confirmed that FLE competencies can influence the trust during seller-buyer relationship which corresponds the view of Yee et al. (2011) and Ahearne et al., (2007), that the behavior of FLE will directly affect customer satisfaction and trust (Bejou, Wray, & Ingram, 1996; Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990). H3 (a, b) confirmed that relationship quality is significant on influencing customer loyalty, such as Deng et al.(2010) study, deeply, the trusting FLE is a clear value that has a completely indirect effect on trust-loyalty relationship (Sirdeshmukh, Singh, & Sabol, 2002); and satisficing FLE has positive effect on customer loyalty (Kim, Park, & Jeong, 2004; Liu, Guo, & Lee, 2011; Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990; Deng, Lu, Wei, & Zhang, 2010).. Page 29.

(36) 5.2. Conclusion In theory, this study explored the indirect effect of FLE competencies on ustomer loyalty through relationship quality. The discussion of indirect and direct impacts of FLEs competencies on customer loyalty is important in high-involved service industry (Yee, Yeung, & Cheng, 2011; Ahearne, Jelinek, & Jones, 2007). FLEs often interacting with customers play a very important role when service have to be customized, FLEs must be capable of communication and expressing themselves in Li et al. (2009). In practice, the findings of this research provide some suggestions for employer and employee in service industry. For employer, the results offer some suggestion about how to build a sound relationship with customers and to increase customer loyalty, and the direction of training FLEs. For employee, the results can help job-seekers realizing their weakness and fix it up. Similarly, the required career competencies for employees may be different owing to various tasks or industries, because customers may have different needed for the FLEs’ service competencies (Wu & Hsiung, 2012). 5.3. Limitations and Future Research This research mainly explores the competencies required by FLEs of high involvement service, and connects them with customer loyalty for understanding their relationship. One of the limitations is that this study only investigated high involved service industry such as insurance industry. Samples are not various enough caused by time limited.. Page 30.

(37) There are few points for future research. For extending study part, it is a good direction that investigates the low involved service industry such as fast food industry to see whether the results are still the same or not. Otherwise, the model in this study could be used to compare with other modern service industry such as information and communication and professional business industry (Nolan, Park, & Estrada, 2012).. Page 31.

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(47) 7. Appendix I Dear Friends, The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship quality as a mediator between frontline employee’s competencies and customer loyalty. This questionnaire includes four parts: I to III parts are the questions regarding your experience with a frontline employee (industry selected in this study is insurance agent) and the IV part is your personal information. It will take you about 5 to 10 minutes to answer the questions. I hope that you may offer your precious experience to us. Your answers are considered highly valuable. All your responses will be confidential. Thank you for your contribution to the study Sincerely yours, Yun-Yan Chung E-mail: gillmadel@hotmail.com. I.. According to your personal experience of connected with insurance agent in last three months, choose the best answer. 1=Strongly disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 3=Agree, 5=Strongly agree. No. 1. 2. 3.. 4. 5.. Strongly disagree. Items Insurance agent has the ability of good expression and communication in verbal or written form when dealing with customers. Insurance agent possesses the ability to listen and understand customer needs. Insurance agent holds the attitude and behavior to provide prompt service, and help customer. Insurance agent has the ability to persuade consumer to accept the product, service and advice he/she is selling. Insurance agent can apply the knowledge and technical skills to Page 41. Disagree. Neutral. Agree. Strongly agree. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

(48) handle the needs or problems the customer is facing. Insurance agent owns the ability to analyze and identify the problem while providing services to consumers. Insurance agent possesses the ability to solve customer problems in a proper and efficient way.. 6. 7.. Insurance agent has the knowledge to help customer understand the product or service in his/her organization.. 8.. II.. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. According to your personal experience when buying a product in last three months, choose the best answer:. No. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.. Strongly disagree. Items You would say positive things about your insurance agent to other people. You would recommend your insurance agent to someone who seeks your advice. You would encourage your friends and relatives to do business with your insurance agent. You consider your insurance agent to be your first choice when buying services. You would do more business with your insurance agent in the next few years.. Disagree. Neutral. Agree. Strongly agree. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. III. According to your personal experience with service provided by insurance agent in last three months, choose the best answer: No. 14. 15. 16.. Strongly disagree. Items You are satisfied with your insurance agent’s service. You are pleased with your insurance agent’s service. You favor your insurance agent’s service. Page 42. Disagree. Neutral. Agree. Strongly agree. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

(49) 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.. 23. 24. 25.. 26.. IV.. You are satisfied with financial agent ’s overall products Your agent can be relied upon to keep his/her promises. There are times when you find your agent to be a bit insincere. [reverse coded] You find it necessary to be cautious when dealing with your life insurance agent. [reverse coded] Your agent is trustworthy. Your agent and you are in competition—he/she is trying to sell me a lot of insurance and you are trying to avoid buying it. [reverse coded] Your agent puts the customer's interests before his/her own. Some people, including your agent, are not above "bending the facts" to create the impression they want. [reverse coded] Your agent is dishonest. [reverse coded] You suspect that your agent has sometimes withheld certain pieces of critical information that might have affected your decision-making. [reverse coded]. Personal Information. i. Gender： 1.□ Male 2.□ Female ii. Age： 1. □ Under 30 year-old (including) 2. □ 31-40 year-old 3. □ 41-50 year-old 4. □ 51-60 year-old 5. □ Over 61 year-old (including) iii. Education： 1. □ Junior High School degree or lower 2. □ High School degree 3. □ College degree Page 43. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

(50) 4. □ Undergraduate degree 5. □ Graduate degree or higher. Thank you for your time. Page 44.

(51) 8. Appendix II 親愛的問卷受訪者, 非常感謝您撥空填寫此份問卷.這是一份學術研究問卷,主要想藉由您過去三個月內與保險員接出的經驗來了解您對服務人員與顧客間關係的看法. 希望能由您寶貴的意見來協助本學術研究進行.本問卷共分為四部份請您詳細閱讀問題後填答.問卷大約會占用您五分鐘的時間.本問卷為匿名問卷,僅供學術使用不對外公布,請安心填答. 感謝您. 撥冗填寫此問卷國立高雄大學國際企業管理系指導教授: 吳毓麒博士. 研究生:鍾昀燕 E-mail: gillmadel@hotmail.com. 壹、本部分希望瞭解您對保險專員服務能力的感受。依照您的實際感受，請在每個問題右邊勾選一個答案以代表您目前感受到的狀況。請務必回答每一題。. 題號. 1.. 2.. 3. 4.. 非常不同意. 不同意. 普通. 同意. 非常同意. 保險專員具有說服顧客接受其產品/服務和忠 ① 告的能力. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 保險專員能運用專業知識去處理顧客需求或問 ① 題. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 處理顧客相關事宜時，保險專員具良好的口頭 ① 或書面表達與溝通能力. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 題項. 保險專員具備傾聽和瞭解顧客需求的能力. Page 45.

(52) 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 保險專員能以合適及有效的方法去解決顧客的 ① 問題. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 保險專員具備對自家公司產品/服務的專門知 ① 識，以協助消費者對其有清楚的認識. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 保險專員在提供顧客服務時，具備分析及確認 ① 問題所在的能力. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 保險專員具有提供顧客即時服務與協助的良好 ① 態度和行為. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 貳、本部分希望瞭解您的購買態度。依照您的實際感受，請在每個問題右邊勾選一個答案以代表您目前感受到的狀況。請務必回答每一題。. 題號. 1. 2.. 非常不同意. 不同意. 普通. 同意. 非常同意. 你會傳達給第三者對於保險專員服務的正面評 ① 價. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 當有人徵詢你的意見時,你會推薦你的保險專 ① 員. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 題項. 3.. 你會鼓勵親友與你的保險專員接洽. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 4.. 優先考慮購買你的保險專員所銷售之保險. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 5.. 未來將會持續向你的保險專員購買保險. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. Page 46.

(53) 參、本部分希望瞭解您對服務人員的感受。依照您的實際感受，請在每個問題右邊勾選一個答案以代表您目前感受到的狀況。請務必回答每一題。. 題號. 題項. 非常不同意. 不同意. 普通. 同意. 非常同意. 1.. 保險專員提供的服贏得您的好感. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 2.. 您對於保險專員所提供的服務感到滿足. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 3.. 您對於保險專員提供的服務感到滿意. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 您對於保險專員整體(包含產品與服務)都很滿 ① 意. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 4.. 5.. 您相信個人保險專員會信守承諾. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 6.. 在您接觸保險專員時他(她)總是表現真誠. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 7.. 您對於服務您的保險專員感到放心. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 8.. 您的保險專員是值得信任的. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 9.. 您的保險專員不會對您進行強迫推銷. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 10.. 您的保險專員會以客戶的利益為主要考量. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 11.. 您的保險專員會據實以告產品資訊. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 12.. 您的保險專員表現是正直可靠的. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. 13.. 保險專員將會提供正確資訊供您決策. ①. ②. ③. ④. ⑤. Page 47.

(54) 肆、個人基本資料一、性別： 1.□男 2.□女二、年齡： 1.□ 30 歲（含）以下 2.□ 31~40 歲 3.□ 41~50 歲 4.□ 51~60 歲 5.□ 61 歲（含）以上三、教育程度： 1.□國中（含）以下畢業 2.□高中（職）畢業 3.□專科畢業 4.□大學畢業 5.□研究所（含）以上畢業. 問卷到此結束, 非常感謝您!!. Page 48.

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