| Abstract: |
Problem: Within marketing, there is a consensus that increased customer
satisfaction and loyalty is thought to be closely connected to present and
future revenues. In service organizations, customer satisfaction is highly
dependent on the service employee’s ability and motivation to execute the
service in line with the customers’ needs and expectation. Most customers
prefer a service relationship in contrast to a service encounter. So customer
satisfaction is more likely to increase if the customer perceives that there
is a relationship with the service provider. This might be as to why a lot of
previous research, regardless marketing- or management perspective has focused
on the customers’ perception of the relationship. To do that makes sense,
after all it is the customer that uses and recommends the service and the
provider, which of course Is connected to present and future revenues for both
company and service provider. However, what about the relational perspective
and benefits/motivation for the service provider, does the service provider
prefers a service encounter or service relationship? Human relations has a
major impact on subjective well-being, and subjective well-being impacts
individual performance beyond job satisfaction. So is it possible that the
relationship quality within customer relations, affects not only performance
thru customer satisfaction, but also increases performance thru subjective
well-being? Understanding what causes and influences performance within sales
appears to be an everlasting puzzle among both practicians and marketing
researchers. Previous marketing research with a relational perspective has
done a comprehensive survey on influences- and effects of customer relations
within the service domain. The major part of these studies is conducted in a
B2B context where the relation and interaction between humans are seen and
evaluated from a psychological perspective. The psychological relational
perspective is not as common in studies in B2C studies within the service
domain, aside frontline employee studies. There is a demand for studies among
professional service providers, in respect to both performance, subjective
well-being and relationship quality. Echoing that proposition, this study is
conducted among Swedish Real-Estate Brokers (REB). This is due to REB:s
long-lasting and intense customer relations. There is a strong incitement of
trust due to the possibility that REB:s customers are both highly financially-
and emotionally connected to their homes. Swedish REB are obligated to perform
the entire real estate transaction, which makes them even more interesting as
a study object, due to the increased amount of trust and time needed/spent
with each customer. Purpose: The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to exam
if preferred relationship (service- encounter/relationship) with customers
differ between REB:s and, 2) exam if relationship quality from REB:s
perspective affects individual performance and subjective
well-being.Design/methodology/approach: This study applies a quantitative,
deductive, hypothesis driven approach survey among 1000 Real-Estate Brokers in
Sweden. Findings: Preliminary findings indicates that attitudes among
real-estate brokers concerning customer relations varies. The variations in
relationship quality connects to both performance and subjective well-being.
Real Estate-Brokers, who prefers service relationships are more likely to have
higher relationship quality, perform better and display higher levels of
subjective well-being.Research limitations/implications: Real-Estate Brokerage
is in some ways not only a unique occupation in itself, brokerage can also
differ between countries. This can be mainly linked to legislation and
culture. Therefore, a certain degree of caution is necessary before any
generalizations can be made to other occupations within sales and Real-Estate
Brokers in other countries. Takeaway for practice: Performance are interesting
and problematic topics for both individuals and managers within sales. The
salespersons perspective on customer relations has long been somewhat
neglected by both researches and practitioners. This study contributes by
adding understanding about the connection between a salespersons view on
customer relations and performance thru subjective well-being. These insights
might be used as: 1) an individual tool within sales to increase performance
and subjective well-being thru customer satisfaction, and 2) managerial tool
assisting in: hiring, implementations of Customer Orientation and Customer
Relationship Management.Originality/value: The findings presented in this
paper are partially in line with the previous studies and the theoretical
assumptions made. To the best of my knowledge this is one of the first studies
that investigate customer relations in this context from the salespersons
perspective. |