The role of frontline employees in customer engagement

Abstract

The current competitive climate paves the way for a change in the management of the customer portfolio by attempting to improve the efficiency and profitability of the relational approach. Accordingly, the study of the company---customer relationship incorporates the concept of customer engagement. This new concept suggests that transactional criteria (repurchasing, cross-selling, level of use) are insufficient to assess the profitability of each customer. Therefore, it is necessary to consider customers’ nontransactional behaviour, including word of mouth and blogging, in order to gain a more accurate idea of the current and future worth of each customer. In line with the previous ideas,this research analyses the role of frontline employees, who,the majority of the time, are regarded as spokespeople for the company in the company---customer interaction, as well as being influential in the level of satisfaction and engagement. This interaction is vital in the case of a service failure or complaint management. The contribution of this study is justified by the originality of the concept analyzed and the lack of any previous works dealing specifically with the possible relationship between the actions of employees and customer engagement. Furthermore, it analyses whether the fact that a customer has made a complaint or not has any effect on the causal relationships proposed. The theoretical and practical implications are included in the final part of the paper.