Relationship of Employee Satisfaction to Customer Satisfaction

The influence of employee satisfaction on customer satisfaction has received considerable attention in marketing literature and practice in recent years. It has been argued that behaviour of satisfied employees plays an important role in shaping customers' perceptions of business interactions.  This phenomenon may occur as satisfied employees are more apt to be friendly, enthusiastic, attentive, and empathetic toward customers. 

According to the concept of partner effects, a person is in some way, verbally or nonverbally, influenced by the characteristics and behaviours displayed by his or her counterpart.  Additionally, the contagion effect explains how satisfied employees influence others around them to feel good.  Therefore, employee job satisfaction is positively related to customers' perceptions of service.  This notion suggests that employees who have higher levels of job satisfaction also believe they are able to deliver excellent service.  It is also expected that happy or satisfied employees are more inclined to share these positive emotions with customers. 

Compared to the influence of Employee Satisfaction (ES) on Customer Satisfaction (CS), the impact in the opposite direction (from CS to ES) is supported by a few theories such as the social exchange theory, and the psychological contract theory.  Customers satisfied with their counterpart will engage in cooperative behaviour as reciprocation for those who have benefited them.  There are evidences from various researchers who found that customers who developed a bond with the employees also were likely to care about employee wellbeing. If customers like the performance of the employee and express gratitude or satisfaction, in turn, it is also expected to lead to a higher level of employee satisfaction.  In other words, positive reinforcement from customers increases the satisfaction of sales employee.  In addition to this it is argued that customers' inputs make important contributions to enhancement of service quality, leading to employee satisfaction and that employee’s are concerned about customers' feelings and are pleased when customers display appreciation for quality service.

SOURCE:

Jeon, Hoseong and Choi, Beomjoon (2012) “The relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 26 Iss: 5, pp.332 – 341