Unit-level voluntary turnover rates and customer service quality: implications of group cohesiveness, newcomer concentration, and size.
Despite substantial growth in the service industry and emerging work on turnover consequences, little research examines how unit-level turnover rates affect essential customer-related outcomes. The authors propose an operational disruption framework to explain why voluntary turnover impairs customers' service quality perceptions. On the basis of a sample of 75 work units and data from 5,631 employee surveys, 59,602 customer surveys, and organizational records, results indicate that unit-level voluntary turnover rates are negatively related to service quality perceptions. The authors also examine potential boundary conditions related to the disruption framework. Of 3 moderators studied (group cohesiveness, group size, and newcomer concentration), results show that turnover's negative effects on service quality are more pronounced in larger units and in those with a greater concentration of newcomers.
Hausknecht
John P
JP
Department of Human Resource Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. jph42@cornell.edu
Trevor
Charlie O
CO
Howard
Michael J
MJ
D003258:Consumer Behavior; D006126:Group Processes; D006127:Group Structure; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010560:Personnel Selection; D010563:Personnel Turnover; D012933:Social Identification; D012951:Socialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires