A Comparative Analysis of Frontline Employee Wellness Benefits and Customer Responsiveness: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective
研究了五种雇主提供的健康福利对一线员工顾客响应性的影响，发现食物和社交福利效果最强，正念福利次之，身体和健康福利最弱，且支持性工作环境能增强前两者的效果。
Given the importance of frontline employees (FLEs) for organizations and consumers, it is important to motivate them to achieve optimal performance. One way to motivate FLEs is through employer-provided wellness benefits, which might increase FLEs’ responsiveness to customer needs. Building on social exchange theory, this research simultaneously examines five wellness benefits to identify factors that can enhance FLEs’ feelings of being valued and an induce a sense of indebtedness, which in turn can have downstream effects on customer responsiveness. The results of five studies, including a pilot study, preliminary sales study, field studies, and an internal meta-analysis, demonstrate how food and social benefits exert the strongest effects, with food yielding stronger direct effects on customer responsiveness and both food and social benefits showing indirect effects through value and indebtedness feelings. The next-strongest effects are from mindfulness benefits. Physical and health wellness benefits exert the weakest downstream consequences. Importantly, if FLEs are in a supportive work environment, the effects of food and social benefits are enhanced. Conversely, job stressors and motivational constructs do not significantly impact the effects of employer-provided wellness benefits. By adopting the provided recommendations, retailers and service providers can institute effective and optimal wellness programs to enhance their FLEs’ customer-facing behaviors.