Do Empowered Front‐Line Employees Perform Better? A Non‐linear Approach and the Role of Service Complexity

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12153
Published date01 June 2019
Date01 June 2019
Do Empowered Front-Line Employees
Perform Better? A Non-linear Approach and
the Role of Service Complexity
IOANNIS KOSTOPOULOS
Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK
This study re-examines the influenceof front-line service employeeempowerment on their performance,following
a non-linearapproach and integratingthe role of service complexity. For thatpurpose, data were collectedthrough a
quantitative survey on 240 front-line employees in twomajor UK cities (London, Leeds). Thestudys results indicate
that empowerment has a significant impact on their performance and that this impact is non-linear (quadratic).
Specifically, the relationship between empowerment and performance is negative for low-level empowerment and
positive for high-level empowerment. In addition, the studys results show that the nature of this relationship is
different fordifferent levels of service complexity. Specifically, for low-complexity services, the relationship between
empowerment and performance was found quadratic, whereas for high-complexity services the relationship was
found positive and linear. Based on the studys main conclusions important implications for both academics and
practitioners are presented.
Keywords: front line employees; empowerment; performance; complexity
Introduction
As most service industries become more competitive and
customers become increasingly demanding, delivering
high-quality services is a crucial pursuit for service providers
that seek to create value for their customers (Grönroos and
Ravald 2011). Through providing highquality service,
companies can achieve increased customer satisfaction,
loyalty and therefore competitive advantage and long-term
profitability (Zeithaml and Bitner 2000). One of the most
critical factors that determine the quality of the provided
service, and increased customer satisfaction as a result, is
front-line employeesperformance (Parasuraman et al.
1985; Harris et al. 2014), since these employees are an
inseparable part of the service offering (Lovelock, 1983).
Front-line employees are not only responsible for the
service delivery, but they also are the customersmain
point of contact. Hence, their performance determines
the effectiveness of the service encounter effectiveness
and to a great extent the customerssatisfaction with the
service (Bitner 1990; Hollins and Shinkins 2006).
In seeking to improve front-line employees
performance, service providers use many practices to
increase theorganisational support that employees receive
and to enable them to enact their roles within service
provision successfully (Karatepe and Uludag 2008;
Riggle et al. 2009). Among the many practices that
improve front-line employeesperformance, increased
empowerment is one of the most cited in the recent
literature (e.g., Aryee et al. 2012; Fernandez and
Moldogaziev 2013; Karatepe 2013). According to
empowerment theory, front-line employees
empowermentreflects the degree to which the employees
have the freedom to make decisions that influence
organisational direction and performance(Bowen and
Lawer 1992: 35). In general, more empowered front-line
employees are considered to be more capable and willing
to offer higher servicequality to customers. Nevertheless,
even though front-line employeesempowerment has
been considereda highly beneficial practice,many studies
in the literature have reported inconclusive or even
contradictory results about the influence that
empowerment has on employeesperformance (e.g.,
Snipes et al., 2005; Huang et al. 2010). In fact, some
researchers suggest that apart from its generally positive
influence, empowerment has, under specific
circumstances, negative implications for employees
performance and the service delivery in general (e.g.,
Martin 1996; Klagge 1998). At the same time, one study
noted the need for more research in order to determine
Correspondence: Ioannis Kostopoulos, Leeds Beckett University, 562 Rose
Bowl, City Campus, Leeds, LS13HL, UK. E-mail: i.kostopoulos@
leedsbeckett.ac.uk
European Management Review, Vol. 16, 229242, (2019)
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12153
©2018 European Academy of Management

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