IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v47y2022i3p539-557.html

Effects of employee engagement on customer responses: Examining the mediating role of customer engagement

Author

Listed:
  • Fazlul K Rabbanee
  • B Ramaseshan

    (School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia)

  • Revadee Vyravene

    (School of Management, Curtin Mauritius, Moka, Mauritius)

Abstract

Drawing on emotional contagion theory, this study offers an integrated framework showing the effects of employee engagement (EE) on customer engagement (CE), repeat purchase and word-of-mouth (WOM). The data were collected from 65 employees and 352 customers of 28 retail stores using 2 separate survey instruments. A dyadic data set was created by matching customer data with the employee data corresponding to each store. The findings reveal that two key facets of EE – dedication and absorption – positively influence CE, which eventually influences WOM and repeat purchase. In line with balance theory, CE is found to fully mediate the effects of absorption on WOM and repeat purchase. Furthermore, employee length of service (ELS) is found to moderate the absorption on CE effects. Thus, the findings extend emotional contagion theory and balance theory by providing empirical evidence supporting the differential effects of the facets of EE on CE en route to WOM and repeat purchase. JEL Classification: M31

Suggested Citation

  • Fazlul K Rabbanee & B Ramaseshan & Revadee Vyravene, 2022. "Effects of employee engagement on customer responses: Examining the mediating role of customer engagement," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(3), pages 539-557, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:47:y:2022:i:3:p:539-557
    DOI: 10.1177/03128962211057293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03128962211057293
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/03128962211057293?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Di Mascio, Rita & Fatima, Johra, 2018. "The role of identification in frontline employee decision-making," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 131-138.
    2. Roy, Sanjit Kumar & Balaji, M.S. & Soutar, Geoff & Lassar, Walfried M. & Roy, Rajat, 2018. "Customer engagement behavior in individualistic and collectivistic markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 281-290.
    3. Evanschitzky, Heiner & Wangenheim, Florian v. & Wünderlich, Nancy V., 2012. "Perils of Managing the Service Profit Chain: The Role of Time Lags and Feedback Loops," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 356-366.
    4. Wilmar Schaufeli & Marisa Salanova & Vicente González-romá & Arnold Bakker, 2002. "The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-92, March.
    5. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Glynn, Mark S. & Brodie, Roderick J., 2014. "Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-165.
    6. Zhang, Mingli & Guo, Lingyun & Hu, Mu & Liu, Wenhua, 2017. "Influence of customer engagement with company social networks on stickiness: Mediating effect of customer value creation," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 229-240.
    7. Bejou, David & Wray, Barry & Ingram, Thomas N., 1996. "Determinants of relationship quality: An artificial neural network analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 137-143, June.
    8. Macey, William H. & Schneider, Benjamin, 2008. "The Meaning of Employee Engagement," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 3-30, March.
    9. Thakur, Rakhi, 2016. "Understanding Customer Engagement and Loyalty: A Case of Mobile Devices for Shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 151-163.
    10. Mollen, Anne & Wilson, Hugh, 2010. "Engagement, telepresence and interactivity in online consumer experience: Reconciling scholastic and managerial perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 919-925, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Linda D. Hollebeek & Rajendra K. Srivastava & Tom Chen, 2019. "S-D logic–informed customer engagement: integrative framework, revised fundamental propositions, and application to CRM," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 161-185, January.
    2. Lim, Weng Marc & Rasul, Tareq & Kumar, Satish & Ala, Mamun, 2022. "Past, present, and future of customer engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 439-458.
    3. Thakur, Rakhi, 2018. "Customer engagement and online reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 48-59.
    4. Cheung, Millissa F.Y. & To, W.M., 2021. "Effect of customer involvement on co-creation of services: A moderated mediation model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Harrigan, Paul & Evers, Uwana & Miles, Morgan & Daly, Timothy, 2017. "Customer engagement with tourism social media brands," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 597-609.
    6. Julia Troll & Ivo Blohm & Jan Marco Leimeister, 2019. "Why Incorporating a Platform-Intermediary can Increase Crowdsourcees’ Engagement," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(4), pages 433-450, August.
    7. Morgan-Thomas, Anna & Dessart, Laurence & Veloutsou, Cleopatra, 2020. "Digital ecosystem and consumer engagement: A socio-technical perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 713-723.
    8. Shi, Xiaoxiao & Evans, Richard & Shan, Wei, 2022. "Solver engagement in online crowdsourcing communities: The roles of perceived interactivity, relationship quality and psychological ownership," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    9. Alvarez-Milán, Agarzelim & Felix, Reto & Rauschnabel, Philipp A. & Hinsch, Christian, 2018. "Strategic customer engagement marketing: A decision making framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 61-70.
    10. Kumar, Jitender & Nayak, Jogendra Kumar, 2018. "Brand community relationships transitioning into brand relationships: Mediating and moderating mechanisms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 64-73.
    11. Zou, Yi & van Riel, Allard C.R. & Streukens, Sandra & Bloemer, José, 2023. "Wanted! Investigating how elements from the personal usage context affect Gen Z consumers' value-in-use experience and engagement with mobile service," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    12. Bruneau, Virginie & Swaen, Valérie & Zidda, Pietro, 2018. "Are loyalty program members really engaged? Measuring customer engagement with loyalty programs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 144-158.
    13. Luning Zang & Linqiang Wang & Dianfeng Zhang & Qingguo Bai, 2026. "Data-driven review of customer engagement: key research themes and future directions," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 1887-1917, April.
    14. Francoise Contreras & Juan C. Espinosa & Gustavo A. Esguerra, 2020. "Could Personal Resources Influence Work Engagement and Burnout? A Study in a Group of Nursing Staff," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    15. Soni, Sigma & Arora, Parvinder & Kasilingam, Dharun & Jain, Varsha, 2025. "Digital daydreams: Exploring consumer motivations for engaging with the metaverse," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Raed S. Algharabat & Nripendra P. Rana, 0. "Social Commerce in Emerging Markets and its Impact on Online Community Engagement," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    17. Nina Pološki Vokić & Tomislav Hernaus, 2015. "The triad of job satisfaction, work engagement and employee loyalty – The interplay among the concepts," EFZG Working Papers Series 1507, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    18. Norhidayah Ali & Suhaida Abu Bakar & Rini Lestari, 2025. "From Responsivity to Retention: Unpacking the Role of Timely Engagement in Customer Loyalty," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(4), pages 494-507, April.
    19. Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Antonino Callea & Amelia Manuti, 2022. "“I Like It like That”: A Study on the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    20. Urmila Rani Srivastava & Vandana Maurya, 2017. "Organizational and Individual Level Antecedents of Psychological Capital and its Associated Outcomes: Development of a Conceptual Framework," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(3), pages 205-236, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:47:y:2022:i:3:p:539-557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.