The goals of this study were (1) to identify the optimal facets of communication style for customer-oriented service employees and (2) to examine the ways in which the customer-oriented service employee (COSE) induces luxury restaurant patrons’ dedicational behaviors. Customer dedicational behaviors are defined as ‘a set of active and positive customer voluntary behaviors towards a business induced by high relationship quality’. Based on the existing body of communication literature, nine types of communication styles were derived. Theoretical relationships between the nine communication styles and the COSE also were developed via literature review, and causal relationships between the COSE and three different types of consumer dedicational behavior styles were subsequently suggested. By integrating the derived theoretical hypotheses, a conceptual model was proposed and then tested utilizing data collected from 527 luxury restaurant patrons. The results of data analysis revealed that five types of communication styles (attentive, friendly, impression leaving, open, and relaxed) bear a positive impact on COSE, while one communication style (contentious) bears a negative impact. It was also found that the customer-oriented service employee plays a critical role in inducing three types of dedicational behaviors in consumers: enhancement, cooperation, and advocacy. The key theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed in the latter part of this article.
Developing and managing customer relationships are critical components in the success of service marketing (Jamal and Adelowore, 2008 and Singh and Sirdeshmukh, 2000), and positive interactions with customer oriented service employees help to create long-term customer relationships (Webster and Sundaram, 2009 and Wu and Liang, 2005) and increase economic leverage (Hennig-Thurau, 2004, Bove and Johnson, 2000 and Brown et al., 2002). The existing literature supports that the customer orientation of service employee helps to induce positive customer dedicational behaviors (including enhancement, cooperation, and advocacy) and thus plays a key role in maximizing the revenue of service companies (Bolton and Lemon, 2004, Bove and Johnson, 2000, Kim et al., 2010 and Sui and Baloglu, 2003).
Furthermore, service providers’ communication skills play a crucial role in inducing positive/effective interaction between customer and employee, an important indicator of a customer oriented service employee (COSE) (Ring and Van de Ven, 1994, Snavely and McNeill, 2008, Sparks and Callan, 1992 and Vadi and Suuroja, 2006). For this reason, possessing an effective communication style is a key characteristic of a COSE (Rahman, 2004 and Webster and Sundaram, 2009), which is clearly supported by the existing theoretical background (Erickson et al., 1978, Goldstein, 2009, Hemsley and Doob, 1978, Koermer and McCroskey, 2006, Norton, 1978, Notarantonio and Cohen, 1990 and Scherer, 1982).
However, communication style is composed of a variety of complex dimensions and attributes. Norton (1978) has established a foundational communication style construct which includes nine verbal/nonverbal communication styles: animated, attentive, contentious, dominant, dramatic, friendly, impression leaving, open, and relaxed.
Since communication style significantly impacts the effectiveness of a COSE, it is critical to assess which specific communication styles bear the strongest impact on COSE effectiveness and thus most significantly influence customers’ dedicational behaviors. In the luxury restaurant industry in particular, COSEs play a crucial role in the success of a business due to the labor-intensive characteristics of this particular business model (Kim et al., 2005 and Walker, 2007). From placing an order to making payment, communication between service provider and patron occurs continually throughout the restaurant visit (Brown, 2004 and Kim and Ok, 2010). However, restaurant owners/managers currently do not possess a practical model that demonstrates the link between communication style, the COSE, and consumer dedicational behaviors. Restaurant owners/managers are therefore under significant pressure to develop more effective communication styles that can induce positive customer evaluations, but they have no practical guidelines to do so. The goals of this study are to (1) identify the optimal communication style for a COSE and (2) examine the ways in which a COSE influences customer dedicational behaviors within the luxury restaurant industry.
