Perceived managerial sincerity,

feedback-seeking orientation and motivation

among front-line employees of a service
organization
Audhesh K. Paswan and Lou E. Pelton
Department of Marketing and Logistics, College of Business Administration, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA, and
Sheb L. True
Department of Leadership and Professional Development, Michael J. Coles College of Business Administration,
Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
Abstract
Purpose Literature on the services industrys front-line employees has largely focused on the relationships between service providers and customers.
However, there is increasing approbation that managers inuence the front-line employees motivation, ultimately impacting service quality. This study
investigates the relationship between front-line employees perceived managerial sincerity, need for feedback, and role motivation.
Design/methodology/approach The data were collected at 26 restaurants (from a global fast-food franchised chain) located in a large US city,
using a self-administered questionnaire, from their front-line employees. The nal sample size was 185 (47.4 percent response).
Findings The results suggest a positive association between front-line employees feedback-seeking orientation and their perceived managerial
sincerity. A positive association also exists between front-line employees motivation levels and their job satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications The focus on a subset of restaurants (from a single franchise system) and the limited scope of states-of-mind
and behaviors measured are two main limitations. A multitude of other front-line employee characteristics and factors should be investigated in future
studies.
Practical implications Results suggest that managers interpersonal communication techniques enhance front-line employees perceptions of
managerial sincerity, and increase their motivation and job satisfaction. However, managers need to balance a portfolio of diverse employee traits with
relevant managerial styles to achieve desired outcomes.
Originality/value The association between perceived managerial sincerity and feedback-seeking orientation is intuitively appealing and comforting.
However, some employees are happy being told what to do without any concern for involvement. Employees with low perceived managerial sincerity
are also low on feedback need.
Keywords Employees, Employee relations, Managers, Motivation (psychology)
Paper type Research paper
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
A key characteristic of service organizations is inseparability
there is an implicit connection between service providers and
their customers (Hurley, 1998; Lovelock, 1996). Since
inseparability is paramount to customer service quality, the
relationship between front-line employees and customers is a
prevailing concern across service organizations. Service
organizations essentially entrust their front-line personnel
with the responsibility of managing customer transactions.
Front-line employees are the face people for service
organizations; they have direct, inuential customer contact
that may ultimately impact customers perceptions of service
quality (Daniel et al., 1996; Tansik, 1990). Consequently, the
motivation of front-line employees in a service organization
becomes crucial to the service delivery process (Bendapudi
and Berry, 1997; Bitner et al., 1994; Conduit and Mavondo,
2001; Klemz, 1999; Macintosh and Lockshin, 1997), quality
of the service provided (Heskett et al., 1990), and the overall
well-being of the organization (Baker and Cameron, 1996;
Heskett et al., 1994).
Service quality perceptions are especially important in the
restaurant industry. Studies have indicated that service quality
can moderate patrons perceptions of food quality and overall
dining experience. Unprecedented growth and competitive
density intimate that front-line employees may be inuential
role sets in a restaurants success or failure. How do
restaurants motivate their front-line personnel to maintain
high levels of service quality? In this study, we explore
potential antecedents of front-line employees motivation:
employees perceptions of managerial sincerity and their
feedback-seeking orientation.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm
Journal of Services Marketing
19/1 (2005) 312
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045]
[DOI 10.1108/08876040510579343]
3
The service marketing literature has approached the topic
of front-line employee motivation levels from divergent
perspectives, e.g. organizational climate, internal customer
orientation, personality traits, services processes, and
organizational communication (see Bitner et al., 1994;
Conduit and Mavondo, 2001; Hurley, 1998; Singh et al.,
1996; Strutton et al., 1995; Parasuraman et al., 1991). Of
particular interest is the study by Hurley (1998) concluding
that trait descriptors could be used to describe superior
service providers. In this study, we focus on the trait of
feedback-seeking orientation (Black and Ashford, 1995).
However, literature also indicates that the personality trait, in
and of itself, is no guarantee of better service delivery;
however, managerial initiatives are key determinants of
workplace environments across service industries.
The importance of a strong person-organization t has been
amply established in the literature (Adkins et al., 1994; Cable
and Judge, 1994; Judge and Bretz, 1992). It has been
extensively studied under the labels of organizational climate,
culture, and psychological climate (Brown et al., 1998;
Johnson, 2000; Shadur et al., 1999; Strutton et al., 1995).
This literature suggests that managerial initiative, particularly
the employees perception of such an initiative, is a crucial
element of the workplace environment, particularly in the case
of smaller service-oriented organizations such as franchise
restaurants. This study will focus on one such managerial
initiative perceived managerial sincerity.
With regard to motivation, some of the more popular
motivational theoretical frameworks are the need-based,
reinforcement, equity, expectancy and goal-setting
conceptual frameworks (see Landy and Baker 1987). The
present study embraces Herzbergs motivation-hygiene
framework, a need-based theory based on the early works of
Herzberg et al. (1959).
The study empirically assesses the relationship between
front-line employees motivation, perceptions of managerial
sincerity, and feedback-seeking orientation derived from the
motivation-hygiene conceptual framework. These associative
linkages will be investigated in a franchise setting, and the
focal setting is the fast-food restaurant industry. In this
endeavor, we begin by delineating existing literature from
which we develop a set of hypotheses. Next, we articulate a
research design aimed at measuring the seminal constructs
addressing these hypotheses. Based on the empirical results,
we posit both managerial and research implications gleaned
from the results.
Feedback-seeking orientation and managerial
sincerity
A strong relationship between work environment and
productivity has been established in the existing literature
(Ference, 2001; Varca, 1999). Bitner et al. (1994) found that
most front-line employees are customer, and service-oriented,
but often are not able to deliver excellent service. They offer
several rationales for this disconnect between service quality
intent and outcomes:
[. . .] lack of basic knowledge of the system and its constraints, cumbersome
bureaucratic procedures, inability to provide a logical explanation to the
customer, poorly designed systems and procedures, or the lack of authority
to do anything (Bitner et al., 1994, p. 103).
These studies indicate two complementary forces at play
one being the employee feedback-seeking orientation and the
other an environment where employees feel comfortable
enough to seek feedback.
The notion of feedback has been well-established in the
management and services marketing literatures (see Barner-
Rasmussen, 2003; Bitner et al., 1994; Crant, 2000; Callister
et al., 1999; Ference, 2001; Lovelock, 1996; Renn and Fedor,
2001; Rich, 2001). These studies indicate that front-line
employees in a service organization such as a restaurant are
constantly faced with uncertain and unpredictable situations
such as irate customers, non-standardized orders, and special
requests (Bitner et al., 1994). In addition, service
organizations often use part timers, often with inadequate
training, to balance capacity with demand (Lovelock, 1996,
p. 2076). These arguments suggest that feedback is crucial for
front-line employees in order to cope with divergent service
encounters. However, not all employees require the same level
of feedback. Employees with higher feedback-seeking
orientations are likely to seek out information and feedback,
be more concerned about doing things right, learning, and
tting in with the crowd. That is, they are likely to be more
proactive (Crant, 2000). In contrast, employees with a lower
feedback-seeking orientation are more likely to be apathetic,
unconcerned about the task and totally oblivious to what is
happening around them. They are likely to view their job at
the restaurant franchise as a task to be performed rather than
a starting point in their career path.
From an organizational perspective, it has been suggested
that a trusting environment complements this feedback-
seeking orientation (Barner-Rasmussen, 2003; Handeld and
Bechtel, 2002; Korsgaard et al., 2002). Specically, the
services literature indicates that an open and trusting relation
between front-line employees and managers has a strong
inuence on service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1991), and
the onus of creating a trusting environment often rests with
the manager (Handeld and Bechtel, 2002; Korsgaard et al.,
2002). In other words, if employees perceive their managers
to be sincere and trustworthy, then they are likely to be more
open and to participate in proactive behaviors like feedback
seeking. This is especially true for small service businesses
such as franchise restaurants, where a majority of instruction
and command ows take place between managers and
employees. Employees are likely to lean heavily on their
managers for encouragement, feedback, help, and possibly
even career and personal growth opportunities.
Combining these two thought processes, it is not difcult to
perceive that employees with higher feedback-seeking
orientations are likely to nd their managers more sincere
and approachable (Hurley, 1998). They are likely to seek out
information, guidance and feedback, and attribute higher
levels of sincerity toward their managers. In contrast,
employees that have a lower feedback-seeking orientation do
not seek information and feedback, and consequently they
may nd their workplace environments to be less open. They
are likely to project their own lack of feedback orientation
toward their work environments and attribute lower levels of
trust, openness, and sincerity toward their managers. This
line of thinking is captured in H
1
.
H
1
. Perceived managerial sincerity is positively associated
with feedback-seeking orientation.
Next, we examine the relationship between perceived
managerial sincerity, an important element of workplace
environment in a service organization, and employee motivation.
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
4
Front-line employee motivation
Two of the motivational theories found to be equally good
predictors of employee satisfaction are need and equity
theories, whereas others such as goal setting, reinforcement,
and expectancy theories have not fared so well (Landy and
Baker, 1987). In this study, we utilize the Herzbergs
motivation-hygiene theory (Herzberg, 1966; Herzberg et al.,
1959), and we focus on the residual feelings due to the
presence or absence of motivating and hygiene factors in a
franchise setting. This theory suggests that if employees
perceive the presence of motivating factors, the result will be a
more positive feeling towards their jobs, a sense of higher
commitment, and elation. The employees will nd their job
fascinating, creative and innovative, and have a sense of
respect and accomplishment. Their sense of commitment is
heightened, and they are more willing to recommend it to
others. However, an absence of motivating factors even with
the presence of hygiene factors, does not necessarily result in
strong positive feeling. They are likely to nd their jobs
boring, simple, mundane, and not very creative. It would
probably result in a lackluster feeling of it is ok, but not a
resounding afrmation of job satisfaction.
In the context of franchise restaurants, front-line employees
are typically the face persons in service delivery. They may
not be involved in the decision making, may not be privy to
related knowledge bases, and may not understand the
intricacies of the bureaucracy. Managers may not take the
trouble to explain the systems and procedures to these contact
employees. In addition, rms also use this level for training,
and weeding out unmotivated and unsuitable employees. In
fact, the employees at this level are often part-timers
(Lovelock, 1996). However, these employees serve in a
boundary-spanning role and are typically the rst (and
perhaps the last and only) customer contact in a service
organization. They can turn a customer off if they are not
motivated. Therefore, the managers must motivate these rst
level employees to become customer oriented and deliver
superior service.
Most franchisees buy into the business practices of
franchisors and want their employees to follow orders.
Often, this approach does not leave much room for
innovation and participation from employees. However,
franchisees are also entrepreneurs and must use the entire
gamut of managerial activities, including employee
motivation, by creating an open and trusting environment
for their employees. From an employees perspective, some
work in franchise units because it is a no-brainer job. The
entire work process is outlined in great detail, and they are
basically told to do whatever needs to be done. As long as
they do what they are supposed to do, everyone is happy.
There is really very little scope involved, and the role set may
even preclude the need for innovative, involved openness in
the organizational climate. On the other hand, some
employees see their tenure at a franchise unit as a training
ground. Their goal is to learn as much as possible and
someday start a business of their own. So how do managers at
a franchise unit motivate their front-line employees?
It has been suggested that the contextual factors, especially
the employees perception of their work environment
signicantly inuence an individuals creative behavior and
motivation (Amabile, 1988; Amabile et al., 1996; Oldham and
Cummings, 1996; Shalley et al., 2000; Woodman et al.,
1993). Specically, one of these motivating factors identied
in the literature is the perception of openness and trust in the
organizational climate, particularly attributed to employee-
manager interaction given its proximal nature (Amabile,
1988; Hackman and Oldham, 1980; Nelson, 1997; Shalley
et al., 2000). Similar results were found by Conduit and
Mavondo (2001), i.e. internal communication, access to
intelligence, employee participation in marketing and
organizational processes are key determinants of internal
customer orientation. Gro nroos (1990) found that open and
free communication between employees and managers
improve job performance through enhanced feedback.
Strutton et al. (1995) alluded to this notion while
investigating the psychological climate in franchise systems.
In their research of organizational practices and role stress
reducing processes, Singh et al. (1996) have also suggested
openness in the organizational climate is a key factor. In
essence, these studies suggest that employees who perceive
their managers to be sincere and trusting are likely to be more
committed, be more satised in their job, and are likely to be
more market and customer oriented. In addition, the
literature also suggests that a match between the
organizations internal environment and an employees
personality dimension inuences an employees job
satisfaction; hence, it is important to strive for a strong
person-organization t (Adkins et al., 1994; Cable and Judge,
1994; Judge and Bretz, 1992).
Based on this evidence, we speculate that a perception of
managerial sincerity and trust is likely to result in higher levels
of motivation. In summary, employees with high perceived
managerial sincerity and openness are likely to be more
motivated. On the other hand, employees with lower
perceptions of managerial sincerity (and lower levels of
feedback-seeking orientation) may see their job at the
franchise restaurant as a way of bidding time. For some it
may be the be all and end all of their careers. They probably
like the routine and mundane nature of their proximal work
environment because they do not have to struggle or strain
too much. Consequently, these employees are likely to be
relatively more accepting of their routine work environment,
and less enthused with the motivating aspect of their work
environment. These arguments lead to the nal set of
hypotheses:
H
2
. Employees with higher perceptions of managerial
sincerity (and higher feedback-seeking orientation)
are likely to exhibit higher levels of job related
motivation, than employees with lower perceptions of
managerial sincerity (and lower feedback-seeking
orientation).
H
3
. Employees with higher perceptions of managerial
sincerity (and higher feedback-seeking orientation)
are likely to exhibit lower levels of job related apathy
(i.e. hygiene-related outcomes), than employees with
lower perceptions of managerial sincerity (and lower
feedback-seeking orientation).
In other words, presence of factors or activities that are truly
designed to motivate employees, particularly a perception of
managerial sincerity and trust, are likely to result in employees
feeling wow; this is where I want to be. This perception may
even result in an employee rising above an attitude of it is ok;
no big deal I will tolerate this until I nd something better.
The notion of treating employees as one of the important
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
5
stakeholders is not new in the marketing and services
literature (Bitner et al., 1994; Conduit and Mavondo, 2001;
Parasuraman et al., 1991).
Methodology
The data were collected at 26 franchised units located in a
large metropolitan city in the USA. These units are a part of a
global fast-food franchise restaurant chain. Respondents were
front-line employees at these units, and the data were
obtained using a self-administered questionnaire. The
questionnaires were distributed to the respondents at the
franchise units and the completed questionnaires were picked
up after two to three days. Of the total 390 surveys
distributed, the nal sample size retained was 185 (47.4
percent response). The average age of the respondents was
30.45 years (both media and mode was 30 years) and they
had an average of 4.9 years of experience at their current
franchise unit (median was 2.6 years and mode was 1 year).
With regard to experience prior to the current franchise unit,
96 percent of the respondents had not worked at any other
franchise unit within the chain. Other demographic
characteristics of the sample include: 57.7 percent male and
42.3 percent female, about 79 percent had completed high
school.
Measurement scales for the feedback-seeking orientation
were modied from the existing literature on feedback (see
Black and Ashford, 1995; Kohli and Jaworski, 1994). The
scale items for the construct perceived managerial sincerity
were developed on the basis of content description in the
organizational climate and related trust and fairness literature
(see Sager, 1991; Strutton et al., 1993, 1995) and the works of
Kumar et al. (1995). The scale items for job-related
motivation and job-related apathy were developed on the
basis of the content description in the motivation and hygiene
theory literature (see Herzberg, 1966; Herzberg et al., 1959;
Landy and Baker, 1987) and the works of Churchill et al.
(1974 1976), and Brown and Peterson (1994). The
development of scale items for job-related motivation (i.e.
associated with the motivational factors) scale is based on the
rationale that the presence of motivating factors (e.g.
challenging job, coworker and managerial respect, trust, and
openness) will result in positive residual feelings (e.g. my job
is fascinating, good, creative, respectable). On the other hand,
development of scale items for job-related apathy (i.e.
associated with the hygiene-related factors) was based on
the rationale that absence or minimal level of hygiene factors
(e.g. basic amenities, directions, working conditions, etc.)
would result in feelings such as my job is boring, simple,
nothing unique, anybody can do this job, and I can easily nd
another job.
The data were rst subjected to psychometric scrutiny in
terms of reliability and validity assessment and then used for
hypotheses testing. Table I presents the results of the principal
component analysis for the motivation-apathy scale. The scale
items loaded on two separate factors as speculated. Table II
presents the scale items, their anchors, descriptive statistics
and Cronbachs alpha (a) scores. It also contains single factor
structure analysis results that indicate acceptable levels of t
indices (Chi-square, GFI, AGFI, and NFI). The coefcient
alphas for both the job-satisfaction scales motivators and
hygiene, were above 0.7 and provide support for our
argument that employee feelings towards their jobs should
be treated as having two sub-constructs: job-related
motivation and apathy, reecting the motivation and
hygiene factors. The coefcient alpha scores for the
feedback-seeking orientation and managerial sincerity scales
were 0.66. However, these seemingly low coefcient alpha
scores are not uncommon for constructs representing
abstractions of behavior (Conoley-Close and Impara, 1995;
Hurley, 1998; Kramer and Conoley-Close, 1992; Nunnally
and Bernstein, 1994; Peterson, 1994). Inter-item correlations
are presented in Table III. Generally, most of the correlation
coefcients within the scale are higher than across scales
(Churchill, 1991). These indicators cumulatively suggest that
the scale items have acceptable levels of reliability (i.e.
internal consistency), and convergent and discriminant
validity.
Analysis and results
The respondents were rst grouped on the basis of whether
they perceived higher or lower levels of managerial sincerity
and trust. Using the k-means clustering procedure in
conjunction with discriminant analysis, we found that a two-
group solution produced more parsimonious and meaningful
clusters. This two-cluster solution (i.e. respondents who
perceived higher levels of managerial sincerity versus
respondents who perceived lower levels of managerial
sincerity) was rst tested for differences in the feedback-
seeking orientation. Finally, we tested whether these two
groups discriminate on job-related motivation and job-related
apathy dimensions associated with motivators and hygiene
factors. The results of the discriminant analyses and analysis
of variance (ANOVA) are presented in Table IV. The results
support the rst and the second hypotheses. The third
hypothesis, although signicant, has a direction that is
opposite to the one hypothesized.
Discussion
The nding that employees who perceive higher levels of
managerial sincerity also have a higher feedback-seeking
Table I Franchise employee motivation and apathy: principal
component analysis
Rotated component matrix Motivation Apathy
My present job is fascinating 0.82
My present job is good 0.78
My present job gives me a sense of
accomplishment 0.70 0.35
My present job is creative 0.62
My present job is respected 0.60
I would recommend this job to my friends 0.58
My present job is boring 0.83
A monkey could be trained to do my job 0.73
My present job is simple 0.49 0.65
It would be easy to nd a better job than this 0.62
Percentage of variance explained
(Total 553:187) 33.19 20.00
Percentage of variance (rotated sums of sq.
loadings) 30.99 22.20
Chronbachs alpha score 0.77 0.71
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
6
Table II Franchise employee motivation, feedback-seeking orientation, and managerial sincerity: descriptive statistics and single factor structure
analysis results
Scale items Mean SD Skewness Kurtosis
Alpha
score
Single factor structure analysis results
Chi-sq. df p-value RMSR GFI AGFI NFI CFI
Feedback-seeking orientation
A2 Feedback from others is very important to me 4.05 1.03 20.18 20.15
A6 I need input from others to know if I am doing things right 3.67 1.24 0.02 20.64
A13 I cant do my job without feedback from other team members 4.01 1.30 20.32 20.78
A28 I like to receive a lot of job-related feedback from others 4.36 1.24 20.46 20.67
C2(R) To do my job right, I do not need feedback from others 4.01 0.93 20.02 0.23 0.66 4.72 5 0.45 0.05 0.99 0.97 0.95 1.00
Perceived managerial sincerity
A3 My manager freely exchanges information and opinions
a
3.94 1.08 0.04 20.53
A5 My manager is sincere in dealings with me 4.28 1.28 20.59 20.29
A18 My manager is honest and fair 4.25 1.29 20.53 20.32
A29 My manager is genuinely interested in my welfare 4.29 1.29 20.44 20.70
A30 My manager keeps his/her word 4.75 1.23 20.57 20.72
A11 My manager tells the truth 3.88 1.19 0.24 20.55 0.66 9.01 9 0.44 0.06 0.98 0.96 0.91 1.00
Job-related motivation
B1 My present job is fascinating 4.07 1.18 20.25 20.35
B3 My present job is good 4.12 1.21 20.32 20.66
B4 My present job is creative 4.43 1.03 20.36 0.01
B5 My present job is respected 4.70 1.20 20.71 20.23
B7 My present job gives me a sense of accomplishment 3.80 1.21 0.02 20.58
B10 I would recommend this job to my friends 4.90 1.06 21.01 0.74 0.77 14.81 9 0.10 0.05 0.97 0.93 0.94 0.97
Job-related apathy
B2 My present job is boring 2.63 1.45 0.53 20.80
B6 My present job is simple 3.20 1.64 0.36 21.21
B8 A monkey could be trained to do my job 2.88 1.83 0.28 21.45
B9 It would be easy to nd a better job than this 4.23 1.19 20.36 20.33 0.71 4.17 2 0.12 0.08 0.99 0.94 0.96 0.98
Notes:
a
Item was stated . . . about (name of franchise system) with me; All the scale items used a six-point Likert scale anchored between strongly agree (1)
and strongly disagree (6)
Table III Franchise employee motivation, feedback-seeking orientation, and managerial sincerity: inter-item correlations
A2 A6 A13 A28 C2 A3 A5 A18 A29 A30 A11 B1 B3 B4 B5 B7 B10 B2 B6 B8 B9
A2 1.00 0.39 0.48 0.44 0.27 0.23 0.38 0.24 0.19 0.11 0.27 0.12 0.29 0.16 0.00 0.32 0.05 0.13 0.38 0.18 0.09
A6 0.30*1.00 0.45 0.48 0.33 0.40 0.25 0.22 0.27 0.34 0.29 0.17 0.39 0.20 0.14 0.48 0.03 0.34 0.54 0.57 0.05
A13 0.35*0.28*1.00 0.23 0.26 0.51 0.29 0.25 0.37 0.22 0.18 0.27 0.39 0.22 0.13 0.41 0.13 0.23 0.44 0.40 0.20
A28 0.35*0.32*0.14 1.00 0.31 0.13 0.19 0.12 20.03 0.13 0.09 0.18 0.39 0.29 0.05 0.42 0.08 0.34 0.45 0.35 0.23
C2 0.28*0.27*0.22* 0.27*1.00 0.27 0.28 0.29 0.18 0.18 0.20 0.18 0.21 0.10 0.09 0.40 0.07 0.27 0.32 0.24 0.13
A3 0.20*0.30*0.36* 0.09 0.27*1.00 0.47 0.26 0.45 0.43 0.33 0.19 0.35 0.18 0.32 0.61 0.14 0.31 0.52 0.44 0.06
A5 0.28*0.16*0.17* 0.12 0.23*0.34* 1.00 0.46 0.24 0.40 0.35 0.09 0.43 0.26 0.16 0.43 0.17 0.07 0.49 0.0320.01
A18 0.18*0.14 0.15 0.08 0.25*0.18* 0.28*1.00 0.25 0.19 0.23 0.39 0.32 0.17 0.39 0.30 0.11 0.01 0.35 0.19 0.15
A29 0.14 0.16*0.22*20.02 0.15*0.32* 0.14 0.15 1.00 0.19 0.18 0.24 0.41 0.18 0.07 0.41 0.10 0.27 0.76 0.36 0.01
A30 0.09 0.22*0.14* 0.09 0.16*0.32* 0.26*0.12 0.12 1.00 0.41 0.17 0.29 0.27 0.05 0.40 0.29 0.37 0.69 0.5520.05
A11 0.21*0.20*0.11 0.06 0.18*0.25* 0.23*0.15* 0.12 0.28*1.00 0.16 0.22 0.27 0.11 0.53 0.15 0.25 0.67 0.38 0.17
B1 0.10 0.11 0.17* 0.12 0.16*0.15* 0.06 0.26* 0.16* 0.12 0.12 1.00 0.68 0.38 0.62 0.58 0.38 20.20 0.50 20.3320.10
B3 0.23*0.25*0.24* 0.27*0.19*0.26* 0.28*0.21* 0.26* 0.19*0.15* 0.48*1.00 0.39 0.43 0.72 0.43 0.35 0.83 0.09 0.08
B4 0.15 0.15*0.17* 0.23*0.10 0.16* 0.19*0.13 0.14 0.21*0.22* 0.31*0.32* 1.00 0.26 0.50 0.39 0.20 0.47 20.02 0.14
B5 0.00 0.10 0.09 0.04 0.08 0.25* 0.11 0.25* 0.05 0.04 0.07 0.44*0.29* 0.20* 1.00 0.39 0.24 20.06 0.38 20.24 0.16
B7 0.25*0.32*0.26* 0.28*0.35*0.47* 0.27*0.19* 0.26* 0.27*0.37* 0.40*0.49* 0.40* 0.27*1.00 0.40 0.52 1.08 0.25 0.19
B10 0.04 0.02 0.10 0.06 0.07 0.12 0.13 0.08 0.08 0.22*0.12 0.30*0.33* 0.35* 0.18*0.32* 1.00 0.21 0.59 20.16 0.15
B2 0.09 0.19*0.12 0.19*0.21*0.20* 0.04 0.00 0.15 0.21*0.14 20.12 0.20* 0.13 20.04 0.29* 0.14* 1.00 1.14 1.23 0.67
B6 0.23*0.26*0.21* 0.23*0.21*0.29* 0.24*0.17* 0.36* 0.34*0.35* 0.26*0.42* 0.28* 0.19*0.55* 0.34* 0.49 1.00 1.00 0.77
B8 0.10 0.25*0.17* 0.16*0.14 0.22* 0.01 0.08 0.16* 0.25*0.18*20.15*0.04 20.01 20.11 0.12 20.08 0.46*0.33* 1.00 0.32
B9 0.07 0.04 0.13 0.16*0.11 0.04 20.01 0.10 0.00 20.03 0.12 20.07 0.05 0.11 0.11 0.13 0.12 0.39*0.39* 0.15 1.00
Notes: *Signicant at p-value , 0.05; Correlation estimates are in the lower diagonal and covariance estimates in the upper diagonal cells
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
7
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Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
8
orientation is intuitively appealing and should come as a
source of comfort to both academicians and managers. This
association reinforces the notion of matching people
organizational characteristics for achieving better effectiveness
and efciencies in organizations, especially service
organizations such as restaurants (Adkins et al., 1994; Cable
and Judge, 1994; Judge and Bretz, 1992). Employees with
lower feedback-seeking orientation may actually resent it and
even ignore it. All of the organizational and managerial efforts
in trying to inculcate an open and trusting organizational
climate may in fact prove to be counter productive if the
employees do not have a corresponding feedback-seeking
orientation. The other side of the coin is that a closed
organizational climate might prove stiing for employees with
high feedback-seeking orientation. Matching personality traits
with organizational characteristics should be a vital concern
for managers trying to enhance motivation and customer
service. While this may sound very attractive, there may be a
danger in taking this philosophy to an extreme. For example,
some managers may feel that a certain organizational
environment is good for their franchise restaurant. In
situations like this, there may be a temptation to t like-
minded people into the organization and weed-out employees
that do not t into the desired organizational environment.
This is likely to result in an organization that is homogenous
and has lower levels of richness in terms of traits,
characteristics and the ability to deal with divergent
customers and other stakeholder bases. Carried to an
extreme, this philosophy of matching people trait with
personality characteristics may lead to organizations that are
amorphous monoliths and do not have the ability to adapt.
The hypothesized relationship between perceived
managerial sincerity and feeling of motivation is positive and
corroborates the ndings from existing services literature
(Bitner et al., 1994; Conduit and Mavondo, 2001;
Parasuraman et al., 1991). Employees with higher perceived
openness and trust in their organizational climate seem to be
more enthused about their job than those with lower levels of
perceived openness. They may nd their current job
fascinating, creative, worthy of respect, fullling, and good
enough to recommend to their friends. An organization could
not possibly ask for more in terms of motivated employees
and in order to keep these employees happy and productive,
the franchise rm and its managers must continue to engage
in activities that create a feeling of trust and openness in the
organizational climate. Trying to impose the rules and norms
on these employees without offering adequate explanations
and opportunities for participation are likely to prove counter
productive. This is important since this group is not
insignicant in size (about 43 percent in our sample). Even
in rms where this group is small, care should be taken to
cultivate such employees because they are likely to be not only
more productive in terms of customer service, but also a good
source of future higher level employees. Peterson and Dant
(1990) alluded to such notions in their study, where they
found that people are attracted to working at franchise
restaurants because they see it as a good training ground, and
there is a greater amount of independence without the fear of
being completely alone.
However, not all employees have the same drive and
enthusiasm. Some may be very happy with simply being told
what to do without any concern for involvement or
motivation. The results of our study indicate that employees
with lower levels of perceived managerial sincerity climate
seem to be also low on feedback need orientation. They also
disagree more with sentiments such as my present job is
boring, simple, anybody could be trained to do my current
job, and I can easily nd a better job. Employees with higher
levels of perceived managerial sincerity, on the other hand,
disagreed with these sentiments to a lesser degree. They are
likely to be more eager to learn, seek out feedback, and
perhaps learn more quickly. It is also conceivable that these
employees are likely to become bored with the mundane
routine aspect of their proximal work environment, be less
satised with the status quo, and be eager to move on to
bigger and better things.
Employees with lower levels of managerial sincerity, on the
other hand seem to be more satised with the status quo, and
are probably content with the job even if it is boring and
mundane. One might also speculate that if these employees
were faced with a more challenging and open organizational
climate environment, they may actually be overwhelmed and
consequently become less productive. It is also quite possible
that these employees are happy to be told what and how to
perform their job. Given that most organizations have a mix
bag of tasks at the proximal work environment; one could
conjecture that it is probably better for rms to have some
employees that would follow orders without questions. This
perspective nds some oblique support in franchise literature
that suggests there may be a mismatch between what
franchisors and franchisees want from the relationship (see
Wattel, 1968).
Several explanations could be given for this phenomenon,
of which the most compelling would be rooted in the
respondent characteristics. These are rst line employees and
they are likely to work long hours to make both ends meet.
Some may be students who are working at a fast food
restaurant to earn some disposable income. It is conceivable
that everybody sees the job equally fascinating, challenging or
respectable (in terms of social status) enough. In addition,
they may all feel equally strongly about receiving any job-
related feedback from others in the franchise unit. In a similar
vein one could argue that both groups (high and low
openness) feel that it would be easy to nd a better job than
their present one, because of the respondent prole described
earlier. However, irrespective of the possible explanation, if
these sentiments are reections of the employees in the fast-
food franchise restaurant industry, it is not a very comfortable
position from which to manage.
Limitations and implications
This exploratory investigation has several limitations. The
sampling design was constrained to a subset of restaurant
units that are part of a single, multinational fast-food
franchise system. While the focal franchise system may be
representative of many large franchise systems, there likely
exist differences in both operational and strategic settings
across various size restaurant franchise systems. As such, the
respondents may not represent similar characteristics of front-
line employees in small to medium franchise systems, or those
front-line employees in independent restaurants. In this
regard, the ndings of this study may be limited in scope.
However, given the theoretical grounding of the constructs
and their relationships investigated in this study, the
nomological relationships should be fairly consistent across
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
9
large franchise systems. A related limitation is the sample size.
It would be desirable to replicate this investigation across
additional franchise units and systems, and across
independent (non-franchised) units. We also recognize that
several measures were only deemed adequate with respect to
internal consistency. In future studies, multiple measurements
may result in more reliable measures of each focal construct.
Another limitation of this study is the limited scope of
states-of-mind and behaviors measured; the motivation-
hygiene framework suggests that a multitude of other front-
line employee characteristics should be measured in future
studies. We have concentrated on only the feedback-seeking
orientation trait, perceived managerial sincerity and trust.
Future studies should investigate other personality traits in
conjunction with other managerially-relevant organizational,
political, and economic constructs. Finally, we have focused
our attention on the outcomes of managerial activities and
rm characteristics that result in job satisfaction (related to
both motivating and hygiene factors). It would be interesting
to investigate the managerial- and rm-related activities,
practices and policies, and relate these to the traits as well as
outcomes both affective and behavioral. This study should
provide an impetus for further investigation to enrich the
understanding of what leads to better service performance.
Given the common customer complaints about deteriorating
customer service, high turnover rate, and inability to nd the
right kind of employees, such investigation would be highly
desirable.
In terms of managerial implications, unlike personality
dimensions that cannot be inuenced by managerial actions
in any signicant manner, at least not directly, the
organizations internal environment can be determined by
managerial actions. This dimension has also been proposed as
a key determinant of internal customer orientation and
consequently of market orientation (Chebat and Kollias,
2000; Conduit and Mavondo, 2001). Employees with a
higher feedback-seeking orientation may be more demanding
of their managers and fellow workers than employees who
have a low feedback-seeking orientation. This is probably due
to the fact that employees with a high feedback-seeking
orientation are likely to be driven and do not fear criticism.
They view their job at the franchising unit as a launching
platform toward a career path. As such, managers would be
well advised to keep front-line employees motivated to remain
with the rm. It should be considered that many front-line
employees actually become managers in these same franchise
systems. At the same time, trying to deal with every employee
with the same level of openness may not be very effective.
Managers must try to balance a portfolio of diverse employee
traits with relevant managerial styles to achieve desired
motivation levels and ensuing service quality outcomes.
An often overlooked, but seemingly relevant, dimension of
management training is front-line employees retention levels
especially in franchise restaurant systems where turnover
rates are exceedingly high. This study suggests that front-line
employees perceptions of managerial sincerity may impact
their retention rates. Given the high costs associated with
recruitment and hiring of front-line employees, franchise
systems may afford greater training attention to supervisors
interpersonal communication skills. By utilizing interpersonal
communication techniques to maximize front-line employees
perceptions of managerial sincerity, supervisors may exercise
play a pivotal role in increasing front-line employees
motivation, retention and ensuing job satisfaction.
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Executive summary and implications for
managers and executives
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in
toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the
research undertaken and its results to get the full benets of the
material present.
Research by Paswan et al. into 26 US restaurants in a global
fast-food franchise reveals that the more sincere that
employees perceive their managers to be, the more likely
they are both to seek managerial feedback and to be motivated
in their work.
Employees seek managerial encouragement, feedback
and help
These ndings are important for small service businesses such
as franchise restaurants, for two key reasons. First, employees
in these organizations are likely to lean heavily on their
managers for encouragement, feedback, help and possibly
even career and personal growth opportunities.
Employee motivation
Second, front-line employees in these organizations, many of
whom work only part time, constantly face uncertain and
unpredictable situations such as angry customers and special
requests. Employees who are more likely to seek out feedback
are likely to be more concerned about learning and doing
things right. In contrast, employees who are less likely to seek
out feedback are more likely to be apathetic and unconcerned
about the job they carry out.
Customers are more likely to feel they have received a
superior service if an employee who is motivated serves them.
Employees who believe they work for an open and trustworthy
organization are more likely to be enthusiastic, productive and
fullled and perhaps to recommend the organization to
their friends. This may be a source both of new clients and of
new potential employees.
Matching employees to the organizational culture
Because of factors such as these, managers should try to
match employees personalities with the organizational
culture. All management efforts to bring about an open and
trusting climate in the organization will be thwarted if the
people who work in it resent or even ignore the feedback they
receive. Conversely, employees who like to seek out feedback
from their managers will feel stied in an organization where
this is not encouraged.
Managers should not, however, go too far in tting like-
minded people into the organization and weeding out those
who do not t the desired organizational environment,
because this might make the organization too monolithic and
insufciently adaptable.
Employees who are more likely to seek feedback may be
more demanding of their managers and fellow workers. They
may view their job at a small restaurant franchise as simply a
launching platform toward a career path with a bigger
organization. They may therefore add to staff turnover
problems in an industry that already has problems retaining
its employees.
Moreover, not all employees have the same drive and
enthusiasm. Some may be very happy with simply being told
what to do, without any concern for involvement or
motivation. Satised with the status quo, they may be less
eager to move on to bigger and better things. If they faced a
more challenging and open organizational environment, they
may be overwhelmed and consequently less productive.
Training in interpersonal skills
Supervisors should therefore try to tailor their management
style to the individual employee involved. This may demand
that the supervisors receive more or better training in
interpersonal skills. The company could recoup the money it
spends on such training through having employees who are
more motivated, more satised with their work, and more
likely to remain with their current employer.
(A precis of the article Perceived managerial sincerity, feedback-
seeking orientation and motivation among front-line employees of a
service organization. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for
Emerald.)
Perceived managerial sincerity
Audhesh K. Paswan, Lou E. Pelton and Sheb L. True
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 19 Number 1 2005 312
12