Effect of Salesperson Competency and Organizational Culture on Service Orientation: The Moderating Effect of Self-Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to verify the impact of employee competency and organizational culture on employee-brand relationships, how these relationships affect service orientation, and the role of self-leadership in these relationships. Specifically, through analysis of literature and previous studies, it was assumed that the interaction through internal communication, which is an emotional factor, and the level of brand awareness of employees, would enhance employee-brand relations such as commitment, trust, and loyalty. In addition, it was assumed that this employee-brand relationship will voluntarily identify the needs of customers and provide services for them, and affect the positive effects of pride in these actions. In addition, it was attempted to verify the moderating effect of self-leadership that can make decisions on its own in the relationship between cognitive and emotional interactions between companies and employees and brands. To verify the hypothesis, a survey was conducted on 404 sales staff from 200 stores that entered five department stores in Seoul and then analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it was found that employee brand knowledge and internal service quality had a positive effect on employee-brand relationship, and this employee-brand relationship had a positive effect on employee service orientation. In addition, self-leadership strengthens the effect of employee brand knowledge on employee-brand relationships, but it was confirmed that the effect of internal service quality on employee-brand relationships was weakened. In other words, it can be seen that self-leadership that can make decisions on its own through delegation of authority results in a reduction in employee-brand relationships within companies with active interaction with employees. In this study, for the word of mouth effect of employees wanting to provide services to customers, it should be preceded by fostering brand knowledge and making employees trust and loyal to corporate brands through internal communication, and self-leadership that employees can decide on their own should act appropriately according to organizational culture. Finally, at the end of the study, limitations and future research directions were presented.