A Two-Path Moderated Mediation Model of Customer-Driven Service Innovation

Abstract

This study proposes a moderated mediation model of customer-driven hotel employee service innovations. Building on social exchange and social identity theories, we suggest that positive customer–employee exchanges influence employees’ service innovations via direct and indirect paths. While the reciprocal nature of social exchanges was used to explain the direct path from customer–employee exchange to employees’ service innovation, social identity theory was used to explain the indirect path whereby customers’ inputs shape employees’ creative role identities, thus fostering innovation behaviors. The study further tests how organization openness serves as a boundary condition, and the results support the moderating role of organization openness, suggesting that while positive customer–employee exchanges help shape employees’ self-identification (as being creative) and trigger employees’ service innovation, an open organization encourages employees to actively engage in service innovations.