CRITICAL SERVICE ENCOUNTERS - THE EMPLOYEES VIEWPOINT

In service settings, customer satisfaction is often influenced by the quality of the interpersonal interaction between the customer and the contact employee. Previous research has identified the sources of sati sfaction and dissatisfaction in service encounters from the customer's point of view; this study explores these sources in service encounter s from the contact employee's point of view. Drawing on insights from role, script, and attribution theories, 774 critical service encounter s reported by employees of the hotel, restaurant, and airline industri es are analyzed and compared with previous research. Results generally support the theoretical predictions and also identify an additional s ource of customer dissatisfaction-the customer's own misbehavior. The findings have implications for business practice in managing service e ncounters, employee empowerment and training, and managing customers.