Customer service behavior: The interaction of service predisposition and job characteristics

The achievement of customer satisfaction in service operations depends to a great extent on employee customer service behavior (CSB). In this study, 1 23 service providers (77% response rate) responded to a survey assessing se rvice predisposition and job characteristics. Employees also completed a be haviorally based CSB measure developed after interviewing and surveying cus tomers (n = 96). Analyses suggest that job characteristics, alone, accounte d for a significant amount of CSB variance. Job characteristics did not mod erate the relationship between service predisposition and CSB. In contrast to previous work, service predisposition and CSB were not correlated. A ser vice provider typology is presented to explain these findings.