Don’t give me just positive feedback: How positive and negative feedback can increase feedback-based goal setting and proactive customer service behavior

Bulent Menguc (), Seigyoung Auh (), Dionysius Ang () and Nimet Uray ()
Additional contact information
Bulent Menguc: University of Leeds, Leeds University Business School
Seigyoung Auh: Arizona State University
Dionysius Ang: University of Leeds, Leeds University Business School
Nimet Uray: Kadir Has University

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2024, vol. 52, issue 6, No 5, 1608-1626

Abstract: Abstract How can managers use positive and negative feedback to encourage employees’ proactive customer service behavior (PCSB)? This question has significant implications because while companies utilize feedback for employee development, it remains unclear how different forms of manager feedback can improve or impair customer service. We synthesize the feedback, goal-setting, and proactive service behavior literature and propose a motivational driver–goal setting–goal striving–goal attainment (MG3) model to help unpack the feedback–PCSB link. Using time-wave survey data in Study 1, we find that feedback-based goal setting fully mediates the effect of positive (but not negative) feedback on PCSB. Using controlled experiments in Studies 2 and 3, we demonstrate that while positive feedback affects feedback-based goal setting through feedback utility, negative feedback does so via feedback accountability, revealing distinct mechanisms. Our research underscores the importance of distinguishing between feedback types when the goal is to foster PCSB.

Keywords: Positive/negative feedback; Feedback utility; Feedback accountability; Feedback-based goal setting; Proactive customer service behavior; Initiative climate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-024-01032-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:52:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s11747-024-01032-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... gement/journal/11747

DOI: 10.1007/s11747-024-01032-x

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is currently edited by John Hulland, Anne Hoekman and Mark Houston

More articles in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().