This study investigates the impact of crowding on frontline service employees. In particular, this study examines how customer crowding affects frontline service employees’ stress, emotions, job performance, and displayed emotions. This study pioneers a new avenue by investigating employee (as opposed to consumer) reactions to customer crowding and addressing the gap in the literature on employees’ interaction with the physical environment. The underlying theoretical framework of the study is rooted in Lazarus’s (1966; 1991) model that links appraisal, emotional response, and coping in a sequential process. Applying theory to the context issue of customer crowding, the major constructs for this study are determined as: 1)the stressor (customer crowding), (2)appraisal,(3) emotions, (4)coping, and (5)service quality outcomes. The four major areas investigated in this study are: (1)stress levels of FSE due to customer crowding, (2)their emotions in the crowded service environment, (3)coping strategies they use under these circumstances, and(4)effects of such coping strategies on job performance and displayed emotions. A laboratory experiment is conducted with 200 frontline service employees where human density (a precursor to crowding)is manipulated via scenarios and videos. Analyzing the data via ANOVA, simple regression, and multiple regression, the results showed: (1)a positive relationship between crowding and stress, (2)an inverse relationship between positive emotions and stress, (3)a positive relationship between stress and negative emotions, (4) a negative impact of escape and confrontive coping strategies on service quality outcomes, and (5) a positive impact of distancing and social support on service quality outcomes. The contributions of the study are that: (1)it pioneers a new research avenue which opens avenues for future research, (2)it goes beyond the traditional Stimulus-Organism-Response approach to person-environment interaction and expands the domain of inquiry by incorporating the Lazarus transactional theory in the study of person-environment interaction, and (3)it provides a number of managerial implications regarding design of servicescapes to reduce the experience of crowding and training of frontline service employees on successful coping strategies.

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Obtaining customer knowledge represents a key task across all firms given its importance for potential competitive advantage, improving service quality and achieving long-term relationships with agents. However, despite the fact that the interaction between customers and frontline employees during service encounters is considered a valuable source of customer knowledge, our understanding of the role of frontline employees as brokers in this respect remains embryonic. The purpose and motivation of this research are to explore the factors-namely, enablers and barriers-that influence frontline employees' motivation to serve as knowledge brokers. The process through which knowledge brokers transfer customer knowledge during service encounters is also considered important. This study further contributes to the theory of knowledge management by formulating a valid conceptual framework that illustrates the process of knowledge-brokering during these service encounters. This thesis adopted a qualitative research approach using an in-depth multiple case study analysis. In total, 30 semi-structured interviews with different informants (i.e. managers and employees) from three top commercial banks in Jordan were undertaken. In addition, other data sources, including documents and observations, were also informed the primary data collection. Contextually, Jordan's service-oriented economy combined with its developing nature provided a rich research environment for exploring these issues. The study reveals that frontline employees engage in knowledge-brokering during service encounters transfer through three types of customer knowledge, namely, knowledge about customers, knowledge for customers, and knowledge from customers. Furthermore, the main findings demonstrate four critical sets of factors facilitating or impeding knowledge-brokering during these events, i.e.; organisational-level factors (e.g. organisational culture, organisational structure, and organisational support), individual-level factors (e.g. job experience, prior customer knowledge, ability to understand customer knowledge, self-efficacy, and workload), technological-level factors (e.g. bank information system and a lack of a customer-relationship management system) and knowledge-level factors (e.g. tacit or explicit). It was also found that the process of knowledge-brokering during service encounters is accomplished in two ways: knowledge-brokering for the customer and knowledge-brokering for the organisation. This study also reports a set of managerial implications that provide a better understanding of the influential factors inherent in establishing and seeking to succeed in knowledge-brokering during the course of frontline bank employees' interactions during service encounters. Keywords: knowledge-brokering, frontline employees, customer knowledge, service encounters.

The objective of this research is to evaluate Human Resources managerial/development effectiveness (HRM/DE) of frontline managers from the perspectives of managers themselves and stakeholders in the public health sector (PHS) of Ghana. The study did this through the development of a conceptual framework which combined the use of integrated organisational and management theoretical perspectives and contextual variables. The study employed the mixed methods research methodology which combined both empiricism and post post-positivists' views with critical realism as the underpinning philosophy. A total of 18 district directors of health, from two regions were purposively sampled and interviewed utilising an in-depth open ended questionnaire through the discussion. Additionally, key policy makers were interviewed and focus group discussions held and a structured questionnaire completed by another group of employees, who assessed managers' capabilities. Discourse analysis was used for the analysis with the aid of Nvivo 7 for the qualitative material whilst quantitative data were analysed using simple descriptive statistics. Findings were triangulated using Marquart and Zercher's (2000) cross-over track analysis framework. Findings show research questions were answered. Majority of district directors lack managerial competencies; are less interested in HRM/D activities, less confident of their human resource skills and less sure of the political and representational skills required of managers. In particular, it is necessary to take account of the political structure of the PHS of Ghana; significant differences exist in power, individual or group interests, values, assumptions and expectations. However, most district directors have tried to indigenise HRM/D practices as a way of motivating and retaining staff. Core Human resources managerial competencies from the perspectives of the three sampled groups have been compiled. It is the first time such a study has been conducted in the PHS of Ghana and which has therefore made inroads in the existing literature and has contributed to HRM/D literature information in Africa particularly Ghana. It also paves the way for understanding management in the African context and perspective and specifically in health care settings. This study has gone beyond the two groups of respondents and proved that the use of multiple respondents generates rich findings and unveiled what would normally have not been possible if single respondents were used.

Banking leaders face the loss of profitability because of low employee retention in their organizations. Retention issues negatively affect business operations and market performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that investment-banking leaders use to retain frontline employees. Herzberg's 2-factor theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 5 banking leaders in New York and through a review of company documents on retention strategies. The data were analyzed using Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding data. The 3 themes that emerged from data analysis were career growth strategy, compensation strategy, and training and development strategy. The study findings indicated that banking leaders used career advancement, compensation, and training and development strategies to retain frontline employees. The implications of the study for positive social change include banking leaders' potential to reduce retention issues in organizations, lower unemployment rates, and improve the standard living in the communities they serve.

What is the role of frontline project leadership in organizational learning in incremental business process improvement (iBPI)? Current literature is sparse on the topic of contributions to organizational learning made by frontline employees leading iBPI projects. To bridge this gap, we use an embedded longitudinal multiple case to study the process of leadership of four frontline iBPI projects. The 4I model (intuiting, interpreting, integrating, and institutionalizing) of organizational learning serves as a theoretical lens to study how the insights originating from frontline employees unfold through group-level integration and organization-level institutionalization. Mapping the flow of key project events to the relevant social and psychological processes of the 4I model, we identify how organizational learning unfolds within and through the three levels of the model. The granularity of the 4I model creates a valuable foundation for informing the role of frontline project leadership in iBPI programs and the capacity to leverage insights originating from frontline employees into organizational learning. Practitioners and engaged scholars will find this level of granularity helpful for program design, evaluation, and learning interventions.

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The best service providers assure the highest levels of service quality. Frontline service providers need organizational commitment, emotional intelligence, and employee satisfaction to provide excellent service delivery. The research study reviews emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction within a Business to Business service organization. A literature review provides a theoretical base of constructs. A survey is used to measure the entire frontline organization, seeking results to support the hypothesis that higher service quality is related to emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction. The study offers future research potential on the role of frontline service providers to service quality. A review of the results, limitations, and future research implications are discussed.

This study develops and tests a model where work-family conflict is posited as a mediator between work overload and burnout (exhaustion and disengagement), and positive affectivity as a moderator of the relationships between work overload, and work-family conflict and burnout. Data for the study were collected from a sample of 620 full-time frontline hotel employees in Turkey. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was employed in analyzing the data. The results show that work-family conflict fully mediates the impacts of work overload on exhaustion and disengagement. Also positive affectivity reduces the effect of work-family conflict on disengagement. Implications of the empirical results and directions for future research are delineated in the study. In this study we develop a model and test eight hypotheses that are based on the precepts of the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory [16]. We contend that work overload is a predictor of work-family conflict which influences the two dimensions of burnout (exhaustion and disengagement). In other words, our model proposes that work-family conflict acts as a full mediator between work overload and the burnout dimensions. In the remainder of the paper, we present our hypotheses. This is followed by discussions of the method and findings of our empirical study. We conclude with implications of the results and directions for future research.

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