The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between positive psychological capital, job engagement, service climate and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.The research is analyzed with questionnaires collected from service persons in five different telecommunication companies in Taiwan.Total 634 questionnaires were administered and 605 effective respondents were acquired.The data was analyzed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, person product moment relationship analysis, and measured by SEM model to examine the relationship among the constructs.The major result of this study is as following: 1. Positive psychological capital has positive effect on the job engagement, service climate and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. 2. Job engagement has positive effect on the service climate and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. 3. Job engagement and service climate moderate positively the relationship between positive psychological capital and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. 4. Service climate moderate positively the relationship between job engagement and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.

The purpose of this study aimed at investigating the relations among Perceived Organizational Support (POS), Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCBs) and Service Climate in Taiwan¡¦s convenience stores. The samples of this research are from one of main four convenience stores in Taiwan. Questionnaires were sent to 720 people for survey and a total of 612 responses were received. After checking for completeness, 582 responses were valid date. The data was analyzed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, and measured by LISREL model to examine the relationship among the constructs. The major result of this study is as following: 1. Perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange has positive effect on service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. 2. Service climate has positive effect on service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. 3. Perceived organizational support and service climate moderate positively service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. 4. Leader-member exchange and service climate don¡¦t moderate positively on service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors.

The research was designed to study the relationship between ethical leadership, follower attitudes, and the influence of service climate on the relationship. The framework draws on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and social learning theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986) to form the basis of the study. The sample consisted of associates in a community bank located in the Northeastern U.S. (n=264). The Ethical Leadership Scale (ELS) developed by Brown, Trevino and Harrision (2005) was used to measure a follower's perception of the leader's behavior. The attitudes were measured using separate instruments: job satisfaction includes extrinsic and intrinsic factors (Tate, Whatley, & Clugston, 1997), and organizational identification assesses cognitive and affective elements (Smidts, Pruyn, & van Riel, 2001). Service climate was evaluated using the Global Service Climate Scale developed by Schneider, White and Paul (1998) to measure overall climate for service. Data analysis was conducted using the partial least squares (PLS) methodology for factor analysis and path modeling. Results indicate a significant relationship between ethical leadership, both attitudinal constructs, and service climate. While an interactive effect of service climate on these relationships was not significant, a partially mediated effect of service climate was revealed. Implications for theory and practice, and directions for future research are discussed.

In spite of the rapid growth and internalization of banking services in particular, managers first need to correctly identify the antecedents of what the local consumer perceives as service quality and its link to service climate, thus the strengths of this relationship would be beneficial as a global competitive tool. Although significant studies had been done regarding issues and factors contributing to service quality and service climate in the banking industry, very little has been published regarding the connection between perceptions of these dimensions. The purpose of this study is to describe an accomplished research to determine whether Malaysian local bank customers’ perceptions of service quality and its dimensions relate to employees’ perceptions of service climate and its dimensions; and to ascertain whether various background elements’ reported differences influence the relationships between the dimensions of service quality and service climate. This study encapsulated two phases of survey with open-ended and close-ended questionnaires consecutively. The researcher employed the Profile Accumulation Technique in the first phase and from the respondents’ results, close-ended questionnaires were constructed with responses from four local banks in Malaysia, corroborated together with previous scholars’ findings. Several analyses were carried out such as demographic, reliability, validity, performance, non-parametric and parametric tests and elaboration analysis. The main findings produced nine dimensions of service quality (Automated Teller Machine; corporate image; customer interaction and customer service; online and phone banking; physical feature and facilities; products and services; rates and charges; management and staff) and eleven dimensions of service climate (benefit, bonus, reward and salary; corporate image; customer service; facilities; organization; department and branch; management; organization output; products and services; workforce; myself). There were significant relationships between service quality and service climate dimensions. Respondents’ characteristics influenced the strength of the relationships between dimensions, service quality and service climate. Consequently, the results offered significant implications for participating banks to improve quality in their environment concerning their employees and customers; using customer-oriented processes and training programs within an increasingly diverse marketplace. Economic development, the political situation, socio-cultural system and the level of sector maturity do need to be considered by managers and policy makers so as to investigate their influence on service quality and service climate.

The benefits of customer co-creation of value in the service delivery process have been well established through recent literatures. However, despite the fact that there has been an increase in the awareness of the importance of customer behaviors in the service delivery process, little research has been done to investigate the role of customers and their influence in co-creating the service climate within organizations. This study captures the impact and effects of customer behaviors on the perceptions of employees towards the service climate of their respective restaurant firms.The overall objective of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the role of customers in co-creating the service climates inside restaurant firms where co-creation of services occurs. For conducting this study, I have used the semi-structured interviews for data collection from six respondents (three customers and three employees) from three different restaurants within the city. Results indicate that customers’ participative and citizenship behaviors such as giving feedbacks, employees’ job appreciation and praise during direct interactions, advocacy through word of mouth, and sharing of knowledge and seeking of information that could benefit the firm influenced employees’ perception of their work climate. The results also showed that employees transfer these positive attitudes to their fellow employees through affective group tone through which the overall working climate within restaurants is improved.I believe that this study will be helpful to future scholars and researchers who wish to conduct further research on this particular topic as the findings from this study have increased the understanding of the role of customers in the co-creation service climates within restaurant organizations. The paper also discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings from this research at the end of the paper.

The main objective of this research is to examine the relationship between the internal and external service quality dimensions in Egyptian commercial banks. To achieve this objective, the thesis introduced the internal–external service quality model which proposes that the internal service quality has a positive impact on the external service quality. The research model was developed and tested empirically through three main stages. The first stage was based on the extensive review of the literature in order to identity the concepts and measures of the internal and external service quality. In this stage, the research objectives were identified. The second stage was concerned with the building of the internal–external service quality model which proposed that the internal service quality dimensions have a significant positive impact on external service quality. To identify causal indicators for this relationship, some control variables were used and a set of empirically testable hypotheses were developed. [Continues.]

Increasing and maintaining customer loyalty has been shown to enhance service firm profitability. This research focuses on the antecedents of customer loyalty in a large national North American banking organisation, in particular the relationship between employee loyalty and customer loyalty, and further within the organisation, the antecedents of the employee loyalty-customer loyalty relationship. Thus the current research investigates the chain of events from managerial actions to customer loyalty with the aim of identifying relevant managerial practices and their influences within the organisation that lead to customer loyalty. The research provides tangible evidence supporting the importance of providing organisational resources to increase employee loyalty as a means of increasing customer loyalty in service organisations. To achieve this goal, the study suggests that a comprehensive set of managerial practices will enhance an organisation's service climate, foster positive employee attitudes and behaviours in relation to service provision, that impact on employee loyalty, service quality, and ultimately customer loyalty. These practices include support provided by senior leadership, the provision of resources that facilitate effective work practices, a positive management orientation on customers, and the use of employee evaluation and remuneration based on service-oriented behaviours and attitudes. By instituting these managerial practices, management can increase employee perceptions of self-efficacy, employees' beliefs in the abilities to perform well in their jobs, increase employee satisfaction, which in turn drive employee loyalty. These managerial practices also enhance the favourable nature of the organisation's service climate so that customer perceptions of service quality are likely to be more positive. Overall the study provides evidence to support the existence of a chain of events from managerial actions to employee and customer loyalty intentions. Evidence also exists to support the relationship between employee loyalty and customer loyalty, so that higher levels of loyalty within service a service organisation can potentially lead to higher levels of customer loyalty. The implications of the research are that management within service organisations can impact customer loyalty by focussing directly on service delivery issues and by providing a favourable service climate. Managers can also influence employee beliefs about their abilities to do their jobs and the level of satisfaction employees have within those organisational roles. The study also suggests that a service organisation's service climate is an important mechanism by which management can communicate to both employees and customers that a customer orientation is a primary managerial imperative. Finally, the study provides valuable insight into the processes by which employees perceive managerial orientation and support, and how those perceptions influence customer perceptions of service quality and impact on their loyalty intentions towards service organisations.

Increasingly unpredictable, extreme and erratic rainfall with higher temperatures threatens to undermine the adaptive capacity of food systems and ecological resilience of smallholder landscapes. Despite growing concern, land managers still lack quantitative techniques to collect empirical data about the potential impact of climatic variability and change. This thesis aims to assess how ecosystem services and function and how this links with biodiversity and human wellbeing in smallholder agro-ecosystems in a changing climate. To this end, rather than relying on scenarios or probabilistic modelling, space was used as a proxy for time to compare states in disparate climatic conditions. Furthermore, an integrated methodological framework to assess ecosystem services at the field and landscape level was developed and operationalised, the results of which can be modelled with measures of wellbeing. Various multidisciplinary analytical tools were utilised, including ecological and socio-economic surveys, biological assessments, participatory open enquiry, and documenting ethnobotanical knowledge. The study was located within monsoon rice farms in the Terai Plains of Nepal, and dry season vegetable farms in Northern Ghana. Sites were selected that are climatically and culturally diverse to enable comparative analysis, with application to broad areas of adaptive planning. The linkages that bring about biophysical and human changes are complex and operate through social, political, economic and demographic drivers, making attribution extremely challenging. Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that within hotter and drier conditions in Ghana long-tongued pollinators and granivores, important for decomposition processes and pollination services, are more abundant in farms. Results further indicated that in cooler and drier conditions in Nepal, the taxonomic diversity of indigenous and close relative plant species growing in and around farms, important for the provisioning of ecosystem services, decreases. All other things equal, in both Nepal and Ghana findings indicate that overall human wellbeing may be adversely effected in hotter conditions, with a potentially significantly lower yields, fewer months of the year in which food is available, higher exposure to natural hazards and crop loss, unemployment, and psychological anxiety. Yet, surveys indicate smallholders continue to maintain a fair diversity of species in and around farms, which may allow them to secure basic necessities from provisioning ecosystem services. Moreover, farmers may employ adaptive strategies such as pooling labour and food sharing more frequently, and may have greater access to communication, technology, and infrastructure. Novel methodological and empirical contributions of this research offer predictive insights that could inform innovations in climate-smart agricultural practice and planning.

Abstract in English, Zulu and Sothern Sotho / South African banks need to attract and retain customers in a highly competitive environment. Within this environment, the service quality of banks has been noted as an ongoing pressing issue. With all major banks embracing the technological revolution and offering similar financial services, the service quality offered through frontline employees has become a means to attain a competitive advantage. While a substantial body of research demonstrates the importance of service quality and identifies its dimensions, there is a lack of research specifically focusing on the antecedents for frontline employee service quality. This study set out to investigate the extent to which internal service quality, service climate and frontline employee satisfaction contribute to frontline employee service quality in a South African retail bank. With the aid of a structured questionnaire, a cross-sectional internet-based survey research design was applied to collect information from frontline employees pertaining to four constructs. From the full population of 8 720 frontline employees, 581 completed responses were received during the main study, and empirically tested with the aid of descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis. The findings culminate in a multivariate regression model indicating that service climate is not a significant predictor of frontline employee service quality, whereas frontline employee satisfaction and internal service quality are, with internal service quality being the larger predictor. Drawing from these findings, ten recommendations are made to improve frontline employee service quality in a retail bank. / Amabhange aseNingizimu Afrika adinga ukuheha futhi agcine amakhasimende endaweni enokuncintisana okukhulu. Ngaphakathi kwalesi simo, insebenzo yekhwalithi yamabhange ibhekwe njengengqinamba eqhubekayo. Ngawo wonke amabhange amakhulu amukela inguquko kwezobuchwepheshe futhi ahlinzeka ngezinsizakalo ezifanayo zezezimali, insebenzo yekhwalithi enikezwa ngabasebenzi abaphambili iba yindlela yokuthola inzuzo yokuncintisana. Ngenkathi ucwaningo oluningi lukhombisa ukubaluleka kwensebenzo yekhwalithi futhi lukhomba ubukhulu balo, kukhona ukungabi bikho kocwaningo okugxile kakhulu ezichasisweni zensebenzo yekhwalithi yomsebenzi ophambili. Lolu cwaningo luhlose ukuphenya ukuthi izinga lensebenzo yekhwalithi yangaphakathi, insebenzo yesimo sezulu kanye nokwaneliseka kwabasebenzi abaphambili kunikela kangakanani ensebenzweni yekhwalithi yomsebenzi ebhange lokuthengisa eNingizimu Afrika. Ngosizo lwemibuzo ehleliwe, kusetshenziswe ukwakheka kocwaningo olususelwa ku-inthanethi lokuqoqa imininingwane evela kubasebenzi abaphambili maqondana nokwakhiwa okune. Kusuka enanini eligcwele labantu abayizi-8 720 labasebenzi abaphambili, izimpendulo ezigcwalisiwe ezingama-581 zamukelwa phakathi kocwaningo oluyinhloko, futhi zahlolwa ngamandla ngosizo lwezibalo ezichazayo, ukuhlaziywa kwezinto eziqinisekisayo, ukuhlaziywa kokuhlobana kanye nokuhlaziywa kokuphindaphinda okuningi. Okutholakele kugcina kube yisifanekiso sokuhlehliswa sokuphindaphinda esikhombisa ukuthi insebenzo yesimo sezulu akusona isibikezelo esibalulekile sensebenzo yekhwalithi yomsebenzi ophambili, kanti ukwaneliseka komsebenzi ophambili kanye nensebenzo yekhwalithi yangaphakathi, ngensebenzo yekhwalithi yangaphakathi eyisibikezelo esikhulu. Ngokususelwa kokutholakele, kwenziwa izincomo eziyishumi zokuthuthukisa insebenzo yekhwalithi yomsebenzi ophambili ebhange lokuthengisa. / Dibanka tsa Aforikaborwa di tlhoka go ngoka le go tswelela go tshola badirisi mo tikologong e e tletseng kgaisano. Mo tikologong eno, boleng jwa tirelo ya dibanka bo lemogilwe jaaka ntlha e e tswelelang go tshwenya. Jaaka fa dibanka tsotlhe tse dikgolo di amogetse tiriso ya thekenoloji mme di tlamela ka ditirelo tsa ditšhelete tse di tshwanang, boleng jwa tirelo jo bo tlamelwang ka badiri ba ba kwa pele ke tsela ya go iponela molemo wa kgaisano. Le fa dipatlisiso tse dintsi di bontsha botlhokwa jwa boleng jwa tirelo mme di supa bogolo jwa jona, ga go na dipatlisiso tse di totang batlapele ba boleng jwa tirelo ya badiri ba ba kwa pele. Thutopatlisiso eno e ne e ikaeletse go batlisisa gore boleng jwa tirelo ya ka fa gare, tikologo ya tirelo le kgotsofalo ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele bo tshwaela go le kana kang mo boleng jwa tirelo ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele mo bankeng ya badirisi ya Aforikaborwa. Ka thuso ya lenaanepotsolotso le le rulaganeng, go dirisitswe patlisiso e e ralalang dikarolo ya mo inthaneteng go kokoanya tshedimosetso go tswa mo badiring ba ba dirang kwa pele malebana le dintlha tse nne. Go tswa mo sampoleng ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele ba le 8 720, go amogetswe ditsibogo tse di tladitsweng di le 581 ka nako ya thutopatlisiso e kgolo, mme di ne tsa lekelediwa ka maitemogelo ka thuso ya dipalopalo tse di tlhalosang, tokololo ya tlhomamiso, tokololo ya tsamaelano le tokololo e e lebelelang dipoelo tse di farologaneng. Diphitlhelelo di ile setlhoeng fa sekao se se lebelelang dipoelo tse di farologaneng se supa gore seemo sa tirelo se ka se ke sa dirisiwa go bonela pele boleng jwa tirelo ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele, mme go ka dirisiwa kgotsofalo ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele le boleng jwa tirelo ya ka fa gare, le gore boleng jwa tirelo ya ka fa gare bo ka dirisiwa thata. Go tswa mo diphitlhelelong tseno, go dirwa dikatlenegiso di le lesome go tokafatsa boleng jwa tirelo ya badiri ba ba dirang kwa pele mo bankeng ya badirisi / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)