Causal Direction between Employee Attitudes and Customer Satisfaction: A Cross-lagged Study

The causal direction between employee attitudes and customer satisfaction remains unclear in the literature. In this study, we simultaneously examined the causality of two store-level employee attitudes–customer satisfaction relationships, i.e., the relationship between service climate and customer satisfaction and the relationship between job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Data were collected at multiple points in time over a six-year period from employees and customers of 341 stores of a specialty retail chain. We analyzed the data using a cross-lagged model via structural equation modeling. Results revealed reciprocal causal effects between service climate and customer satisfaction and between job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Specifically, service climate predicts concurrent customer satisfaction, whereas job satisfaction predicts subsequent customer satisfaction. Further, customer satisfaction predicts subsequent service climate and subsequent job satisfaction. Interpretations of t...