Abstract
ABSTRACT For most organizations, front-line employees play an important role in service improvement; they can contribute with generation of ideas for service improvement (GISI), which enhances the competitive advantage of the organizations. Despite its importance, our knowledge pertaining to the antecedents of such behaviors remains limited. Therefore, this study aims to expand the literature by investigating whether identification of customer needs leads to GISI and if the relationship is contingent on other individual differences. Four hundred and fifty front-line employees participated this study, the survey results show that the major driver of GISI is identifying of customers’ needs (empathy and anticipation) by employees. Creativity self-efficacy (CSE), learning goal orientation (LGO) and proving goal orientation (PGO) can moderate the relationship between anticipation and GISI, such that the relationship becomes stronger when employees have lower level of CSE, LGO and PGO. Avoiding goal orientation did not produce any moderation effect. Furthermore, employees with higher CSE, LGO and PGO can have better GISI performance whether anticipation is high or low. Finally, I summarize and discuss how this study extends existing research and provide managerial implications. Key words: GISI; Identification of customers’ needs; Creativity self-efficacy; Goal orientation