With increasing competition in the marketplace, there is a greater push for exceeding customer expectations and delivering customer delight to ensure firm’s success. The main reason for this push is the beneficial outcomes for the firm. More recently, hidden benefits have been identified (i.e. elevated customer emotions can positively impact other customers and employees in the service environment). Adding to this developing literature, the current research develops a model that links antecedents and outcomes to employee perceptions of customer delight.,Both field and panel data, as well as multiple statistical methods, were utilized to test the hypothesized relationships. The field data were collected from employees of a national specialty retailer.,Service climate and interpersonal influence have a positive impact on customer delight and employee perceptions of customer delight. In turn, employee perceptions of customer delight positively impact harmonious passion and job dedication. In addition, accountability for pleasing customers is a significant moderator of the relationship between employee perceptions of customer delight and harmonious passion, but not between employee perceptions of customer delight and job dedication.,This research contributes to the ongoing debate on the viability of customer delight as a service standard by investigating the under-studied perspective of the frontline employee.,This research contributes to the debate on the value of customer delight as a service standard by investigating the under-studied perspective of the frontline employee. A key takeaway for practitioners is how to create and manage the delight spirals that can occur when customers are delighted.,This is the first study that evaluates antecedents and outcomes of employee-perceived customer delight in a single model. This is also the first study to measure the impact of employee perceptions of customer delight with field data.

中文翻译：

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欣喜若狂：员工感知到的客户满意的原因和后果

随着市场竞争的加剧，超越客户期望并传递客户喜悦以确保公司成功的更大动力。推动这一努力的主要原因是对公司有利的结果。最近，已经发现了隐藏的好处（即，较高的客户情绪可以对服务环境中的其他客户和员工产生积极影响）。除了这些不断发展的文献外，当前的研究还建立了一个模型，将前因和结果与员工对客户满意度的看法联系起来。现场和面板数据以及多种统计方法均用于检验假设的关系。现场数据是从一家国家专业零售商的员工那里收集的。服务气氛和人际关系对客户满意度和员工对客户满意度的看法都有积极影响。反过来，员工对客户满意的看法也会积极影响和谐的激情和工作奉献精神。此外，取悦客户的责任制是员工对客户满意度和和谐热情之间的关系的重要调节者，而不是员工对客户满意度和工作奉献精神的关系。通过调查一线员工的未充分研究的视角将服务作为一种服务标准。通过调查一线员工的未充分研究的观点，本研究有助于将客户满意作为服务标准的价值的辩论。对于从业者来说，一个关键的要点是如何创建和管理当客户高兴时可能发生的喜悦螺旋。这是第一项在单个模型中评估员工感知到的客户喜悦的前提和结果的研究。这也是第一项使用现场数据来衡量员工对客户满意度的看法的研究。