A note on cultural consistency within the service firm: The effects of employee position on attitudes toward marketing culture

A Note on Cultural Consistency within the Service Firm: The Effects of Employee Position on Attitudes toward Marketing Culture

Cynthia Webster Mississippi State University

This study represents the beginning of an exploration of the internal constraints and barriers that stand in the way of successful strategy implementation within service organizations. A determination will be made if one of the internal constraints is perhaps the lack of consistency among employees regarding marketing practices, attitudes, values, norms, and ideals.

Specifically, service firm employees' attitudes toward their actual and ideal marketing culture were measured. Attitudinal differences were examined between ground- level, middle-, and top-management employees from a cross-section of service industries. Significant differences were found for a variety of marketing culture components. Many of the differences remained even after removing possible effects of number of employees in the firm and age of the firm. Managerial implications are given.

INTRODUCTION

Although managerial problems have resulted from the unique features of service marketing (i.e., intangibility, per- ishability, inseparability, and heterogenity), several strategies have been advanced as possible solutions (see, for example, Booms and Bitner 1981, Lovelock 1981).

The current literature in both services marketing and organizational culture lead to the argument that an appropriate and consistent organizational culture is one of the most important ingredients for successfully marketing services

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Volume 19, Number 4, pages 341-346. Copyright �9 1991 by Academy of Marketing Science. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN 0092-0703.

(Pascale 1984). An exploration into the culture of a firm is considered worthwhile since it has been shown that the culture

�9 provides the central theme around which employees' behavior can coalesce (Gregory 1983);

�9 is the critical key which strategic managers might use to direct the course of their firms (Smircich 1983);

�9 provides a pattern of shared values and beliefs, the norms for behavior, and a form of control of employees (Wilkins and Ouchi 1983);

�9 influences productivity; the manner in which the firm copes with the various aspects of the external environment, and newcomer socialization (Schneider and Reichers 1983);

�9 aids in hiring practices--i.e., helps in understanding the characteristics of people who would do well in the firm (Downey 1987); and

�9 establishes the rationale for "do's and don't's" of behavior (Harrison 1972).

For an elaboration on the importance of culture and on the differences between culture and climate, see Webster 1990. A logical deduction is that there is a strong positive relationship between culture strength and culture consistency and between culture and marketing effectiveness. In other words, as the culture becomes more inconsistent, the marketing and competitive effectiveness of the finn declines. Indeed, Webster (1988) found that the type of marketing culture a service firm has is strongly related to that firm's level of productivity; and Thomas (1978) pinpointed internal culture consistency as a major determinant of the projection of a strong image. Although the absence of a strong culture might indicate a tendency toward sub- culturalization and that there is support for internal vertical differentiation (see, for example, Cooke and Rousseau

JAMS 341 FALL, 1991

A NOTE ON CULTURAL CONSISTENCY WITHIN THE SERVICE FIRM: THE EFFECTS OF WEBSTER EMPLOYEE POSITION ON ATTITUDES TOWARD MARKETING CULTURE

1988). It should be noted that this article advances the no- tion that service firm employees, from the top-level execu- tives to the operational-level workers, should have basically the same or consistent attitudes toward the role of marketing in the firm, the assumptions and value regarding marketing, the importance placed on marketing, the overall feeling regarding the marketing orientation of the firm, etc.

Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to add to the understanding of service firm culture by measuring service employees' attitudes toward both actual and ideal marketing culture of their service firm, and then by determining if there are significant differences in attitudes regarding existing and ideal marketing culture among various levels of service firm management.

METHOD

tions, and innovativeness. The following hypotheses stem directly from these marketing culture dimensions. As there is no previous research which indicates that there is a strong probability that marketing culture consistency does not exist in service firms, the hypotheses will be stated in the null form (see Labaw 1985 for a discussion of the benefits of stating hypotheses in the null form). There will be no differ- ence in attitudes among various service firm management levels toward the ACTUAL and DESIRED state of the firm's

I l I : service quality H2: interpersonal relationships 1-I3: selling task H4: organization 1-15: internal communications H6: innovativeness

The sample was a three-stage sample of service businesses in a southwestern statistical metropolitan area which is considered to be representative (in demographic terms) of the U.S. (Burgoyne Information Services 1986). First, a complete listing of all area businesses within four different service industries was obtained. Four service categories were chosen for investigation: health care, airlines, financial services, and product repair and maintenance. While this set of service businesses is not exhaustive, it represents a cross-section of industries which vary along important dimensions used to categorize services (Lovelock 1980, 1983).

From this pool of service businesses, a sample of 112 firms was randomly selected. For each of the 112 firms, a listing was obtained of each employee in upper-management, middle-management, and ground-level (or staff) positions. Next, a sample of respondents from each echelon was randomly selected. Within each firm, at least one per- son was randomly selected from each echelon. The final sample consisted of 360 employees. Analysis of the sample composition revealed that each service industry was well represented. Comparison of the responses from all completed questionnaires indicated that, regardless of the type of service, service firm employees of a particular position in the firm had basically the same perceptions of the actual and ideal marketing culture. Consequently, the data were com- bined from the service industries for each echelon. As a result, each subsample was sizable (higher management N = 127; middle management N = 121; ground-level N = 112).

Carefully-instructed interviewers delivered the questionnaires to the service businesses. The sampling process was completed in three weeks, including mornings and after- noons. After verbally explaining the purpose of the study, agreement of the randomly-selected employee to participate was secured.

A six-dimension, 38-item instrument was used for assess- ing the marketing culture of a service firm. The instrument's reliability, factor structure, and validity have been evaluated and established (Webster 1990). The dimensions of service marketing culture are: service quality, interpersonal relationships, selling task, organization, internal communica-

The instrument was administered twice to each employee. In the first case, the employees were asked about their perceptions regarding the actual marketing culture; in the second administration, the employees were asked about their perceptions of a realistically-ideal marketing culture of the service firm. The respondents indicated their level of agreement with each of the 38 items by marking the appropriate point on a seven-point scale which ranged from a 'Strongly Agree' to 7 'Strongly Disagree.' Other relevant information regarding the service firm was also collected, such as the number of employees in the firm and the age of the firm.

Hierarchical two-factor MANOVAs and ANOVAs were used to test the hypotheses. This hierarchical MANOVA approach is appropriate when unequal cell sizes exist. It does not assume linear relationships between culture and firm age or size, as would ANOVA. This approach allows for the testing of the effect of employee position alone before removing the effects of firm age or size, as well as hierarchically (after removing firm age and size).

FINDINGS

The data in the following tables reveal the group means and F tests for the 38 components of the six dimensions of the marketing culture of a service firm. The first column of F values (Fe) presents the F values for a single factor design testing for the effects of employee position alone. The second column, Fp/s, presents conditional F values on the effect of employee position after removing or adjusting for possible effects of firm size. The third column, Fma, presents conditional F values on the effect of employee position after removing firm age effects. Highly significant multivariate tests were discovered for the single factor design as well as for the conditional tests after removing or adjusting for firm size and length of establishment.

Employee Position and Actual Culture

Significant differences between top-management, middle- management, and ground-level operational employees were

JAMS 342 FALL, 1991


found for 27 of the 38 marketing culture items for the single factor design, 21 of the 38 after removing firm size effects, and 23 of the 38 after removing firm age effects. These findings indicate that employee position definitely has an effect on attitudes towards the actual marketing culture of a service firm.

The many significant univariate and multivariate results shown in Table l lead to the rejection of H l-H6. That is, there are many differences between the employee levels regarding the perception of the actual state of the marketing culture of the service firm.

Employee Position and the Ideal Culture

Data in Table 2 show that many differences were found between employees of various positions when asked about their attitudes regarding an ideal, but realistic, marketing culture of their service firm. Significant differences between top-, middle-, and low-management employees were found for 24 of the 38 marketing culture items for the single factor design, and I9 of the 38 after removing firm size effects, and also 19 of the 38 after removing firm age effects. Again, one can safely conclude that employee position, and not the size and age of the firm, has significant effect on attitudes regarding the ideal marketing culture.

The numerous significant univariate and multivariate re- suits lead to the rejection of Hypotheses 7 and 9-12. In other words, employee position was found to have a significant effect on attitudes towards what would be realistically ideal regarding the dimensions of service quality, selling task, organization, internal communications, and innovativeness. The only hypothesis that is accepted is H8. Hence, the insignificant multivariate result indicates that there are no important differences among employees regarding attitudes toward ideal interpersonal relations.

Attitudes of Middle Management

Data in Tables 1 and 2 show that the attitudes of middle management employees, while in most cases are between those of higher management and staff employees (i.e., the firm issuing a policy handbook, the desired level to which employees should enjoy pursuing new accounts), generally tend to fall closer to attitudes of top management. This finding is not surprising given the supervisory nature of the higher and middle management positions. For instance, middle management service employees are closer to higher management in attitudes toward (1) the desired level of employees acting well under stress and (2) how employees actually manage time. However, middle management has attitudes closer to the ground-level employees in a few cases (i.e., the organization of employees' work area, actual planning of employees). Interestingly, middle management tended to show the highest level of agreement with several of the cultural items (e.g., the actual inaccuracies of employees, desired level of planning). On the other hand, middle management employees showed the lowest level of agreement with several cultural items (i.e., how carefully employees actually check their work, the actual commit-

ment of the firm to provide prompt service, and the desired recognition of high achievers in selling).

CONCLUSIONS

Even though the importance of culture consistency within a firm has been widely acknowledged, the findings of this paper indicate that marketing culture consistency does not exist in service firms. That is, employees from various levels within a firm, top management to ground-level positions, have significantly different attitudes regarding components of the current/actual marketing culture and the desired/ideal marketing culture for the firm. Interestingly, there appears to be no general relationship between an employee's level in the firm and the level of agreement with either the actual or ideal marketing culture items. However, there are a few exceptions to this generalization; e.g., higher management appears to place relatively more importance on the innovativeness of the company and the desired status of internal communications.

There are several reasons why service marketers should be concerned about these attitudinal differences. First, the overwhelming differences among employees regarding perceptions toward the ideal and actual marketing culture of their particular service firm would seemingly lead to inefficiencies in the overall operation of the firm. The differences in perceptions indicate the absence of a central theme around which organizational behavior can coalesce. The absence of this "glue" makes it difficult for employees to know how, when, and at what to direct their energy.

Second, inconsistency in the marketing culture of a service firm can also have tremendous importance in terms of employee socialization. When the new service employee is "learning the ropes," an inconsistent marketing culture will probably mislead the potential or new employee in terms of that individual understanding exactly what the firm expects. Moreover, research indicates (Downey 1987) that employees will show greater pride in and support for a firm whose purpose, direction and specialness, they more clearly under- stand.

Third and perhaps most importantly, these service marketing culture perception differences would seemingly lead to inefficiencies in treating customers and implementing marketing strategies of the service firm.

Next, the marketing cultural attitudinal differences also point to an obvious lack of understanding and communication among employees of various levels within the firm. Explicit statements of creeds, philosophies, and charters make the espoused messages explicit, reflecting the manager's intentions to get a certain message across. However, this study provides evidence that the assumption should not be made that these consciously articulated messages reflect what may be more implicit cultural themes, either because top management or the decision makers are not aware of them, or is conflicted about them, or is deliberately trying to displace some implicit themes with more consciously explicit ones that better fit his intentions.

An unsurprising, but related, finding is that there are many differences in employees' attitudes regarding how

JAMS 343 FALL, 1991

TABLE 1 MANOVA on Attitudes of Employees Towards Actual Marketing Culture

Higher Middle Lower (n = 127) (n = 121) (n = 112) Fp Fins Fp/A

1.95" 1.98 2.18 0.92 0.89 0,88 Service Quality Employees acting well under stress Employees carefully checking work before process-

ing/turning it in Employees' attention to detail For the firm to place emphasis on employees' communica-

tion skills The commitment of the firm to provide prompt service The belief of employees that their behavior reflects the

finn's image For employees to meet the finn's expectations For employees to work hard For supervisors to be mindful of the inaccuracies of

employees The honest treatment of customers by employees The courteous treatment of customers by employees

Wilks' Lambda

Interpersonal Relationships For the company to be considerate of employees' feelings For the firm to treat each employee as an important part of

the organization For emplOyees to feel comfortable in giving opinions to

higher management The enforcement of rules of courtesy That manager/supervisors have an "open-door" policy

Wilks' Lambda

Selling Task The encouragement of creative approaches to selling The firm's recognition of high achievers in selling The selling task of employees The encouragement of employees to explore new sales

techniques For employees to enjoy pursuing new accounts For the firm to clearly place significance on selling For the firm to reward employees, better than competing

firms, with incentives to sell For employees to aggressively pursue new business

Wilks' Lambda

Organization Each employee to be well organized For careful planning to be characteristic for each employees'

daily routine For employees to prioritize work Each employees" work area to be well organized Each employee to manage time well Each employee making a daily plan for the work to be

accomplished Wilks' Lambda

Internal Communications For the firm to issue a policy handbook The firm having an approved set of policies and procedures

which is available to an employee at any time The training period for new employees That supervisors clearly state what their expectations are of

others That each employee understands the mission and general ob-

jectives of the firm Wilks' Lambda

lnnovativeness For all employees to be receptive to ideas for change The company's willingness to try new ideas The receptiveness of the company to change

Wilks' Lambda

1.52 3.02 1.82 2.93" 2.95`" 2,40" 3.65 3.08 2.11 2.98`" 2.91" 2.90 ,~

1.93 2.16 2.48 2.01 I. I 1 1.64 1.29 2.27 2.14 2.34" 2.30 a 2.31 ,~

2.11 2.36 1.24 2.31" 1.51 1.52 3,59 3.95 1.59 5.740 4.730 4,71 b 3,46 2.66 1.21 4.42 b 3.51 b 3.48 b

2,68 1.69 1.91 1.51 1.53 1.53 1.30 1.53 2.24 1.62 1.28 1,53 1.32 1.47 1.35 0.41 0.37 0,38

.881 ~ .899 .901

1.36 2.00 1.95 1.85 1.83 1,82

1.52 1.89 3.02 2.51 '~ 2.48`" 2.46"

1.84 3.02 4.50 6.57 b 6.420 5.21 b 1.27 1.89 2.67 2.44" 2.20 2.15 1.36 2.52 3.01 3.08 b 3.62" 3.64"

.652 b .850 a .843"

2.05 3.16 4.86 8.29 b 7.14 b 7.160 2.18 3.40 4.06 4.63 b 4.79 b 3.78 b 2.21 2.69 2.51 0.61 0.72 0.60

2.05 3.27 3.92 4.33 b 2.20 4.31 b 2,41 2,69 2.58 0.32 0.40 0.30 2.09 3.24 3.84 4.216 3.24 a 3,21 a

2.23 2.68 3.73 2.53 a 2.52" 2.48 a 2.43 2.53 2.48 0.20 0.18 0.20

.840 ~ .851`" ,838`"

3.04 2.30 1.51 2.52 a 2.45" 2.38 a

1.89 3.13 2.97 2.31`" 2.29 2.26 2.68 1.98 1.52 2.32 ~ 2.30`" 2.30 '~ 2.09 2-84 3.31 2.45 '~ 2.40" 2.37" 5.60 5.01 3.00 7.03 '~ 5.41 b 5.02 b

4.48 3.60 2.46 4.60 b 3.71`" 3.45`" .764b .839" .835 a

5.68 4.92 3.99 2,51" 2.30" 2,29 '~

3.50 2.87 3.32 0.82 0.74 0.75 2.50 2.74 3.45 2.51" 2.48" 2.38 a

1,43 1.84 2.08 0.83 0.64 0.73

1.50 1,61 2.51 2.33" 2.20 2,21 .880`" .914 .921

3.44 3.15 1.70 2.56 a 2.22 2,36 a 1.57 1.79 2.71 2.49" 2.40" 2.43 a 1.61 2,87 2.81 2,484 2.33 a 2.40 ~

.860 ~ .089`" .872`"

*Attitudes toward the marketing culture items were measured with a seven-point scale, where 1 = strongly agree and 7 = strongly disagree. ap <: .05; bp <__ .01

JAMS 344 FALL, 1991

TABLE 2 MANOVA on Attitudes of Employees Toward Desired Marketing Culture

Higher Middle Lower (n = 127) (n = 121) (n = 112) Fp Fp/s Fp/A

Service Quality Employees acting well under stress 1,15 1.13 2.89 3.58" 3.45" 3.42" Employees carefully checking work before process-

ing/tuming it in 1. t 7 1.19 1.32 0.31 0.32 0.32 Employees" attention to detail 1,89 1.56 1.21 2.32 ~ 2.20 2.19 For the firm to place emphasis on employees' communica-

tion skills 1.17 1.23 3.89 9.01 b 9.15 h 8.560 The commitment of the firm to provide prompt service 1.24 1.13 1.84 2.41" 2.40" 2.37" The belief of employees that their behavior reflects the

firm's image 1.13 1.14 2.01 3.01" 2.27 2.84 Q For employees to meet the firm's expectations 1.12 I. 15 1.34 0.51 0.32 0.38 For employees to work hard 1.08 1.56 2.01 2.20 2.18 2.16 For supervisors to be mindful of the inaccuracies of

employees I. 17 1.20 2.11 2.03 2.05 2.06 The honest treatment of customers by employees 1.20 3.02 3.00 4.30 b 4.28 h 4.20 b The courteous treatment of customers by employees t,23 1.61 3.00 3.84 h 3.71 b 3.75 t,

Wilks' Lambda .870" .879" .882"

Interpersonal Relationships For the company to be considerate of employees' feelings For the firm to treat each employee as an important part of

the organization For employees to feel comfortable in giving opinions to

higher management The enforcement of rules of courtesy That managers/supervisors have an "open-door" policy

Wilks' Iambda

Selling Task The encouragement of creative approaches to selling The firm's recognition of high achievers in selling The selling task of employees The encouragement of employees to explore new sales

techniques For employees to enjoy pursuing new accounts For the firm to clearly place significance on selling For the firm to reward employees, better than competing

firms, with incentives to sell For employees to aggressively pursue new business

Wilks' Lambda

Organization Each new employee to be well organized For careful planning to be characteristic of each employee's

daily routine For employees to prioritize work Each employee's work area to be well organized Each employee to manage time well Each employee making a daily plan for the work to be

accomplished Wilks' Lambda

Internal Communications For the firm to issue a policy handbook The firm having an approved set of policies and procedures

which is available to an employee at any time The training period for new employees That supervisors clearly state what their expectations are of

others That each employee understands the mission and general

objectives of the firm Wilks' Lambda

Innovativeness For all employees to be receptive to ideas for change The company's willingness to try new ideas The receptiveness of the company to change

Wilks' Lambda

1.40 1.32 1.09 0.32 0.41 0.40

1,36 1.35 1.28 0.21 0,18 0.21

3.01 2.85 1.72 3.40" 3.34" 3.11" 1.15 1.21 2.00 1.77 1.61 1.60 3.20 2.85 2.01 2.30" 2.32" 2.28

.932 .927 ,980

2.19 3.01 2.89 1.86 1.85 1.79 2.05 3.06 1.85 2.48" 2.52" 2.33 Q 1.18 2.45 3.03 4.28 b 3.70" 3.68 ~

2.45 2.51 2.00 0.81 0.83 0.69 1.20 2.45 3.84 2.62" 2.62" 2.39 ~ 2.03 2.14 1.89 0.48 0.51 0.45

2.02 2.45 1.28 2.32" 2.30" 2.20 1.81 1.75 2.77 2.30" 2,28 1.77

.857 a .842" .922

1.51 1.45 2.81 2.41" 2.33`" 2.30`"

2.00 1.89 3.50 2.34`" 2.20 2.22 1.45 1.38 3.01 2.60" 2.45" 2.32 a 2.26 1.98 2.30 0.72 0.68 0.65 1.75 1.89 3.50 2.56" 2.45" 2.38"

2.83 3.03 5.01 4.38 b 3.68'* 3.61 '~ .779 b .860" .857"

2.65 2.99 5.68 6.03" 4.45 '~ 4.60"

2.81 3.02 6,01 8.24 b 4.98 b 5.51 b 1.56 1.45 2.00 0.71 0.70 0.64

1.62 1.71 2.84 2.31" 2.20 2.30"

1.50 1.47 2.03 1.31 1.35 1.01 .821" .893" .882"

2.00 3.01 4.58 7.51 b 3.50" 4.11 b 2.79 3.30 5,01 5.310 3.34" 3.42 ~ 3.00 3.12 2.30 2.00 2.12 1.82

.814" .848" .839"

"Attitudes toward the marketing culture items were measured with a seven-point scale, where I = strongly agree and 7 = strongly disagree. "p --< .05; 0p <_ .01

JAMS 345 FALL, 1991


they actually view the marketing culture of their service finn and the marketing culture they would like to have in their service firm. This finding indicates that importance needs to be placed on developing and implementing the strategies necessary to close the gap between the actual and ideal marketing culture.

This problem of inconsistency might be alleviated by the continuous communication among the peers of marketing personnel of what they are trying to accomplish. They should work with operations and systems personnel as well as other non-marketing people right from the beginning to gain greater support, to develop a feedback loop, and to ensure that everyone is working towards the same objectives.

After deciding on the desired cultural components of the service firm, the structural aspects of the culture, the philosophies and creeds should be published and distributed to existing service employees and to newcomers. Closely related to published philosophies and creeds are published recruiting brochures, employee orientation handbooks, ini- tial indoctrination and training materials, videotapes, and other artifacts that attempt to get across to newcomers what some key elements of the culture of the service firm are. To help assure that the desired marketing culture is well known and understood and that all employees are working toward the same objectives and goals of the firm, the service firm might occasionally administer a "Marketing Culture Percep- tion Audit." The results of such an audit will quickly inform and direct management to problem areas.

This research points to three interesting areas of future study. As some researchers (e.g., Amsa 1986) feel that a firm's culture has as much or more influence on corporate effectiveness as the formal structure of jobs, authority, tech- nical and financial procedures, marketing researchers might formally study the nature and extent of linkage between marketing culture and marketing performance. A second study that might be of interest to service marketers would entail dividing a company sample into several categories based on some measure of success (i.e., Rol or growth rate) and determine if more successful and/or effective finns have more cultural consistency.

Additionally, further research might focus on an attempt to explain the differences in the structural components of

service firm culture across service industries. Such research would greatly aid our understanding of the marketing culture within a service firm.

REFERENCES

Burgoyne Information Services. 1986. Cincinnati, OH. Cooke, R. A. and D. M. Rousseau. 1988. "Behavioral Norms and

Expectations--Quantitative Approach to the Assessment of Organiza- tional Culture." Groups and Organizations 13 (3): 245-273.

Downey, Stephen M. 1987. "The Relationship Between Corporate Culture and Corporate Identity." Public Relations Quarterly (Winter): 7-12.

Gregory, K.L. 1983. "Native View Paradigms: Multiple Cultures and Cul- ture Conflicts in Organizations." Administrative Science Quarterly 28: 459-476.

Harrison, Roger. 1972. "Understanding Your Organization's Character." Harvard Business Review (May-June): 119-128.

Labaw, Patricia. 1985. Advanced Questionnaire Design. Cambridge, MA: Abt Books.

Lovelock, Christopher H. 1980. "Towards a Classification of Services." In Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, pp. 72-76. Eds. L. L. Berry et al. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association.

. 1983. "Classifying Services to Gain Strategic Marketing In- sights." Journal of Marketing 47 (Summer): 9-20.

Pascale, R. 1986. "Fitting New Employees into the Company Culture." Fortune (May 28): 28-41.

Schneider, Benjamin and Amon E. Reichers. 1983. "On the Etiology of Climates." Personnel Psychology 36 (1): 19-39.

Smircich, Linda. 1983. "Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analy- sis." Administrative Science Quarterly 23 (September): 339-358.

Webster, Cynthia. 1990. "Towards the Measurement of the Marketing Culture of a Service Firm." Journal of Business Research 21 (Decem- ber): 345-362.

Webster, Frederick E. Jr. 1988. "The Rediscovery of the Marketing Con- cept." Business Horizons 31 (May-June): 29-39.

Wilkins, A.L. and W. G. Ouchi. 1983. "Efficient Cultures: Exploring the Relationship Between Culture and Organizational Performance." Ad- ministrative Science Quarterly 28 (3): 468-481.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cynthia Webster, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Mar- keting at Mississippi State University. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Services Marketing, American Demographics, Journal of Marketing Education, among others. She has presented a number of papers at national and international conferences.

JAMS 346 FALL, 1991

Documents

A note on cultural consistency within the service firm: The effects of employee position on attitudes toward marketing culture