Journal of Operations Management 19 2001 335–349
Technical note
A preliminary investigation of the relationships between employee motivationvision, service learning, and perceived service quality
Julie M. Hays
a,∗
, Arthur V. Hill
b
a
Graduate School of Business, University of St. Thomas, 1000 LaSalle Avenue, Room 343, Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005, USA
b
Operations and Management Science Department, Curtis L. Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Received 3 August 1999; accepted 15 September 2000
Abstract
Most experts agree that a learning organization whose employees have a clear vision of the importance of service quality and are motivated to provide that quality will achieve superior service quality. We develop a theoretical framework and conduct a
cross-sectional empirical study to investigate the inter-relationships among these constructs. The results indicate that higher levels of both employees’ motivationvision and organizational learning positively affect perceived service quality. Addi-
tionally, employees’ motivationvision was found to mediate the relationship between organizational learning and perceived service quality. These results highlight the importance of employees’ motivationvision in both the service process and the
learning process. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Empirical research; Human resourcesOM interface; Quality; Service operations
1. Introduction
Many firms have been able to achieve significant competitive advantage by offering superior service
quality Albrecht and Zemke, 1985; Collier, 1994; Lovelock, 1994; Schmenner, 1995; Zeithaml et al.,
1990. However, assuring quality in services is, in some ways, a more difficult proposition than assuring
quality in manufacturing. Two factors, in particular, contribute to this difficulty. The ‘production process’
of services involves the interaction of employees and customers, making it difficult to insure consistency
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-651-962-4306; fax: +1-651-962-4710.
E-mail address: jmhaysstthomas.edu J.M. Hays.
and reliability in the service process and resulting ‘product’. Additionally, quality judgments of an intan-
gible service are determined by individual customer’s perceptions and expectations, making it difficult to
discover and correct service failures. Thus, both the employees and the learning ability of the firm are
thought to play a critical role in achieving superior service quality.
Most experts agree that a learning organization whose employees have a clear vision of the impor-
tance of service quality to the organization and are motivated to provide that quality will achieve supe-
rior service quality. As Albrecht and Zemke 1985 assert, “excellent service companies: have a strong
vision, . . . market service internally, measure service and publish results”. In other words, both employee
0272-696301 – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 7 2 - 6 9 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 - 9
336 J.M. Hays, A.V. Hill Journal of Operations Management 19 2001 335–349
Fig. 1. Research scope.
motivationvision EMV and organizational learn- ing are thought to positively affect perceived service
quality PSQ. However, little research has been con- ducted to determine the magnitude of those effects.
Additionally, the nature of the relationship between organizational learning and EMV is not well under-
stood. Some experts posit that the motivation and vision of employees is positively affected by orga-
nizational learning, while other experts posit that organizational learning is positively affected by the
motivation and vision of employees. The lack of theory-driven, systematic, empirical research leaves
both academics and practitioners in doubt as to both why and how these constructs affect service quality.
Although, there are many factors that can influ- ence evaluations of service quality Parasuraman
et al., 1988; Zeithaml et al., 1988, 1990, 1993, this research is aimed at investigating the relationships be-
tween EMV, learning through service failure LTSF and PSQ. The empirical study uses survey data ob-
tained from customers, management employees, and front-line employees of a multinational hotel firm to
measure the constructs of EMV, LTSF and PSQ as well as to investigate the nature of the inter-relationships
among those constructs. Fig. 1 illustrates the scope of this research. We first review the relevant litera-
ture and develop the theoretical foundation of this research. We then present the research methodology
followed by an analysis of the results obtained from the empirical study. We conclude the paper with a
discussion of the implications of this research.
2. Literature review and theory development
