City Research Online

Abstract

Purpose— This study explores the formation and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, as well as how a service climate, which provides an important boundary condition, affects both its formation and its ultimate impact on service–sales performance. This article identifies two important predictors of a cross-selling initiative climate: frontline employees’ perceptions of supervisors’ bottom-line mentality and their own sense of accountability.

Design/methodology/approach— The multilevel data set includes 180 frontline staff and supervisors (team leaders) from 31 teams employed by a spa/beauty salon chain. Hierarchical linear modelling and partial least squares methods serve to analyse the data.

Findings— Supervisors’ bottom-line mentality disrupts a cross-selling initiative climate; a sense of accountability exerts a positive impact, at both individual and team levels. A service climate at the team level weakens the impact of a sense of accountability on a cross-selling initiative climate. A cross-selling initiative climate has a positive effect on team-level service–sales performance, but this effect is weakened by the service climate.

Originality/value— This study conceptualises an important frontline work unit attribute as a climate. It offers an initial argument that a cross-selling initiative climate is a central factor driving a work unit’s service–sales performance, which can increase firms’ productivity and competitive advantages. With this initial attempt to explore the antecedents and consequences of a cross-selling initiative climate, the study also offers novel insights into the interplay between a service and a cross-selling initiative climate.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© Emerald Publishing 2018
Publisher Keywords:	cross-selling initiative climate, service climate, felt accountability, bottom-line mentality, sales–service performance
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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