To boost customer satisfaction, owners should pay attention to employee job satisfaction

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-06/uom-tbc060111.php

Public release date: 1-Jun-2011
Contact: Christian Basi
University of Missouri-Columbia
To boost customer satisfaction, owners should pay attention to employee job satisfaction

COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— Previous studies have shown that customer satisfaction plays a key role in the health and future success of any company. When customers are satisfied, they keep coming back to the same store and invite their friends to do the same. Now, a new study from the University of Missouri has found that CEOs who pay attention to employees' job satisfaction are able to boost both customer satisfaction and "repurchase intentions," or the number of customers that intend to purchase products from the store.

"You might think that as an owner, you only need to pay attention to the customers, providing them with what they want. Yet, we found that keeping your employees satisfied with their work experience, providing them with challenges and allowing them to have a sense of ownership in the business can have a tremendous effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty," said Christopher Groening, assistant professor of marketing in the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business. "The link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is almost twice as strong when you have high employee satisfaction compared to when they are not satisfied with their jobs. This double-positive finding stands in contrast to the idea that a firm can neglect to satisfy their employees as long as they pursue customer satisfaction."

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