The service–profit chain (SPC) has served as a prominent guidepost for service managers and researchers alike. This meta-analysis provides the first comprehensive test of the SPC, showing that all the proposed links are statistically significant and substantial. However, the effect sizes vary considerably, partly according to the type of service provided. Meta-analytic structural equation models show that internal service quality translates into service performance through various mechanisms beyond employee satisfaction, and they highlight the importance of the service encounter and customer relationship characteristics for customer responses. The findings not only indicate the need to integrate complementary paths in the SPC framework but also challenge the implicit SPC rationale that firms should always maximize employee satisfaction and external service quality to optimize firm performance.
AjzenIcek, and FishbeinMartin (1980), Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2.
AndersonEugene W. (1998), “Customer Satisfaction and Word of Mouth,”Journal of Service Research, 1 (1), 5–17.
3.
AndersonEugene W., and MittalVikas (2000), “Strengthening the Satisfaction-Profit Chain,”Journal of Service Research, 3 (2), 107–20.
4.
AryeeSamuel, WalumbwaFred O., SeiduEmmanuel Y.M., and OtayeLilian E. (2016), “Developing and Leveraging Human Capital Resource to Promote Service Quality,”Journal of Management, 42 (2), 480–99.
5.
BabinBarry J., and BolesJames S. (1998), “Employee Behavior in a Service Environment: A Model and Test of Potential Differences Between Men and Women,”Journal of Marketing, 62 (April), 77–91.
6.
BargerPatricia B., and GrandeyAlicia A. (2006), “Service with a Smile and Encounter Satisfaction: Emotional Contagion and Appraisal Mechanisms,”Academy of Management Journal, 49 (6), 1229–38.
7.
BattRosemary, and ColvinAlexander J.S. (2011), “An Employment Systems Approach to Turnover: Human Resources Practices, Quits, Dismissals, and Performance,”Academy of Management Journal, 54 (4), 695–717.
8.
BebkoCharlene Pleger (2000), “Service Intangibility and Its Impact on Consumer Expectations of Service Quality,”Journal of Services Marketing, 14 (1), 9–27.
9.
BerghDonald D., AguinisHerman, HeaveyCiaran, KetchenDavid J., BoydBrian K., SuPeiran, et al. (2016), “Using Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling to Advance Strategic Management Research: Guidelines and an Empirical Illustration via the Strategic Leadership-Performance Relationship,”Strategic Management Journal, 37 (3), 477–97.
10.
BhattacharyaC.B., and SenShankar (2003), “Consumer–Company Identification: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Relationships with Companies,”Journal of Marketing, 67 (April), 76–88.
11.
BitnerMary Jo (1990), “Evaluating Service Encounters: The Effects of Physical Surroundings and Employee Responses,”Journal of Marketing, 54 (April), 69–82.
12.
BitnerMary Jo, BoomsBernard H., and TetreaultMary S. (1990), “The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents,”Journal of Marketing, 54 (January), 71–84.
13.
BlauPeter M. (1964), Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
14.
BowenDavid E., and SchneiderBenjamin (1988), “Services Marketing and Management: Implications for Organizational Behavior,”Research in Organizational Behavior, 10, 43–80.
15.
BowenDavid E., and SchneiderBenjamin (2014), “A Service Climate Synthesis and Future Research Agenda,”Journal of Service Research, 17 (1), 5–22.
16.
BradyMichael K., and CroninJoseph J.Jr. (2001), “Customer Orientation: Effects on Customer Service Perceptions and Outcome Behaviors,”Journal of Service Research, 3 (3), 241–51.
17.
BradyMichael K., VoorheesClay M., and BruscoMichael J. (2012), “Service Sweethearting: Its Antecedents and Customer Consequences,”Journal of Marketing, 76 (March), 81–98.
18.
BrownSteven P., and LamSon K. (2008), “A Meta-Analysis of Relationships Linking Employee Satisfaction to Customer Responses,”Journal of Retailing, 84 (3), 243–55.
19.
BrownTom J., and DacinPeter A. (1997), “The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses,”Journal of Marketing, 61 (January), 68–84.
20.
ChanKimmy Wa, YimChi Kin, and LamSimon S.K. (2010), “Is Customer Participation in Value Creation a Double-Edged Sword? Evidence from Professional Financial Services Across Cultures,”Journal of Marketing, 74 (May), 48–64.
21.
CortinaJose M. (2003), “Apples and Oranges (and Pears, Oh My!): The Search for Moderators in Meta-Analysis,”Organizational Research Methods, 6 (4), 415–39.
22.
CovielloNicole, WinklhoferHeidi, and HamiltonKarla (2006), “Marketing Practices and Performance of Small Service Firms: An Examination in the Tourism Accommodation Sector,”Journal of Service Research, 9 (1), 38–58.
23.
CroninJ. JosephJr., BradyMichael K., and HultG. Thomas M. (2000), “Assessing the Effects of Quality, Value, and Customer Satisfaction on Consumer Behavioral Intentions in Service Environments,”Journal of Retailing, 76 (2), 193–218.
EaglyAlice H., and ChaikenShelly (1993), The Psychology of Attitudes. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
26.
EisendMartin (2015), “Have We Progressed Marketing Knowledge? A Meta-Meta-Analysis of Effect Sizes in Marketing Research,”Journal of Marketing, 79 (May), 23–40.
27.
EvanschitzkyHeiner B., von WangenheimFlorian, and WünderlichNancy V. (2012), “Perils of Managing the Service Profit Chain: The Role of Time Lags and Feedback Loops,”Journal of Retailing, 88 (3), 356–66.
28.
FangEric, PalmatierRobert, and SteenkampJan-Benedict E.M. (2008), “Effect of Service Transition Strategies on Firm Value,”Journal of Marketing, 72 (September), 1–14.
29.
FournierSusan (1998), “Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research,”Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (4), 343–53.
30.
FrankeGeorg R., and ParkJeong-Eun (2006), “Salesperson Adaptive Selling Behavior and Customer Orientation: A Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Marketing Research, 43 (November), 693–702.
31.
FuFrank Q., RichardsKeith A., HughesDouglas E., and JonesEli (2010), “Motivating Salespeople to Sell New Products: The Relative Influence of Attitudes, Subjective Norms, and Self-Efficacy,”Journal of Marketing, 74 (November), 61–76.
32.
García de los SalmonesMa del Mar, CrespoAngel Herrero, and Rodríguez del BosqueIgnacio (2005), “Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Loyalty and Valuation of Services,”Journal of Business Ethics, 61 (4), 369–85.
33.
GeyskensInge, KrishnanRekha, SteenkampJan-Benedict E.M., and CunhaPaulo V. (2009), “A Review and Evaluation of Meta-Analysis Practices in Management Research,”Journal of Management, 35 (2), 393–419.
34.
GremlerDwayne D., and GwinnerKevin P. (2000), “Customer-Employee Rapport in Service Relationships,”Journal of Service Research, 3 (1), 82–104.
35.
GroeningChristopher, MittalVikas, and ZhangYan “Anthea” (2016), “Cross-Validation of Customer and Employee Signals and Firm Valuation,”Journal of Marketing Research, 53 (February), 61–76.
36.
GwinnerKevin P., GremlerDwayne D., and BitnerMary Jo (1998), “Relational Benefits in Services Industries: The Customer's Perspective,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 26 (2), 101–14.
37.
HarrisonDavid A., NewmanDaniel A., and RothPhilip L. (2006), “How Important Are Job Attitudes? Meta-Analytic Comparisons of Integrative Behavioral Outcomes and Time Sequences,”Academy of Management Journal, 49 (2), 305–25.
HaumannTill, GüntürkünPascal, SchonsLaura Marie, and WiesekeJan (2015), “Engaging Customers in Coproduction Processes: How Value-Enhancing and Intensity-Reducing Communication Strategies Mitigate the Negative Effects of Coproduction Intensity,”Journal of Marketing, 79 (November), 17–33.
40.
Hennig-ThurauThorsten, GrothMarkus, PaulMichael, and GremlerDwayne D. (2006), “Are All Smiles Created Equal? How Emotional Contagion and Emotional Labor Affect Service Relationships,”Journal of Marketing, 70 (July), 58–73.
41.
HeskettJames L., JonesThomas O., LovemanGary W., SasserW. EarlJr., and SchlesingerLeonard A. (1994), “Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,”Harvard Business Review, 72 (2), 164–74.
42.
HeskettJames L., SasserW. EarlJr., and SchlesingerLeonard A. (1997), The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value. New York: The Free Press.
43.
HeskettJames L., SasserW. EarlJr., and SchlesingerLeonard A. (2015), What Great Service Leaders Know and Do: Creating Breakthroughs in Service Firms. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
44.
HomburgChristian, WiesekeJan, and BornemannTorsten (2009), “Implementing the Marketing Concept at the Employee–Customer Interface: The Role of Customer Need Knowledge,”Journal of Marketing, 73 (July), 64–81.
45.
HomburgChristian, WiesekeJan, and HoyerWayne D. (2009), “Social Identity and the Service–Profit Chain,”Journal of Marketing, 73 (March), 38–54.
46.
HomburgChristian, DrollMathias, and TotzekDirk (2008), “Customer Prioritization: Does It Pay Off, and How Should It Be Implemented?”Journal of Marketing, 72 (September), 110–30.
47.
HongYing, HuiLiao, HuJia, and JiangKaifeng (2013), “Missing Link in the Service Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Antecedents, Consequences, and Moderators of Service Climate,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 98 (2), 237–67.
48.
HuffcuttAllen I., and ArthurWinfriedJr. (1995), “Development of a New Outlier Statistic for Meta-Analytic Data,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 80 (2), 327–34.
49.
HunterJohn E., and SchmidtFrank L. (2004), Methods of Meta-Analysis: Correcting Error and Bias in Research Findings, 2nd ed.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
50.
IttnerChristoph D., and LarckerDavid F. (2003), “Coming Up Short on Nonfinancial Performance Measurement,”Harvard Business Review, 81 (11), 88–95.
51.
JasmandClaudia, BlazevicVera, and de RuyterKo (2012), “Generating Sales While Providing Service: A Study of Customer Service Representatives’ Ambidextrous Behavior,”Journal of Marketing, 76 (January), 20–37.
52.
JiangKaifeng, LepakDavid P., HuJia, and BaerJudith C. (2012), “How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms,”Academy of Management Journal, 55 (6), 1264–94.
53.
JonesMichael A., MothersbaughDavid L., and BeattySharon E. (2000), “Switching Barriers and Repurchase Intentions in Services,”Journal of Retailing, 76 (2), 259–74.
54.
KamakuraWagner A., MittalVikas, de RosaFernando, and MazzonJosé A. (2002), “Assessing the Service-Profit Chain,”Marketing Science, 21 (3), 294–317.
55.
KoysDaniel J. (2001), “The Effects of Employee Satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Turnover on Organizational Effectiveness: A Unit-Level, Longitudinal Study,”Personnel Psychology, 54 (1), 101–14.
56.
KumarV., UmashankarNita, Hannah KimKihyun, and BhagwatYashoda (2014), “Assessing the Influence of Economic and Customer Experience Factors on Service Purchase Behaviors,”Marketing Science, 33 (5), 673–92.
57.
LarivièreBart (2008), “Linking Perceptual and Behavioral Customer Metrics to Multiperiod Customer Profitability: A Comprehensive Service-Profit Chain Application,”Journal of Service Research, 11 (1), 3–21.
58.
LiaoHui, ToyaKeiko, LepakDavid P., and HongYing (2009), “Do They See Eye to Eye? Management and Employee Perspectives of High-Performance Work Systems and Influence Processes on Service Quality,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 94 (2), 371–91.
59.
LipseyMark W., and WilsonDavid (2001), Practical Meta-Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
60.
LovemanGary W. (1998), “Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking,”Journal of Service Research, 1 (1), 18–31.
61.
MayerDavid D., EhrhartMark, and SchneiderBenjamin (2009), “Service Attribute Boundary Conditions of the Service Climate–Customer Satisfaction Link,”Academy of Management Journal, 52 (5), 1034–50.
62.
MessersmithJake G., PatelPankaj C., LepakDavid P., and Gould-WilliamsJulian S. (2011), “Unlocking the Black Box: Exploring the Link Between High-Performance Work Systems and Performance,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 96 (6), 1105–18.
63.
MeyerJohn P., and AllenNatalie J. (1991), “A Three-Component Conceptualization of Organizational Commitment,”Human Resource Management Review, 1 (1), 61–89.
64.
MitchellTerence R., HoltomBrooks C., and LeeThomas W. (2001), “How to Keep Your Best Employees: Developing an Effective Retention Policy,”Academy of Management Executive, 15 (4), 96–108.
65.
MittalVikas, AndersonEugene W., SayrakAkin, and TadikamallaPandu (2005), “Dual Emphasis and the Long-Term Financial Impact of Customer Satisfaction,”Marketing Science, 24 (4), 544–55.
66.
MittalVikas, and KamakuraWagner A. (2001), “Satisfaction, Repurchase Intent, and Repurchase Behavior: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Customer Characteristics,”Journal of Marketing Research, 38 (February), 131–42.
67.
MittalVikas, KumarPankaj, and TsirosMichael (1999), “Attribute-Level Performance, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions over Time: A Consumption-System Approach,”Journal of Marketing, 63 (April), 88–101.
68.
MohrLois A., and BitnerMary Jo (1995), “The Role of Employee Effort in Satisfaction with Service Transactions,”Journal of Business Research, 32 (3), 239–52.
69.
MossholderKevin W., RichardsonHettie A., and SettoonRandall P. (2011), “Human Resource Systems and Helping in Organizations: A Relational Perspective,”Academy of Management Journal, 36 (1), 33–52.
70.
NishiiLisa H., LepakDavid P., and SchneiderBenjamin (2008), “Employee Attributions of the ‘Why’ of HR Practices: Their Effects on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors, and Customer Satisfaction,”Personnel Psychology, 61 (3), 503–45.
71.
OrganDennis W. (1988), Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
72.
OstroffCheri, and HarrisonDavid A. (1999), “Meta-Analysis, Level of Analysis, and Best Estimates of Population Correlations: Cautions for Interpreting Meta-Analytic Results in Organizational Behavior,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 84 (2), 260–70.
73.
PalmatierRobert W., DantRajiv P., GrewalDhruv, and EvansKenneth R. (2006), “Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Relationship Marketing: A Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Marketing, 70 (October), 136–53.
74.
ParasuramanA., ZeithamlValarie A., and BerryLeonard L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality,”Journal of Retailing, 64 (1), 12–40.
75.
PetersonRobert A., and BrownSteven P. (2005), “On the Use of Beta Coefficients in Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 (1), 175–81.
76.
PierceJason R., and AguinisHerman (2013), “The Too-Much-of-a-Good-Thing Effect in Management,”Journal of Management, 39 (2), 313–38.
77.
PodsakoffNathan P., BlumeBrian D., WhitingSteven W., and PodsakoffPhilip M. (2009), “Individual- and Organizational-Level Consequences of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 94 (1), 122–41.
78.
PriceLinda L., and ArnouldEric J. (1999), “Commercial Friendships: Service Provider–Client Relationships in Context,”Journal of Marketing, 63 (October), 38–56.
79.
PritchardMichael, and SilvestroRhian (2005), “Applying the Service Profit Chain to Analyze Retail Performance: The Case of the Managerial Strait-Jacket?”International Journal of Service Industry Management, 16 (4), 337–56.
80.
PughDouglas S. (2001), “Service with a Smile: Emotional Contagion in the Service Encounter,”Academy of Management Journal, 44 (5), 1018–27.
81.
RikettaMichael (2008), “The Causal Relation Between Job Attitudes and Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Panel Studies,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 93 (2), 472–81.
82.
RustRoland T., and HuangMing-Hui (2012), “Optimizing Service Productivity,”Journal of Marketing, 76 (March), 47–66.
83.
RustRoland T., MoormanChristine, and DicksonPeter R. (2002), “Getting Return on Quality: Revenue Expansion, Cost Reduction, or Both?”Journal of Marketing, 66 (October), 7–24.
84.
RustRoland T., and OliverRichard L. (1994), Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
85.
RustRoland T., and ZahorikAnthony J. (1993), “Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention, and Market Share,”Journal of Retailing, 69 (2), 193–215.
86.
RustRoland T., ZahorikAnthony J., and KeininghamTimothy L. (1995), “Return on Quality (ROQ): Making Service Quality Financially Accountable,”Journal of Marketing, 59 (April), 58–70.
87.
SalancikGerald R., and PfefferJeffrey (1978), “A Social Information Processing Approach to Job Attitudes and Task Design,”Administrative Science Quarterly, 23 (2), 224–53.
88.
ScheerLisa, MiaoC., and PalmatierRobert (2015), “Dependence and Interdependence in Marketing Relationships: Meta-Analytic Insights,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43 (6), 694–712.
89.
SchmidtFrank L., OhIn-Sue, and HayesTheodore L. (2009), “Fixed- Versus Random-Effects Models in Meta-Analysis: Model Properties and an Empirical Comparison of Differences in Results,”British Journal of Mathematical & Statistical Psychology, 62 (1), 97–128.
90.
ShawJason D., DineenBrian R., FangRuolian, and VellellaRobert F. (2009), “Employee-Organization Exchange Relationships, HRM Practices, and Quit Rates of Good and Poor Performers,”Academy of Management Journal, 52 (5), 1016–33.
91.
SilvestroRhian, and CrossStuart (2000), “Applying the Service-Profit Chain in a Retail Environment: Challenging the ‘Satisfaction Mirror,’”International Journal of Service Industry Management, 11 (3), 244–68.
92.
SnapeEd, and RedmanTom (2010), “HRM Practices, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, and Performance: A Multi-Level Analysis,”Journal of Management Studies, 47 (7), 1219–47.
93.
StewartJames B. (2013), “A Place to Play for Google Staff,”The New York Times (March 15), B1.
94.
SuttonRobert I. (1991), “Maintaining Norms About Expressed Emotions: The Case of Bill Collectors,”Administrative Science Quarterly, 36 (2), 245–68.
95.
TsaiWenpin (2001), “Knowledge Transfer in Intraorganizational Networks: Effects of Network Position and Absorptive Capacity on Business Unit Innovation and Performance,”Academy of Management Journal, 44 (5), 996–1004.
96.
TullyStephanie M., and WinerRussell S. (2014), “The Role of the Beneficiary in Willingness to Pay for Socially Responsible Products: A Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Retailing, 90 (2), 255–74.
97.
ViswesvaranChockalingam, and OnesDeniz S. (1995), “Theory Testing: Combining Psychometric Meta‐Analysis and Structural Equations Modeling,”Personnel Psychology, 48 (4), 865–85.
98.
WiesekeJan, AhearneMichael, LamSon K., and van DickRolf (2009), “The Role of Leaders in Internal Marketing,”Journal of Marketing, 73 (March), 123–45.
99.
WoodJohn “Andy” (2008), “Methodology for Dealing with Duplicate Study Effects in a Meta-Analysis,”Organizational Research Methods, 11 (1), 79–95.
100.
WoodsideArch G. (2014), “Embrace, Perform, Model: Complexity Theory, Contrarian Case Analysis, and Multiple Realities,”Journal of Business Research, 67 (12), 2495–503.
101.
YimChi Kin (Bennett), ChanKimmy Wa, and LamSimon S.K. (2012), “Do Customers and Employees Enjoy Service Participation? Synergistic Effects of Self- and Other-Efficacy,”Journal of Marketing, 76 (November), 121–40.
102.
YimChi Kin (Bennett), TseDavid K., and ChanKimmy Wa (2008), “Strengthening Customer Loyalty Through Intimacy and Passion: Roles of Customer–Firm Affection and Customer–Staff Relationships in Services,”Journal of Marketing Research, 45 (December), 741–56.
103.
ZablahAlex R., FrankeGeorge R., BrownTom J., and BartholomewDarrell E. (2012), “How and When Does Customer Orientation Influence Frontline Employee Job Outcomes? A Meta-Analytic Evaluation,”Journal of Marketing, 76 (May), 21–40.
104.
ZhaoXinshu, LynchJohn G.Jr., and ChenQimei (2010), “Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths About Mediation Analysis,”Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (2), 197–206.
105.
ZeithamlValarie A. (2000), “Service Quality, Profitability, and the Economic Worth of Customers: What We Know and What We Need to Learn,”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28 (1), 67–85.
106.
ZeithamlValarie A., ParasuramanA., and BerryLeonard L. (1985), “Problems and Strategies in Services Marketing,”Journal of Marketing, 49 (Spring), 33–46.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
