Macroeconomics

Marketing

Employee development

Employee engagement

Engineering

Service (business)

Economics

Employee research

Computer science

Employee resource groups

Business

Mechanical engineering

Service quality

Job satisfaction

Process management

Supply chain management

Management

Work (physics)

Productivity

Supply chain

Service level objective

Operations management

Service guarantee

Service management

Knowledge management

Service design

Service delivery framework

Production and Operations Management

A critical component of service strategy in high‐contact environments is service encounter management. Effective service encounters are a result of the quality of employee development, including systems for work and job design, training and development, and attention to employee well being. Results of empirical analysis indicate that service strategies reflecting the dimensions of employee development drive employee outcomes such as productivity and satisfaction. Employee outcomes are significantly associated with customer satisfaction, but only some linkages to financial performance are significant. This study illustrates the importance of employee development in service strategy design for managing service encounters in high contact service environments.

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT: AN EXAMINATION OF SERVICE STRATEGY IN A HIGH‐CONTACT SERVICE ENVIRONMENT