Table 1 Employee emotional competence:...

Table 1

Employee emotional competence: related constructs and selected empirical studies

Construct name	Construct definition	Representative literature
Panel A: Employee emotional competence and related constructs in prior literature
Employee emotional competence	The ability to accurately perceive, understand, and regulate customer emotions in a service encounter to create and maintain an appropriate climate for service. Unlike emotional intelligence, which refers to potential abilities, emotional competence focuses on actual, observable behavior	Delcourt et al. (2016)
Employee professional competence	The application of relevant knowledge and technical abilities to solve customer issues reliably and efficiently, thereby conveying trustworthiness and accuracy	Wu et al. (2015)
Employee emotional intelligence	The ability to monitor and distinguish one's own and other's feelings and emotions, and to [potentially] use this awareness to guide customers' decisions and actions	Mayer and Salovey (1997)
Employee empathy	The caring and individual attention the employee provides its customers	Parasuraman et al. (1988)
Employee warmth	The employee's friendly, helpful, trustworthy, sincere, and moral appearance	Fiske et al. (2007)
Employee emotional labor	The extent to which employees are required to display appropriate emotions as part of their role, contributing to an efficient and effective job performance	Wong and Law (2002)

Construct name	Construct definition	Representative literature
Panel A: Employee emotional competence and related constructs in prior literature
Employee emotional competence	The ability to accurately perceive, understand, and regulate customer emotions in a service encounter to create and maintain an appropriate climate for service. Unlike emotional intelligence, which refers to potential abilities, emotional competence focuses on actual, observable behavior	Delcourt et al. (2016)
Employee professional competence	The application of relevant knowledge and technical abilities to solve customer issues reliably and efficiently, thereby conveying trustworthiness and accuracy	Wu et al. (2015)
Employee emotional intelligence	The ability to monitor and distinguish one's own and other's feelings and emotions, and to [potentially] use this awareness to guide customers' decisions and actions	Mayer and Salovey (1997)
Employee empathy	The caring and individual attention the employee provides its customers	Parasuraman et al. (1988)
Employee warmth	The employee's friendly, helpful, trustworthy, sincere, and moral appearance	Fiske et al. (2007)
Employee emotional labor	The extent to which employees are required to display appropriate emotions as part of their role, contributing to an efficient and effective job performance	Wong and Law (2002)

Source	Focal employee competence(s)	Main objective	Product/service category	Context	Method	Outcome variables	Country	Main findings
Panel B: Selected empirical studies on employee competencies
White (2005), Journal of Consumer Psychology	Benevolence-based and expertise-based trust	Influence of perceived benevolence vs. expertise on consumer advice acceptance under varying emotional decision difficulty	Financial advice services	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based), N = 307 students Manipulation of employee competencies through descriptions of the advisor's behavior, reflecting their expertise and benevolence (non-verbal)	- Advice acceptance - Confidence in advice	USA	- When perceived emotional difficulty is low, expert advice is dominant - When perceived emotional difficulty is high, advice from benevolent advisors is dominant - Stress-buffering effect of benevolence on confidence
Kidwell et al. (2007), Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management	Ability to perceive customer emotions	Role of perceiving emotion ability on the relationship between adaptive selling and sales performance and between customer-oriented selling and sales performance	Various products and services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, multiple regression analyses) N = 135 (matched set of salespeople and supervisors)	Sales performance - Perceived performance - Supervisor rating of performance	Not specified	- At high levels of perceived emotion ability, adaptive selling and customer-oriented selling have a positive impact on sales performance
Nguyen and Leclerc (2011), Journal of Services Marketing	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Role of benevolence in the relationship between perceived employee competence and perceived service firm image	Financial services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based, hierarchical multiple regression) N = 445 customers	- Firm image	Canada	- Benevolence enhances the impact of employee competence on firm image
Delcourt et al. (2013), Journal of Service Management	Emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional competence on customer satisfaction and loyalty	Hair-styling service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 247 students	- Customer satisfaction - Customer loyalty - Rapport	Not specified	- Emotional competence positively impacts on satisfaction and loyalty - Rapport serves as a partial mediator of these effects
Wu et al. (2015), Journal of Services Marketing	Interpersonal competence, professional competence	Impact of FLE service competencies (scale development) on perceived service quality	Various services (insurance, bank, financial planning, real estate, car dealership)	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based, PLS-SEM) N = 252 customers	- Reliability - Responsive-ness - Assurance - Empathy	Not specified	- Interpersonal competence significantly predicts all four service quality dimensions - Professional competence predicts reliability and assurance
Delcourt et al. (2017), Journal of Service Research	Technical competence, emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional and technical competencies on negative customer emotions and satisfaction in emotionally charged service encounters	Transportation (Airline check-in)	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, video-based), N = 223 students Manipulation of employee competencies: Technical competence (verbal and non-verbal); emotional competence (verbal and nonverbal)	- Negative customer emotions - Customer satisfaction with the employee response	Europe, country not specified	- Both competencies should be displayed by employees - When emotional competence is low, technical competence has no effect on negative emotions and satisfaction - When emotional competence is high, technical competence decreases negative emotions and increases satisfaction
Fernandes et al. (2018), Journal of Services Marketing	Emotional competence	Impact of employee emotional competence on post-recovery satisfaction, trust, WOM and repurchase intention depending on various service types (level of employee-customer contact)	Various services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based; PLS-SEM) N = 355 customers who experienced a service failure that was followed by a recovery	Post-recovery outcomes - Satisfaction with service recovery - Trust in service provider - WOM - Repurchase intention	Not specified	- Significant effect of employee emotional competence on satisfaction, trust, WOM and repurchase intention - Satisfaction partially (fully) mediates the relationship between emotional competence and trust (WOM, repurchase intention) - For high-contact (as opposed to medium- and low-contact) services, the effect of emotional competence on satisfaction is stronger
Matute et al. (2018), Journal of Services Marketing	Emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional competence on clients' responses in high-contact personalized services	Fitness personal training service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based; PLS-SEM) N = 296 fitness club clients	- Rapport - Trust - Loyalty to the employee - Loyalty to the company	Spain	- Emotional competence positively influences loyalty to the service employee, as well as trust and rapport - Emotional competence does not significantly affect loyalty toward the company
Lucia-Palacios et al. (2020), Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	Task competence (interpreted as professional competence according to our understanding), interaction competence	Influence of FLE task and interaction competencies on customer satisfaction with the store under various situational circumstances (query type with consultation vs. assistance, store crowding)	Fashion	Offline	Qualitative study (in-depth interviews) N = 41 consumers Quantitative study (survey at shopping mall, OLS-SEM) N = 575 customers	- Customer satisfaction with the store	Spain	- Effect of FLE task competence on customer satisfaction is stronger when the store is crowded - Effect of interaction competence is stronger in consultation queries
Schneider and Zielke (2021), Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	Service quality/competence (with being friendly and knowledgeable)	Relevant only Study B: Influence of employee availability and service quality on purchase intentions	Sports shoe retail	Offline	Study B: quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based), N = 324 consumers (convenience sample) Manipulation of service quality through descriptions of the employee's behavior	Purchase intentions - Showrooming behavior (i.e. browsing in a physical store and subsequently purchasing online) - Offline purchase	Not specified	- Service quality/competence reduces showrooming behavior
Umar and Saleem (2022) British Food Journal	Emotional competence	Influence of perceived employee emotional competence on recovery satisfaction direcly and via consumer forgiveness indirectly; moderating role of failure type	Restaurant service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall of most recent service failure, PLS-SEM) N = 204 customers	- Recovery satisfaction - Consumer forgiveness	Pakistan	- Emotional competence impacts recovery satisfaction directly and indirectly via consumer forgiveness - The relationship between emotional competence and recovery satisfaction is weaker for process failures (than for outcome failures)
Rao et al. (2024) The TQM Journal	Employee competence (with technical competence, emotional competence, interpersonal competence)	Effect of perceived employee competence on customer loyalty through justice perception and affection; moderating roles of gender and service failure	Banking services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 535 customers	- Attitudinal loyalty - Behavioral loyalty	India	- Employee competence boosts attitudinal and behavioral loyalty - Loyalty is partly mediated by justice perception and customer affection - Attitudinal loyalty drives behavioral loyalty - Effects are generally stronger for females and for low service failures
Röding et al. (2024), The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research	Service competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Influence of different types of technology-infused frontline service encounters on customers' perceptions of frontline employee service competence and, subsequently, trust and willingness to pay	Outdoor retail	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, video-based scenarios) N = 944 customers	- Trust towards the frontline employee - Willingness to pay	Not specified	- Technology infusion significantly influences customers' perceived service competence - Technology-free encounters yield the highest perceived competence and trust - Technology-facilitated encounters generate the highest willingness to pay - Perceived service competence mediates the effects of service encounter type on trust and willingness to pay - Technology infusion can reduce perceived employee competence
Supramaniam et al. (2024), FIIB Business Review	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Influence of interactions with salespeople on customers' emotions directly as well as indirectly on relational outcomes and overall satisfaction	Fashion	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 301 customers	- Customeremotions - Customer value - Customer satisfaction - Customer competence	Malaysia	- Salespersons' competence influences customer emotions positively that in turn drive customer satisfaction, value and competence - Affective empathic interactions drive salesperson competence
Luna-Cortés (2025), Journal of Services Marketing	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Importance of employee warmth and competence on customers' expected service quality of the hotel and their willingness to stay depending on the (non-)luxury context	Hotel services	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, (non-) luxury hotel pictures shown, (non) luxury hotel written descriptions, T-tests) N = 100 UK- participants N = 100 US-participants Quantitative study (survey, T-tests) N = 63 luxury hotel guests N = 106 non-luxury hotel guests Quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based N = 160 Manipulation of employee competence and warmth through description of employees' characteristics	- Willingness to stay - Expected service quality	UK, USA, Monaco, France and Italy	- Consumers evaluate competence and warmth as more important for luxury hotels - When focusing on only one characteristic, employee competence is more important for luxury hotels - For luxury hotels, employee competence leads to a higher expected service quality and higher willingeness to stay of customers
Saleem et al. (2025), British Food Journal	Emotional competence	Influence of perceived employee emotional competence on customer emotional attachment via service recovery satisfaction; moderation of service failure severity	Restau-rant service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall of most recent service failure, PLS-SEM) N = 195 customers	- Recovery satisfaction - Customer emotional attachment	USA	- Emotional competence impacts emotional attachment directly and indirectly via recovery satisfaction - Consumers feel more emotionally connected to the restaurant when they are satisfied with the service recovery - The relationship between emotional competence and recovery satisfaction becomes stronger as the failure gets more severe
Yao et al. (2025), Foods	Service competence (with product expertise, communicaton and interaction competence, empathic understanding, digital service competence)	Effect of perceived service competence on repurchase intention via customer satisfaction and via trust; moderating role of online-merge-offline setting	Restau-rant services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM), N = 326 Gen Z customers	- Repurchase intention - Customer satisfaction - Brand trust	China	- Service competence positively influences repurchase intentions and customer satisfaction - Service competence does not influence brand trust - Customer satisfaction is a mediator of the relationship between service competence and repurchase intention - Online-merge-offline setting has no moderating effect on the relationship of service competence and customer satisfaction as well as service competence and brand trust
Sun et al. (2026) Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding	Impact of coaching leadership and psychological mechanisms (intrinsic motivation, autonomy, competence, relatedness) on employee creativity; moderation of perceived ease of use of focal in-store automation technology	Fashion	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 311 employees	- Employee creativity	USA	- Intrinsic motivation to adopt in-store automation technology positively affects employee competence - Employee competence has no effect on their creativity - Perceived ease of use of technology negatively moderates the relationship between competence and creativity
Kumar and Kaur (2026), Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication	Social competence, emotional competence, professional competence	Influence of self-perceived social, emotional, and professional competences via internal marketing on service recovery performance; moderation of service sector is explored	Hotel services, automobile service centers, shopping malls	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, Hayes' Process model) N = 210 dyad sets of employees and their managers	- Service recovery performance	India	- All competency types have a positive effect on service recovery performance - The relationship between the competency types and service recovery performance is mediated by internal marketing - Industry differences exist
Our study	Emotional competence, professional competence	Change of consumers' expectations regarding employee competencies due to retail digitalization; effect of employee emotional competence on customer responses directly and indirectly via customer emotional state; interaction with employee professional competence; change in effects of online vs. offline contexts	Fashion	Offline and online	Qualitative study (semi-structured interviews), N = 18 consumers Qualitative study (survey with open questions), N = 54 fashion retailers Quantitative studies (experiments, scenario-based), N = 126, N = 187, N = 115 consumers Manipulation of employee competencies: Emotional competence (verbal); Professional competence (verbal)	- Advice taking - Satisfaction - WOM (company) - Customer emotional state	Germany and Austria	- Despite the online shift, customers still value personal contact and expect both professional and emotional competence - Retailers see the value in online advice but struggle to meet new competence demands - Emotional competence positively drives customer responses in the online context - When emotional competence is high, the influence of professional competence on advice taking and satisfaction is weaker in the online context - Customer emotional state mediates the relationship between emotional competence and customer responses - The effect of emotional competence on customer emotional state is weaker in the online compared to the offline context

Source	Focal employee competence(s)	Main objective	Product/service category	Context	Method	Outcome variables	Country	Main findings
Panel B: Selected empirical studies on employee competencies
White (2005), Journal of Consumer Psychology	Benevolence-based and expertise-based trust	Influence of perceived benevolence vs. expertise on consumer advice acceptance under varying emotional decision difficulty	Financial advice services	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based), N = 307 students Manipulation of employee competencies through descriptions of the advisor's behavior, reflecting their expertise and benevolence (non-verbal)	- Advice acceptance - Confidence in advice	USA	- When perceived emotional difficulty is low, expert advice is dominant - When perceived emotional difficulty is high, advice from benevolent advisors is dominant - Stress-buffering effect of benevolence on confidence
Kidwell et al. (2007), Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management	Ability to perceive customer emotions	Role of perceiving emotion ability on the relationship between adaptive selling and sales performance and between customer-oriented selling and sales performance	Various products and services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, multiple regression analyses) N = 135 (matched set of salespeople and supervisors)	Sales performance- Perceived performance - Supervisor rating of performance	Not specified	- At high levels of perceived emotion ability, adaptive selling and customer-oriented selling have a positive impact on sales performance
Nguyen and Leclerc (2011), Journal of Services Marketing	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Role of benevolence in the relationship between perceived employee competence and perceived service firm image	Financial services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based, hierarchical multiple regression) N = 445 customers	- Firm image	Canada	- Benevolence enhances the impact of employee competence on firm image
Delcourt et al. (2013), Journal of Service Management	Emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional competence on customer satisfaction and loyalty	Hair-styling service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 247 students	- Customer satisfaction - Customer loyalty - Rapport	Not specified	- Emotional competence positively impacts on satisfaction and loyalty - Rapport serves as a partial mediator of these effects
Wu et al. (2015), Journal of Services Marketing	Interpersonal competence, professional competence	Impact of FLE service competencies (scale development) on perceived service quality	Various services (insurance, bank, financial planning, real estate, car dealership)	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based, PLS-SEM) N = 252 customers	- Reliability - Responsive-ness - Assurance - Empathy	Not specified	- Interpersonal competence significantly predicts all four service quality dimensions - Professional competence predicts reliability and assurance
Delcourt et al. (2017), Journal of Service Research	Technical competence, emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional and technicalcompetencies on negativecustomer emotions and satisfaction in emotionallycharged service encounters	Transportation (Airline check-in)	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, video-based), N = 223 students Manipulation of employee competencies: Technical competence (verbal and non-verbal); emotional competence (verbal and nonverbal)	- Negative customer emotions - Customer satisfaction with the employee response	Europe, country not specified	- Both competencies should be displayed by employees - When emotional competence is low, technical competence has no effect on negative emotions and satisfaction - When emotional competence is high, technical competence decreases negative emotions and increases satisfaction
Fernandes et al. (2018), Journal of Services Marketing	Emotional competence	Impact of employee emotional competence on post-recovery satisfaction, trust, WOM and repurchase intention depending on various service types (level of employee-customer contact)	Various services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based; PLS-SEM) N = 355 customers who experienced a service failure that was followed by a recovery	Post-recovery outcomes- Satisfaction with service recovery - Trust in service provider - WOM - Repurchase intention	Not specified	- Significant effect of employee emotional competence on satisfaction, trust, WOM and repurchase intention - Satisfaction partially (fully) mediates the relationship between emotional competence and trust (WOM, repurchase intention) - For high-contact (as opposed to medium- and low-contact) services, the effect of emotional competence on satisfaction is stronger
Matute et al. (2018), Journal of Services Marketing	Emotional competence	Effect of employee emotional competence on clients' responses in high-contact personalized services	Fitness personal training service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall-based; PLS-SEM) N = 296 fitness club clients	- Rapport - Trust - Loyalty to the employee - Loyalty to the company	Spain	- Emotional competence positively influences loyalty to the service employee, as well as trust and rapport - Emotional competence does not significantly affect loyalty toward the company
Lucia-Palacios et al. (2020), Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	Task competence (interpreted as professional competence according to our understanding), interaction competence	Influence of FLE task and interaction competencies on customer satisfaction with the store under various situational circumstances (query type with consultation vs. assistance, store crowding)	Fashion	Offline	Qualitative study (in-depth interviews) N = 41 consumers Quantitative study (survey at shopping mall, OLS-SEM) N = 575 customers	- Customer satisfaction with the store	Spain	- Effect of FLE task competence on customer satisfaction is stronger when the store is crowded - Effect of interaction competence is stronger in consultation queries
Schneider and Zielke (2021), Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	Service quality/competence (with being friendly and knowledgeable)	Relevant only Study B: Influence of employee availability and service quality on purchase intentions	Sports shoe retail	Offline	Study B: quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based), N = 324 consumers (convenience sample) Manipulation of service quality through descriptions of the employee's behavior	Purchase intentions- Showrooming behavior (i.e. browsing in a physical store and subsequently purchasing online) - Offline purchase	Not specified	- Service quality/competence reduces showrooming behavior
Umar and Saleem (2022)British Food Journal	Emotional competence	Influence of perceived employee emotional competence on recovery satisfaction direcly and via consumer forgiveness indirectly; moderating role of failure type	Restaurant service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall of most recent service failure, PLS-SEM) N = 204 customers	- Recovery satisfaction - Consumer forgiveness	Pakistan	- Emotional competence impacts recovery satisfaction directly and indirectly via consumer forgiveness - The relationship between emotional competence and recovery satisfaction is weaker for process failures (than for outcome failures)
Rao et al. (2024)The TQM Journal	Employee competence (with technical competence, emotional competence,interpersonal competence)	Effect of perceived employee competence on customer loyalty through justice perception and affection; moderating roles of gender and service failure	Banking services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 535 customers	- Attitudinal loyalty - Behavioral loyalty	India	- Employee competence boosts attitudinal and behavioral loyalty - Loyalty is partly mediated by justice perception and customer affection - Attitudinal loyalty drives behavioral loyalty - Effects are generally stronger for females and for low service failures
Röding et al. (2024), The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research	Service competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Influence of different types of technology-infused frontline service encounters on customers' perceptions of frontline employee service competence and, subsequently, trust and willingness to pay	Outdoor retail	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, video-based scenarios) N = 944 customers	- Trust towards the frontline employee - Willingness to pay	Not specified	- Technology infusion significantly influences customers' perceived service competence - Technology-free encounters yield the highest perceived competence and trust - Technology-facilitated encounters generate the highest willingness to pay - Perceived service competence mediates the effects of service encounter type on trust and willingness to pay - Technology infusion can reduce perceived employee competence
Supramaniam et al. (2024), FIIB Business Review	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Influence of interactions with salespeople on customers' emotions directly as well as indirectly on relational outcomes and overall satisfaction	Fashion	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 301 customers	- Customeremotions - Customer value - Customer satisfaction - Customer competence	Malaysia	- Salespersons' competence influences customer emotions positively that in turn drive customer satisfaction, value and competence - Affective empathic interactions drive salesperson competence
Luna-Cortés (2025), Journal of Services Marketing	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding)	Importance of employee warmth and competence on customers' expected service quality of the hotel and their willingness to stay depending on the (non-)luxury context	Hotel services	Offline	Quantitative study (experiment, (non-) luxury hotel pictures shown, (non) luxury hotel written descriptions, T-tests) N = 100 UK- participants N = 100 US-participants Quantitative study (survey, T-tests) N = 63 luxury hotel guests N = 106 non-luxury hotel guests Quantitative study (experiment, scenario-based N = 160 Manipulation of employee competence and warmth through description of employees' characteristics	- Willingness to stay - Expected service quality	UK, USA, Monaco, France and Italy	- Consumers evaluate competence and warmth as more important for luxury hotels - When focusing on only one characteristic, employee competence is more important for luxury hotels - For luxury hotels, employee competence leads to a higher expected service quality and higher willingeness to stay of customers
Saleem et al. (2025), British Food Journal	Emotional competence	Influence of perceived employee emotional competence on customer emotional attachment via service recovery satisfaction; moderation of service failure severity	Restau-rant service	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, recall of most recent service failure, PLS-SEM) N = 195 customers	- Recovery satisfaction - Customer emotional attachment	USA	- Emotional competence impacts emotional attachment directly and indirectly via recovery satisfaction - Consumers feel more emotionally connected to the restaurant when they are satisfied with the service recovery - The relationship between emotional competence and recovery satisfaction becomes stronger as the failure gets more severe
Yao et al. (2025), Foods	Service competence (with product expertise, communicaton and interaction competence, empathic understanding, digital service competence)	Effect of perceived service competence on repurchase intention via customer satisfaction and via trust; moderating role of online-merge-offline setting	Restau-rant services	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM), N = 326 Gen Z customers	- Repurchase intention - Customer satisfaction - Brand trust	China	- Service competence positively influences repurchase intentions and customer satisfaction - Service competence does not influence brand trust - Customer satisfaction is a mediator of the relationship between service competence and repurchase intention - Online-merge-offline setting has no moderating effect on the relationship of service competence and customer satisfaction as well as service competence and brand trust
Sun et al. (2026)Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management	Competence (interpreted as professional according to our understanding	Impact of coaching leadership and psychological mechanisms (intrinsic motivation, autonomy, competence, relatedness) on employee creativity; moderation of perceived ease of use of focal in-store automation technology	Fashion	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, PLS-SEM) N = 311 employees	- Employee creativity	USA	- Intrinsic motivation to adopt in-store automation technology positively affects employee competence - Employee competence has no effect on their creativity - Perceived ease of use of technology negatively moderates the relationship between competence and creativity
Kumar and Kaur (2026), Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication	Social competence, emotional competence, professional competence	Influence of self-perceived social, emotional, and professional competences via internal marketing on service recovery performance; moderation of service sector is explored	Hotel services, automobile service centers, shopping malls	Offline	Quantitative study (survey, Hayes' Process model) N = 210 dyad sets of employees and their managers	- Service recovery performance	India	- All competency types have a positive effect on service recovery performance - The relationship between the competency types and service recovery performance is mediated by internal marketing - Industry differences exist
Our study	Emotional competence, professional competence	Change of consumers' expectations regarding employee competencies due to retail digitalization; effect of employee emotional competence on customer responses directly and indirectly via customer emotional state; interaction with employee professional competence; change in effects of online vs. offline contexts	Fashion	Offline and online	Qualitative study (semi-structured interviews), N = 18 consumers Qualitative study (survey with open questions), N = 54 fashion retailers Quantitative studies (experiments, scenario-based), N = 126, N = 187, N = 115 consumers Manipulation of employee competencies: Emotional competence (verbal); Professional competence (verbal)	- Advice taking - Satisfaction - WOM (company) - Customer emotional state	Germany and Austria	- Despite the online shift, customers still value personal contact and expect both professional and emotional competence - Retailers see the value in online advice but struggle to meet new competence demands - Emotional competence positively drives customer responses in the online context - When emotional competence is high, the influence of professional competence on advice taking and satisfaction is weaker in the online context - Customer emotional state mediates the relationship between emotional competence and customer responses - The effect of emotional competence on customer emotional state is weaker in the online compared to the offline context

Source(s): Table by the authors

[ViewLarge]

Sharing Unavailable