Seminar (Dept. of Marketing)

Title: Tell Them How They Did? Customer Feedback and Employee Well-Being

Speaker: Ruhan Liu ( Guanghua School of Management, Peking University)

Time: 10:00-11:30 am, May 29th (Wednesday), 2024

Venue：Room 1008, Mingde Business Building

Language：Chinese/English

Abstract：

Customer feedback reflects consumers’ interactions with organizations and frontline employees. It not only shapes customer behaviors or firm decisions, but can also influence employee outcomes. However, it is underused by businesses for employee management. Prior literature on customer feedback is dominated by the perspective of either consumers or marketers and lacks empirical research on how customer feedback affects employees. Addressing these gaps, this research explores the diverse impacts of customer feedback on employees with mixed methods. Through a survey, a field experiment, and scenario experiments involving over 2,000 employees from about 1,180 companies across sectors, the authors find that providing employees with positive and informative customer feedback can improve their well-being and work performance. Further, adding employer recognition on top of positive customer feedback can strengthen employer-employee relationships. Mechanism analyses reveal that employees’ perceived job security, job meaningfulness, and role clarity mediate the effects of customer feedback on employee well-being. Additionally, the valence and format of customer feedback jointly affect employee well-being. This research demonstrates the synergy between marketing and human resource management; contributes to the broader literature on marketing for good and social sustainability; and provides insights to firms regarding leveraging customer feedback in employee management.

Short biography：

Ruhan Liu is a Ph.D. Candidate in Marketing at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. She is also a visiting Ph.D. Student at Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. Before Ph.D., she received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Beijing Normal University. She has systematically received academic training in quantitative marketing and consumer behavior and can fully integrate theories and methods from both fields. Her research centers on marketing for good. She is enthusiastic about exploring the role of marketing in addressing social issues in several areas, such as (1) improving employees’ well-being, (2) nudging consumers’ sustainable behaviors, and (3) boosting rural economies.