Why organizational pride is important for customer relations

Which measures can be used to improve customer relations in the long term is a topic that affects practically every company. A customer relationship should be any type of relationship that a person enters into with an organization in order to receive a service in any form, and not just a purchase relationship in which a customer receives a product for a fee.

According to the latest findings, a company can no longer differentiate itself from other companies by striving for high customer satisfaction alone. This requires more than that, namely customer enthusiasm. And how is this achieved? One important factor among others is organizational pride as a special form of employee pride. But organizational pride also has quite different positive effects on the company and its employees. The role organizational pride plays in building customer relationships will be examined in more detail below.

From customer satisfaction to customer enthusiasm

Customer satisfaction is defined as the extent to which the customer's expectations match the experience he or she has with a product or service. Nowadays, a customer relationship is quickly terminated if the experience does not meet expectations, because there are enough alternatives for the customer. Customer satisfaction has therefore become a basic requirement for a customer relationship.

In the long run, emotional attachment of customers is much more important than a high level of satisfaction. In order to achieve emotional attachment, customers must be inspired. This happens, for example, when customer expectations are not only met but even exceeded. With such a positive surprise, the customer is addressed positively on an emotional level, which in turn has a positive effect on the customer relationship. Emotionally connected customers buy more products and services, show less price sensitivity and identify more strongly with the company.

Organizational pride as an important prerequisite for customer enthusiasm

The question that now arises is: how can customers really be surprised within the framework of profitability? In order to surprise and inspire a customer, services must be provided that the customer does not expect. Particularly in the area of services, the service orientation of employees in customer contact is an important set screw, because a high level of service orientation creates enthusiastic customers. About half of all triggers of customer enthusiasm are based on interpersonal aspects (such as professional competence, commitment) and social skills (such as friendliness, reliability, appreciation and attention). An important prerequisite is that employees show genuine enthusiasm for their work and are proud of their company.

How organizational pride is created: Mini-excursion into psychology

There are three basic prerequisites for the perception of organizational pride as a special form of employee pride: firstly, a high level of identification with the organization, secondly, a perceived success of the organization and thirdly, an attribution of the success to the capabilities and efforts of the organization. If employees can tell their families, friends and acquaintances that they are involved in well-known and good products or services, this also increases their social recognition.

Another important aspect of psychology that needs to be considered is the distinction between emotion and attitude. While an emotion is a short-lasting phenomenon, an attitude is a longer-term attitude.

In terms of organizational pride, emotional organizational pride arises as a short-term reaction to one perceived performance success, while attitude-related organizational pride represents a long-term attitude as a result of an overall assessment of the company's situation.

In order to achieve long lasting improved customer relationships, a company should try to create attitude-related organizational pride among its employees. A study of 252 call center employees investigated which factors were decisive for the formation of organizational pride. The most important factors identified were "further education and training" and "variety at work", followed by "trouble-free work", "support from superiors", "room for maneuver" and "compensation".

Why it needs employees who are proud of their organization

Psychological studies have shown that organizational pride is a strong intrinsic motivating factor and has a positive influence on customer orientation. As a logical consequence, organizational pride also reduces the intention of employees to change jobs. Thus, a company benefits in several ways if it succeeds in instilling organizational pride in its employees as a long-term attitude. Not only can they inspire customers with a better service orientation and thus win them over as satisfied and loyal customers, but the employees also stay with the company longer.

And what does this mean for your own company?

No matter which company you work for, whatever products or services you offer or sell, you will always have customers! If you want to retain them for your business success in the long term and inspire them with enthusiasm for your company, then you should definitely make sure that your employees are proud of your company. Topics such as further education and training, variety at work, trouble-free work, support from superiors, room for maneuver for your employees and, last but not least, remuneration are topics that you should definitely consider. Other factors that are often mentioned are also meaningfulness of work and appreciation. Not only will you achieve long lasting improvements in customer relations, but your employees will also be much more intrinsically motivated, will perform even better and will remain with your company for even longer. There are many ways to inspire and make your employees proud - but they will only work if you actually use them.

Further reading

Gouthier, M.H.J. & Rhein, M. (2011). Organi-sational pride and its positive effects on employee behavior. Journals of Service Management, 22 (5), 633-649.

Krämer, T., Gouthier, M.H.J., & Wulf K. (2013). Organizational pride in the

Customer Care Center. Marketing Review St. Gallen, 3, 34-43.

Krämer, T. & Rhein, M. (2012). Employee pride in the service sector. In: Reichwald, R., Franz, M., Hermann, S., & Schipanski, A. (eds.): Services, a field of the future: Professionalization - Appreciation - Innovation (pp. 471 - 485). Wiesbaden.

This essay was originally published on the FHNW website under the heading "Marktpsychologie - beste Arbeiten 2018".