Treat others just as you want to be treated: Capitalising on employees’ religiosity and emotional intelligence to nurture customer-focused perspective-taking

Abstract

Although the contribution of customer-focused perspective-taking in enhancing service performance has been extensively acknowledged in the literature, there is limited evidence on its antecedents. This study, therefore, tested a hypothesised model examining the interplay between employees’ religiosity and emotional intelligence in predicting customer-focused perspective-taking. The model was tested using data collected from 156 employees in the hospitality industry through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that employees’ religiosity is a prominent source of customer-focused perspective-taking, supported by mechanisms of emotional intelligence. The study contributes to theory and practice by deepening the understanding of psychological and value-based antecedents of customer-focused perspective-taking in highly interactive industries such as the hospitality industry. The study recommends empowering employees through customised training programmes to cultivate their ability to recognise emotions as valuable resources for customer management, especially in highly interactive sectors like the hospitality industry.