The Effects of Employee Job Titles on Respect Granted by Customers

Abstract

Job titles are symbols that can communicate employee attributes and roles within an organization. Companies use job titles to convey qualities of their workers to individuals both inside and outside of the firm. Using signaling theory, this essay discusses how job titles can affect the behavior of customers through information asymmetry, thus allowing employers to potentially influence behaviors. Looking from the other perspective, this essay develops a hypothesis related to the level of respect that customers display towards frontline service employees and how their level of respect may be influenced by employee job titles. A second hypothesis is proposed related to customer perceived value of a transaction and how value may provide a moderating role on the level of respect granted to the employee in the customer-employee interaction.

Keywords: signaling theory, job titles, customer-employee interaction, frontline employees, respect