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Article Excerpt
This study examined the link between workplace fun, employee satisfaction, and perceptions of customer service quality. Our results showed that employees who experienced fun in the workplace had greater satisfaction with their job and that the relationship between workplace fun and job satisfaction was greater for those who placed a high value on workplace fun. Additionally, we found that satisfied employees believed that their organization provided customer service that was reliable, responsive, and empathetic, and that employees were knowledgeable and able to instill confidence in customers. Implications of our findings for service organizations and suggestions f or future research are also discussed
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With the service sector now accounting for two-thirds of current gross domestic product (Smith & Lum, 2005), management scholars are recognizing the need to more closely examine the link between various management practices and customer satisfaction. This research demonstrates that the use of teamwork and effective human resource management processes in staffing, training, and reward systems can have a positive impact on service quality (Pugh, Dietz, Wiley & Brooks, 2002; Schneider & Bowen; 1993). Others have emphasized the importance of creating a positive service climate or customer-focused culture (Basch, 2002; Ford & Heaton, 2001; Schneider, White & Paul, 1998; Whiteley, 1991). In generating such a culture, some service organizations have introduced the concept of workplace fun to further niche themselves competitively.
Recent analyses of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," suggest that a 'fun work environment' is one of the factors distinguishing superior performers from others (Chan, Gee & Steiner, 2000; Joyce, 2003).
These organizations seem to believe that workplace fun will enhance both employee and customer satisfaction. Matt Weinstein (1996), author of the popular press book Managing to Have Fun, supports this idea by stating "If you want your company to provide excellent customer service, you first have to provide that same kind of attention and appreciation to your internal customers--your own employees. You can't expect your employees to provide "service with a smile" if you don't give them something to smile about!" (p. 21).
Southwest Airlines was one of the first service organizations to incorporate fun into their corporate culture, resulting in positive consequences for both employee and customer satisfaction (Freiberg & Freiberg, 1996; Lancaster, 1999). The release of the best-selling Fish! books (Fish!, Fish! Tales, and Fish! Sticks), touting the success of organizations such as Pike Street Fish Market in introducing the "fun philosophy" into their workplace (Lundin, Paul, & Christensen, 2002, 2003; Lundin, Christensen, Paul, & Strand, 2002), has inspired other firms. Sprint, for example, won the 2002 "Call Center of the Year" award from Call Center Magazine after promoting fun in their workplace and transforming the organizational culture at its regional operations centers in Lenexa, Kansas and Phoenix, Arizona (Watson, 2002). More recently, Cold Stone Creamery has received widespread acclaim for its ability to provide a quality product in a fun-filled environment. The company offers not only a premium ice cream product but a unique customer experience of singing and entertainment by employees (Guiguis, 2005).
Other than the anecdotal evidence described above, there is limited empirical research examining the link between workplace fun, employee satisfaction, and perceptions of customer service quality. The purpose of this paper is to examine this issue and provide directions for future research.
Workplace Fun
What is workplace fun? With titles like "Fun and Gains," "Get Weird!," "301 More Ways to Have Fun at Work," "How to Make Work Fun!" and "Funny Works!," popular press writers have proposed a wide range of possible activities to make the workplace fun (Berger, 2002; Firth, 1995; Greenwich, 2000; Hemsath, 2001; Putzier 2001). These suggestions include relatively commonplace things such as bringing in food, giving awards, playing games, and forming committees to plan fun activities, to the wild and wacky such as hula hoop marathons, paper mummy fashion shows, and "one minute parades."
While recommendations and anecdotal evidence for creating fun work environments abound, there has been very little empirical work examining what makes a work environment fun. One exception is a study by Ford, McLaughlin, and Newstrom (2003) who surveyed 572 human resource professionals. These authors identified 23 different activities from the popular literature and asked their respondents to indicate whether their organization used these activities to create a fun work environment. The top three most frequently used activities were casual dress days, employee recognition and rewards, and company-provided food and refreshments (these activities were used by 84%, 83%, and 82%, respectively). Some less frequently used activities included costume days (used by 39% of respondents), fun committees (21%), and creative skits and songs for company events (20%). Their respondents also indicated that a fun work setting is created through activities that are often funny, humorous, or playful. Based on these results, the authors came up with the following definition: "A fun work environment intentionally encourages, initiates, and supports a variety of enjoyable and pleasurable activities that positively impact the attitude and productivity of individuals and groups" or more succinctly "a work environment that makes people smile" (p. 22).
Two more recent studies examined employee perceptions of what makes a fun work environment (Karl, Peluchette, Hall & Harland, 2005; Peluchette & Karl, 2005). The type of activities perceived as most fun by the employees in these two studies were outings (company-wide trip to an amusement park), food (everyone goes out to lunch, cake and ice cream for birthdays, potluck), and contests (baby picture, guess who?). Those rated the lowest were gifts (traveling flower bouquet), wild and wacky (pretending you are riding a roller coaster), let's laugh at ourselves (teams create anthems or skits), communications, kits, and committees (meetings are started with everyone completing "wouldn't it be fun if ..."), and games (play trivia, board, or card games during lunch).
Workplace Fun and Job Satisfaction
Considerable research has demonstrated that positive moods tend to generalize or spill over from whatever caused them to other stimuli in the temporal and social context (e.g., Forgas, Bower, & Krantz, 1984; Isen, Clark...
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