The impact of frontline employees' perceptions of internal marketing on employee outcomes

Frontline employees (FLEs) are the face of a service organisation, dealing directly with the firms' customers, who, if effectively managed through internal marketing (IM), deliver improved customer experiences. This research develops and empirically tests whether FLEs' experience of IM programmes influences FLEs' perceptions of internal market orientation (IMO) which, in turn, will have an impact on their organisational identification (OI) and job satisfaction (JS) and, ultimately, on their customer-oriented behaviour (COB). It also tests whether perception of IMO mediates the relationship between employees' experiences of IM programmes and FLEs' OI and JS, and, in turn, whether this predicts FLEs' COB. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of 295 frontline salespeople working for a large, general Bangladeshi insurance company. The study found that FLEs' experience of IM programmes positively influenced their views of IMO. Further, FLEs' OI and JS mediated the relationship between their perceived IMO and COB. Theoretical and managerial implications are then discussed.