Why participation works

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1 Why participation works

2 Full title Why participation works: the role of employee involvement in the implementation of the customer relationship management type of organizational change. Key words Participation, employee participation, organizational change, change management, human resource management, HRM, customer relationship management, CRM, CRM effectiveness, attitudes, relations, pressures, contents, ownership, satisfaction, trust, workload, stress, conflict. ISBN (book) (electronic version) Publisher SOM Research School, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Printer Print Partners Ipskamp, Enschede, The Netherlands Previous publications Previously published books by Jelle T. Bouma: Betrokkenheid als sleutel (ISBN ), Internet & Intranet ( ), Vraagtekens ( ). Copyrights Copyrights Jelle T. Bouma. No part of this publication may be stored, reproduced, nor transmitted in any form nor by any means without prior written permission of the author. Additional copies can be ordered online via

relations, pressures, contents, ownership, satisfaction, trust, workload, stress, conflict.

3 RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN Why participation works: the role of employee involvement in the implementation of the customer relationship management type of organizational change Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Economie en Bedrijfskunde aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. F. Zwarts, in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 22 juni 2009 om uur door Jelle Tjitze Bouma geboren op 16 april 1972 te Hoornsterzwaag

Economie en Bedrijfskunde aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. F.

4 Promotor Prof. dr. P.C. Verhoef Copromotor Dr. B.J.M. Emans Beoordelingscommissie Prof. dr. M. Krafft Prof. dr. J. Paauwe Prof. dr. J.I. Stoker ISBN (boek) (electronische versie)

5 I dedicate this dissertation to my father for his encouragement to always aim slightly higher

7 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION Research background... 1 Research foundation: human resource management (HRM)... 1 Research justification: why participation of employees?... 3 Research foundation: customer relationship management (CRM)... 6 Research justification: why CRM organizational change? Research design... 9 Research scope: individual employees changing financial organizations towards CRM... 9 Research objective: understand how employee participation influences CRM change Research question: in which way does employee participation influence CRM change?. 11 Research contribution: HRM and CRM academic research Research concepts Conceptual model i: employee participation, mediating entities, CRM effectiveness Dissertation outline Chapter 2: Theory Chapter 3: Method Chapter 4: Results Chapter 5: Discussion THEORY Theory on employee participation & CRM effectiveness Employee participation in the current research Employee participation is expected to be indirectly related to CRM effectiveness Theory on intrapersonal attitudes Employee participation is related to ownership Employee participation is related to satisfaction Ownership and satisfaction are related to CRM effectiveness Ownership and satisfaction are expected to play mediating roles Partial model ii: employee participation, ownership/satisfaction, CRM effectiveness Theory on interpersonal relations Employee participation is related to being trusted and trusting others Being trusted and trusting others are related to CRM effectiveness Being trusted & trusting others are expected to play mediating roles Partial model iii: employee participation, trusted/trusting, CRM effectiveness... 36

.. 9 Research scope: individual employees changing financial organizations towards CRM... 9 Research objective: understand how employee participation influences CRM change.

8 PREFACE In my job as a change consultant for over ten years, first at Accenture and then at Deloitte, I have actively supported dozens of client organizational changes. Often, the outcomes of these organizational changes differed more or less from the initial goals that were set by intelligent and experienced people. That surprised me. Why couldn t these people steer an organization exactly to the desired outcomes? What caused organizational change outcomes to change themselves? Those questions made me think. After a while the idea appeared, that unknown influences must alter the outcomes of organizational changes. After expressing my preliminary thoughts, several scholars from the University of Groningen challenged me to precise this subject and to create my personal contribution to science. The foregoing reveals in a nutshell why I started working on my Ph.D. research for one day a week, next to my consultancy job. Combining two tasks, practical field work as a consultant and theoretical research as a Ph.D. student, was never easy. The practical field work demanded over fifty work hours excluding twenty travel hours on average per week. Several much busier weeks did not leave room for any other activities at all, causing a temporary stand still in my research. However, during less busy weeks the combination of practical field work and theoretical research revealed some synergy, because several organizations that my colleagues and me supported to change, contributed quantitative data and qualitative insights to my research. I would like to thank my consultancy colleagues and the managers of those organizations for inspiration. This final product of my Ph.D. research has been shaped with guidance from several persons. I would like to thank Prof. dr. Peter C. Verhoef for his goal oriented suggestions and Dr. Ben J.M. Emans for his many detailed improvements. Furthermore, I would like to thank Prof. dr. Janny C. Hoekstra for her ability to ignite insights, Matilda Dorotic M.S.c. for her Lisrel revelations, Dr. Marian J. Oosterhuis and Drs. Frouke M. de Poel for their helpful guidance, Dr. Martin J. Land for his process support and Prof. dr. Arndt M. Sorge for his useful ideas. Furthermore, I would like to thank my promotion committee and all colleagues with whom I shared experiences and office spaces. Last but not least, I would like to thank Esther, Tijmen, my parents and everyone who always believe(d) in me. Lemmer, Jelle T. Bouma jellebouma@jellebouma.com

Why couldn t these people steer an organization exactly to the desired outcomes? What caused organizational change outcomes to change themselves? Those questions made me think.

9 2.4 Theory on job pressures Employee participation is related to workload Employee participation is related to stress Employee participation is related to conflict Workload, stress and conflict are related to CRM effectiveness Workload, stress and conflict are expected to play mediating roles Partial model iv: employee participation, workload/stress/conflict, CRM effectiveness Theory on job contents Employee participation is related to local fit Local fit is related to CRM effectiveness Local fit is expected to play a mediating role Partial model v: employee participation, local fit, CRM effectiveness Theoretical concepts Hypotheses overview Overview model vi: employee participation, mediators, CRM effectiveness METHOD Research population & sample Population: employees changing financial organizations towards CRM Sample: employees changing sixteen financial organizations towards CRM Research scales & items Scales construction: context-specific items and constructs Research assumptions Random respondent influences Random researcher influences Constant environmental influences Central roles for mediating influences Research data Data collection: pilot study among employees of one insurance organization Data collection: main study among employees of sixteen financial organizations Preliminary qualitative checks: interviews and discussions Preliminary quantitative checks: distinctiveness, distribution and reliability Table i: List of items Table ii: Factor loads of items Table iii: Test statistics of variables Methodological concepts Overview of research type, field, sample, data... 87

.. 46 Partial model iv: employee participation, workload/stress/conflict, CRM effectiveness.. 47 2.5 Theory on job contents... 49 Employee participation is related to local fit.

10 4 RESULTS Results on employee participation & CRM effectiveness Results on employee participation Results on CRM effectiveness Table iv: Descriptive statistics of variables Results on intrapersonal attitudes Results on employee participation, ownership & satisfaction, CRM effectiveness Table v: Pearson s correlations of intrapersonal attitudes Table vi: individual regression of intrapersonal attitudes on CRM effectiveness Table vii: multilevel regression of intrapersonal attitudes on CRM effectiveness Results on interpersonal relations Results on employee participation, being trusted & trusting others, CRM effectiveness 101 Table viii: Pearson s correlations of interpersonal relations Table ix: individual regression of interpersonal relations on CRM effectiveness Table x: multilevel regression of interpersonal relations on CRM effectiveness Results on job pressures Results on employee participation, workload & conflict & stress, CRM effectiveness Table xi: Pearson s correlations of job pressures Table xii: individual regression of job pressures on CRM effectiveness Table xiii: multilevel regression of job pressures on CRM effectiveness Results on job contents Results on employee participation, local fit, CRM effectiveness Table xiv: Pearson s correlations of job contents Table xv: individual regression of job contents on CRM effectiveness Table xvi: multilevel regression of job contents on CRM effectiveness Results on combined concepts Results on employee participation, combined mediators, CRM effectiveness Table xvii: Pearson s correlations of all variables Table xviii: combined individual regression analyses on CRM effectiveness Table xix: combined multilevel regression analyses on CRM effectiveness Table xx: confirmed hypotheses overview DISCUSSION Discussion on combined results Confirmed model vii: employee participation, mediators, CRM effectiveness Discussion on employee participation Discussion on all mediators

.. 98 Table vi: individual regression of intrapersonal attitudes on CRM effectiveness... 99 Table vii: multilevel regression of intrapersonal attitudes on CRM effectiveness... 100 4.

11 Discussion on CRM effectiveness Research implications Theoretical implications for scholars Practical implications for consultants Practical implications for managers Practical implications for employees Research limitations Limitations from the individual instead of the organizational aggregation level Limitations from the subjective instead of more objective measurements Limitations from the non-repeated measurements Limitations from the specific scope of the current research Future research Future research on employee participation Future research on CRM effectiveness Future longitudinal research Future research in a larger scope

.. 143 Limitations from the individual instead of the organizational aggregation level... 143 Limitations from the subjective instead of more objective measurements.

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