Effects of co-worker support and customer cooperation on service employee attitudes and behaviour: Empirical evidence from the airline industry Thanawut Limpanitgul a, * , Matthew J. Robson b , Julian Gould-Williams c , Weerawit Lertthaitrakul d a Faculty of Management Sciences, Kasetsart University, 199 M.6 Sukhumvit Road, Si Racha, Chonburi 20230, Thailand b Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, United Kingdom c Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, United Kingdom d Faculty of Business Administration, Sripatum University, Thailand article info Article history: Received 3 October 2012 Accepted 24 May 2013 Available online 20 September 2013 Keywords: Airline Co-worker support Customer cooperation Service employee Job attitude Mediation abstract The service marketing literature promotes the importance of customers and co-workers in providing excellent service delivery. Using a sample of 335 cabin service attendants of a major flag-carrier airline, we examine structural effects of support received from customers and co-workers on service employees’ attitudes and behaviours. In support of our hypotheses, we identify that the relationships between customer cooperation and external representation (i.e. the willingness of employees to promote the organization to outsiders), and the relationship between co-worker support and internal influence (i.e. employees’ involvement in recommending service improvements) are fully mediated by job satis- faction and organizational commitment. However, the data did not support two of our hypotheses, namely the effect of organisational commitment on internal influence, and the effect of customer cooperation on organisational commitment. It is possible that these non significant findings are a consequence of our respondents’ collectivistic values along with their differentiating between the or- ganization and customers. Ó 2013 The Authors. 1. Introduction The tourism industry has grown to become one of the largest and most important sectors in many countries. The industry con- tributes more than nine percents of world GDP and represents ten percent of employment worldwide (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2011). This said, there are growing numbers of tourism- related firms, resulting in intense competition between rival com- panies. As such, the pursuit of service excellence is considered an essential strategy (Gould-Williams, 1999). Increasing numbers of service providers seek to deliver superior service to customers in order to exceed customer expectations (Peccei & Rosenthal, 2001). Scholars have suggested that quality can be enhanced when em- ployees do “that little bit extra” for the customer (Ennew & Binks, 1999). As a result, a significant number of studies of employee extra-role behaviours have been carried out in various service contexts. The empirical evidence to date supports the significant role of organisational citizenship behaviour (hereafter OCB), which is defined as employee discretionary behaviour that is intended to help either individuals or organisations (see Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Blume, 2009 for review). However, Bell and Menguc (2002) reported that most studies rely on generic measures of OCB which are assumed to be appli- cable across contexts. To date, little is known about citizenship behaviours that are service-specific. The significance of these service-specific behaviours stems from an observation that some forms of OCB might be more appropriate for some sectors than others (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993). In the service sector, where employees “have special requirements on dimensions related to dealing with customers and representing the organisation to out- siders” (p. 90), studies have attempted to identify specific forms of service employee citizenship behaviour (SECB). One prevalent stream of work (e.g. Bettencourt & Brown, 1997) has emphasised prosocial service behaviour (PSB), which represents positive be- haviours that service employees direct at customers and co- workers. The service literature reveals two other dimensions of employee behaviour, namely internal influence and external rep- resentation which are critical to the success of service organisations (cf. Bowen & Schneider, 1985). According to Bettencourt, Gwinner, and Meuter (2001), external representation reflects allegiance to the organisation through the promotion of its interests and image to outsiders whereas internal influence refers to involvement and * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: fmstnl@src.ku.ac.th, topthana@gmail.com (T. Limpanitgul). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management journal homepage: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hospitality- and-tourism-management 1447-6770/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 The Authors. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2013.05.004 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 20 (2013) 23e33