Exploring the role of leadership style on the service quality-customer satisfaction link : Evidence from a B2B environment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of the leadership style on the service quality–customer satisfaction link. Design/methodology/approach – A special survey instrument was developed and tested with the use of exploratory factor and regression analyses. Findings – Data from 118 small enterprises were collected through personal interviews, and results supported that the level of leadership style moderates the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction despite what is commonly believed that leadership actually is a prerequisite of service quality. Practical/implications – Based on the fact that there is no literature connecting quality and satisfaction with leadership style, practitioners may be interested in finding out that executives’ behavior can influence the service provided to customers. Originality/value – Leadership style is a concept which has been associated with many variables such as service quality, performance and job satisfaction. In the marketing literature, it has been widely accepted that service quality is positively related to customer satisfaction. This work is the first trying to examine the effect of leadership style on service quality–customer satisfaction linkage under conditions of environmental uncertainty and instability.