Perceived supervisory support and service recovery performance : The moderating role of personality traits

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of personality traits (i.e. extraversion and emotional stability) toward the relationship between perceived supervisory support (PSS) and employees’ service recovery performance (SRP) in call centers. Design/methodology/approach Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to call center in service organizations located in Thailand. Moderated regression analysis and the follow-up analyses were employed to test hypotheses. Findings The findings reveal that emotional stability moderates the relationship between PSS and employees’ SRP. Unexpectedly, no evidence was found that extraversion moderates the service performance relationship. Research limitations/implications The limitations include generalizability and the neglect of other personality traits that could influence SRP. Future research could validate the study in different countries and examine the moderating roles of other personality traits in the SRP model. Practical implications This study provides insights for people management managers that SRP of employees with high emotional stability could be enhanced and diminished corresponding to the level of supervisory support. Therefore, attention should be paid to this particular group of call centers for their contribution that could be maximized if they received high support from supervisors. Originality/value Previously, little attention has been given to understand the role of personality traits on SRP. In doing so, this research contributes to the literature by investigating the moderating roles of emotional stability and extraversion on employees’ SRP.