The Path to Service Encounter Performance in Public and Private ‘Bureaucracies’

It7 this crrticle service etzco~rr~ferpe~orr?~trr~ce is urfu/)1.sed at the job level. Frorn an organiscirior~ul change perspective fron t-line jobs and initiatives which potentiullj~ influence the service encoLtrzters ure exrrminecl in Durfish banks und loccil govenlnzent. On the brisis of surveys, front-line etnl~1o~~ee.s' percepfiorzs of the service quality delivered are cornpared cind linked to recent strucruml, edlrcational and technological initiurives in an unrrlysis ~rsit~g structural equation models with laterzt variables. The resulrs stress the importrrrzce of giving authority to the front-line enzplo~lees in both the private at~cl the p~tblic sectors. It ix urg~red that more attention sho~rld be paid to job er~richrnent and to the involvement of employees as antecedents of succe.s.f~ll clzanges.