Journal of Strategic Marketing

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A generational study of employees’ customer

orientation: a motivational viewpoint in pandemic
time

Ali B. Mahmoud , Nicholas Grigoriou , Leonora Fuxman , William D. Reisel ,

Dieu Hack-Polay & Iris Mohr

To cite this article: Ali B. Mahmoud , Nicholas Grigoriou , Leonora Fuxman , William D.
Reisel , Dieu Hack-Polay & Iris Mohr (2020): A generational study of employees’ customer
orientation: a motivational viewpoint in pandemic time, Journal of Strategic Marketing, DOI:
10.1080/0965254X.2020.1844785

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2020.1844785

Published online: 19 Nov 2020.

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JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING
https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2020.1844785

A generational study of employees’ customer orientation: a

motivational viewpoint in pandemic time
a b
Ali B. Mahmoud , Nicholas Grigoriou , Leonora Fuxmanc, William D. Reisel c
,
d
Dieu Hack-Polay and Iris Mohrc
a
Business School, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, London, UK; bBusiness School, Monash University,
Victoria, Australia; cThe Peter J. Tobin College of Business, St. John’s University, New York, USA; dLincoln
International Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This study represents a scholarly endeavour to explore the effects of Received 8 October 2019
Covid-19 perceptions on customer orientation via job insecurity, Accepted 26 October 2020
burnout and workplace motivation alongside generational effects KEYWORDS
non-equivalency amongst a sample of customer service employees Covid-19; job insecurity;
working in different businesses located in three countries in the burnout; motivation;
MENA region. We received 752 responses composed of three gen­ customer orientation;
erations (i.e. X, Y, and Z) that were analysed mainly using Partial- generational differences
Least-Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach
and that included path and multigroup analyses. Our results show
that intense Covid-19 perceptions have indirect adverse effects on
customer orientation via a sequence of mediators comprising job
insecurity, burnout and workplace motivation. Non-equivalency is
spotted across generations regarding the relationships between
job insecurity and burnout, burnout and motivation as well as
motivation and customer orientation. Besides, intense Covid-19 per­
ceptions act more substantially as an indirect trigger of less favour­
able levels of customer orientation amongst younger generations.

Introduction
The world is currently in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has had a profound
effect on the way in which organisations conduct their business (Bartik et al., 2020), often
necessitating a change in their business models (Seetharaman, 2020). Figure 1Not surpris­
ingly, Covid-19 represents one of the most significant environmental changes in the
modern marketing history, which could potentially have a significant impact on many
facets of an organisation’s marketing operation (He & Harris, 2020).
Covid-19’s emergence, and its sweeping transformation of the political, social, and
economic landscape has created a unique opportunity for researchers in every disci­
pline to study the impacts of the Covid-19 virus (Venkatesh, 2020), Accordingly, this
study addresses an aspect of COVID-19 from an interdisciplinary perspective within
marketing and business psychology. Covid-19 research and its impact has been given
relatively inadequate attention, especially in a non-Western context. Despite the nas­
cent aspect of Covid-19 and its effects on organisational practice, early studies show

CONTACT Ali B. Mahmoud elguitarrista@live.com

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

H5

H2 Burnout
H5

Covid-19 H1 Job
Perceptions Insecurity
H5
H3

H6 Motivation
H6
H6
Generation H6 H6

H4
Customer
Orientation

Figure 1. Conceptual model.

that the virus is impacting job loss, job changes, job outcomes, coping, and support
(Venkatesh, 2020). This study focuses on employees’ customer orientation to explore
the potential effects of customer service employees’ COVID-19 perceptions on their
reported levels of job insecurity, burnout, motivation and customer orientation. Stock
and Hoyer (2005, p. 536) define customer orientation as ‘employees’ behaviours that
are geared towards satisfying customer needs adequately.’ We also investigate
whether generational differences moderate the hypothesised relationships in a non-
Western setting. In our analysis, we first assess a path model to learn how workplace
motivation predicts employees’ customer orientation transmitting the effects of
COVID-19 perceptions via job insecurity and burnout. Second, we see if the path
from COVID-19 to customer orientation exhibits any significant variations among
Generations X, Y and Z employees. In this study, we follow Mahmoud, Fuxman, et
al.’s (2020)) generational definitions, namely, Generation X (people born between
1965–1981), Generation Y (those born between 1982–1999, also known as
Millennials), and Generation Z (people born between 2000–2012)
To the best of our knowledge, understanding the effects of Covid-19 has not been
previously studied amongst customer service employees working in organisations based
in the MENA region. Further, organisational human resource management research has
been studied extensively from a Western perspective (Jackson et al., 2014), however, less
is own about such practices from a developing country perspective (Nguyen et al., 2018),
especially from a Middle Eastern context (Afiouni et al., 2014). When coupled with the
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 3

dearth of marketing studies focussing on the Middle East (Onyancha, 2011), our study
attempts to bridge both research gaps.
We centre our research on the service sector jobs, specifically customer service roles
because employee perceptions and behavioural attitudes with regard to customer orien­
tation are conspicuously vital for jobs in service industries. Employee interactions with the
customer (external or internal) are directly linked to the long-term economic sustainability
via service profit chain, (a commonly accepted concept developed by Heskett et al., 1994).
In service industries, employees providing (e.g., customer) service central and inseparable
from service delivery, to the extent that workers represent the services organisation
provides to consumers (Brown et al., 2002).
Scholars of strategic marketing attest that internal marketing will empower employees
to perform in a more market-oriented manner and motivate them to accomplish their job
tasks (Lings & Greenley, 2009). The path to a service organisation’s growth and its
economic well-being starts with employee’s favourable perceptions and attitudes
towards their job (driven by internal quality environment), which results in better reten­
tion and employee productivity improving service value presented to the customer.
Greater levels of service value, yields in better levels of customer satisfaction, which
sequentially improves customer loyalty, generating enhanced profitability and growth
(Bordoloi et al., 2018; Chowdhury et al., 2014; Farrell & Oczkowski, 2012; Strong & Harris,
2004).

Literature review and hypotheses

Covid-19 perceptions and job insecurity
Job insecurity can occur for many reasons. from broad economic forces such as
a recession or industry downturn, organisational restructuring, interpersonal factors, or
reasons both rational or irrational such as working on a short-term contract or fears that
are not prompted by facts other than dispositional susceptibility (Mahmoud, Reisel,
Fuxman, et al., 2020; Shoss, 2017). No matter the source, job insecurity represents
a substantial threat to individuals (Mahmoud, Reisel, Fuxman, et al., 2020 Farrell &
Oczkowski, 2009) and hence businesses and society. Based on the work of Greenhalgh
and Rosenblatt (1984, p. 438), we can describe job insecurity as perceived helplessness to
sustain desired stability in a threatened employment situation.
The ghost of war has been repeatedly used as a metaphor in political and media
rhetoric to refer to COVID-19 since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the
virus as a pandemic in March 2020. For instance, Queen Elizabeth II, in a rare speech on
the 5 April 2020, said ‘we will meet again’ conjuring up a wartime song from the Second
World War and invoking the Blitz spirit in the face of the global pandemic (Telegraph
Reporters, 2020). In March 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron used wartime terms
to describe the pandemic crisis. He said ‘we are at war . . . However, the enemy is here
invisible, elusive, it progresses. It thus requires a call to arms’ (BBC, 2020a). The U.S.
President, Donald Trump is not out of tune with that rhetoric and has echoed that by
describing the virus as ‘the invisible enemy’ while regarding himself as ‘wartime president’
in the battle against COVID-19 (The Guardian, 2020).
4 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

Covid-19 has altered the global political landscape. Governments in many countries
have initiated curbs to people’s mobility, whilst others have placed lockdown spanning
parts of or entire countries causing job losses of millions of people around the world in the
midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (BBC, 2020b) thus possibly elevating the levels of job
insecurity. In response to the pandemic, some organisationslike Google have asked their
employees to work from home. War-like crises have been linked to near-constant disrup­
tions to the everyday life where many businesses shut down because of the ‘war’ causing
many people economic damage and loss of jobs while other businesses being at sig­
nificant risk of confronting the same destiny (Mahmoud & Reisel, 2015; Farrell &
Oczkowski, 2012). The uncertainties stemming from the COVID-19 crisis are threatening
on many levels and are expected to increase prospects of job loss and therefore should
predict increased incidents of job insecurity. Therefore, we posit:

H1: Customer service employees’ Covid-19 perceptions are positively correlated with job
insecurity.

Job insecurity and burnout

Employee burnout has been conceptualised predominantly as a psychological state
(Bellou & Chatzinikou, 2015). This results from the absence of a sense of achievement as
well as disconnection of the employees from their work, causing emotion drain. Abós
et al. (2019) found a negative link between psychological need satisfaction and burnout.
This suggests that employees who felt rewarded tended to exhibit greater satisfaction
with their work and attain higher performance (Taormina & Law, 2000). It may be
simplistic to see burnout as mere physical exhaustion owing to employees being over-
worked. Burnout develops when physical exhaustion interacts with other psychological
factors as suggested above and the lack of preparedness to acknowledge the true
demand of the work (Leiter et al., 2013; Taormina & Law, 2000). This fundamental aspect
of burnout is well established in the burnout scholarship (Bellou & Chatzinikou, 2015;
Datta et al., 2007; Maslach & Jackson, 1981). It is therefore widely documented that
burnout has significant negative consequences for both the worker (for example, stress,
lack of interest in career development and self-confidence, and depression, etc.) and the
organisation (for example, decreased productivity, labour turnover, and reputation, etc.)
(Elder et al., 2014; Ullrich et al., 2012).
A significant finding in the existing literature which closely relates to our study is the
work of Bellou and Chatzinikou (2015). They found a correlation between burnout and
organisational change. They argue that burnout occurs during periods of organisational
change. Covid-19 is relatively new, yet there is already emerging evidence of a link
between the change caused by the pandemic and rising levels of burnout (Giurge &
Bohns, 2020). The Covid-19 caused burnout has resulted from increased remote working
and isolation (Bowden, 2020; Giurge & Bohns, 2020), the burden of work and under­
staffing (Wu et al., 2020).
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, burnout issues are likely to increase further, thus
commanding more research in the area. Previous research shows that job insecurity can
be a main source of burnout (e.g. Bosman et al., 2005; Maslach et al., 2001). Also, the
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 5

extant literature posits job insecurity as a proxy through which external factors can affect
other attitudinal and behavioural variables (Mahmoud & Reisel, 2015; Farrell & Oczkowski,
2012). We expect that COVID-19 perceptions effects will be transmitted via job insecurity
into burnout. We therefore hypothesize:

H2: Job insecurity stemming from Covid-19 perceptions positively predicts burnout among
customer service employees.

Burnout and workplace motivation

While we noted that Covid-19-triggered job insecurity transitioned from being an ante­
cedent of motivation to a theory in its own right, it is somewhat ironic that limited
research has included the effects of job insecurity on motivation in recent research
(Shin et al., 2019). Our expectation is that Covid-19-triggered job insecurity will have an
indirect negative influence, via burnout (Knight, 2015), on motivation which Ryan and
Deci (2000, p. 70) define as ‘the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to
extend and exercise one’s capacity, to explore, and to learn’. We expect motivation to be
weakened by job insecurity because employees perceive job insecurity as a threat to their
economic well-being, their ability to satisfy job requirements, and perhaps even their
existing lifestyle inside and outside of work putting them in a state of burnout.
Interruption of control is consistent with the theoretical framework in Self-
Determination Theory (SDT), (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Accordingly, people have three needs
which drive self-regulation: competence, relatedness, and autonomy (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Job insecurity fundamentally undermines all three needs, particularly autonomy. Notably,
SDT reasons that motivation requires supportive conditions or motivation can rapidly
decrease. Furthermore, the established negative relationship between burnout and psy­
chological need satisfaction (Abós et al., 2019) leads us to argue that COVID-19-triggered
Job insecurity presents a highly disruptive condition that reduces motivation via elevating
the levels of burnout. Accordingly, we posit:

H3: Burnout is negatively related to workplace motivation among customer service

employees

Workplace motivation and customer orientation

Employees’ customer-orientation can play a key role in their ability to build profitable and
long-lasting relationships with an organisation’s customers (Kim, 2009; Varghese &
Edward, 2018). Previous research reveals that when service is an essential element of
the consumer experience, organisations are very likely to favour employees who are
customer oriented (Farrell & Oczkowski, 2009, 2012). Further, managers should concen­
trate on creating a climate promoting the motivation of employees’ customer orientation,
attitudes and behaviours, if their units are to benefit from the staffing and retention of
customer-oriented employees (Grizzle et al., 2009).
6 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

Strong and Harris (2004, p. 184) define customer orientation as the ‘cultural and
behavioural aspect of market orientation, and as such is a strategic element which is of
equal importance to competitor orientation and inter-group communications’. Brown
et al. (2002) refer to employee customer orientation as demonstrations of individual’s
predisposition to satisfy customer needs in an on-the-job environment. In other words,
customer orientation incorporates employees’ attitudinal dispositions and behaviours
which centre on the notion of offering marketing solutions to customer problems
(Strong & Harris, 2004) by satisfying the needs of customers (Hennig-Thurau, 2004;
Strong & Harris, 2004) while providing them with pleasing interactions (Hennig-Thurau
& Thurau, 2003). The levels of customers’ satisfaction with an organisation are, thus,
mainly determined by the perception of the quality of the services received during their
encounters with frontline employees (Brady & Cronin, 2001; Choi & Joung, 2017; Roy,
2013; Varghese & Edward, 2018). Frontline employees are seen by customers as the first
and maybe the only representation of the organisation (Varghese & Edward, 2018).
Further, job attitudes and organisational behaviours are thought to determine customers’
perceived service quality and satisfaction (Mahmoud & Reisel, 2014; Choi & Joung, 2017).
According to Farrell and Oczkowski (2012), highly customer-oriented employees are more
likely to go beyond the their job description and further engage in what they think is in
the organisation’s best interests.
Internal marketing has long been debated as a tool of motivating employees to
engage in market-oriented and customer-focused behaviours (Lings & Greenley, 2009).
From an organisational perspective, it is necessary to evaluate the consequences of
employees’ motivation to improve their levels of customer orientation (Glassman &
McAfee, 1992; Strong & Harris, 2004; Varghese & Edward, 2018). Motivated employees
have been posited as important factors in differentiating the business and establishing
a holistic consumer experience to endear customers favourability towards a brand and its
prestige (O’Keeffe et al., 2016). Much of the scholarly work in this area has roots in the
Social Exchange Theory (Adams, 1965) suggesting that individuals engage in reciprocal
attitudes and behaviours and support those who provide benefits (Pelham, 2009). We,
therefore, expect that the more employees are motivated in the workplace the higher the
levels of their customer orientation will be. Accordingly, we posit:

H4: Workplace motivation among customer service employees is positively related to the
employees’ customer orientation.

We also suggest that customer orientation levels are indirectly affected by COVID-19 by
levelling up job insecurity and burnout and, hence, damaging motivation in the work­
place. We therefore posit:

H5: Covid-19 perceptions exerts indirect adverse effects on customer orientation via
a sequence of mediators consisting of job insecurity, burnout and motivation.
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 7

A generational amalgam of workforce

As more Baby Boomers exit the workforce through retirement, later generations are
seizing the opportunity to make their mark on the organisational landscape (Flippin,
2017b; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al., 2020). Generation X employees are credited for
working longer working hours compared with Baby Boomers because the former’s
attachment to work-life balance. Thus, due to this greater awareness of work-life
balance, these generations are less prone to use social media than Generation
Y and Generation Z, who were largely born at the beginning and the heart of far-
reaching technological developments such as the internet. We do not claimed that
earlier generations (particularly Generation X) are not as technology-savvy but their
level of interest in technology, namely the internet and attachment to technology
differs from later generations (Seemiller & Grace, 2019; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al.,
2020). These differences are exhibited in the way the various generations commu­
nicate. While the younger Generation Z prefers email, text and other social media
such as Instagram and Twitter, etc., Generation X by comparison prefer traditional
ways of communication such as face to face, telephone interactions (Seemiller &
Grace, 2019; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al., 2020). These differences are associated with
conjectures of the periods covered by the various generations, for example, War time,
including cold war (Generation X and Baby Boomers) and peace time including
economy prosperity (for Generation Z). Thus, Baby Boomers and Generation Z seek
work-life integration which they experienced only to some degree due to the pressure
to work hard for financial security; thus, Generation X could be said to lack a desire for
authority and control in the workplace (Waltz et al., 2020).

Generation Y exist between Generation X and Generation Z

This generation is also interesting in scholarly research and practical managerial domains
because they outnumber other generations. Indeed, as Baby Boomers and Generation
X retire and Generation Z gradually make their entry to the workforce, Generation
Y assumes the transition, particularly in the MENA region. In fact, Generation Y now
represents the majority of the workforce in employment in the UAE (58%) and Oman
(64%) (FCSA, 2018; National Centre for Statistics and Information, 2020). Generations
Y and Z are natives of the digital era and are accustomed to complex technologies that
have become essential instruments (Lebowitz, 2018; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al., 2020).
Generation Y, therefore, exhibits self-confidence, agility in order to place their role as
a pivotal transition generation (Taylor & Keeter, 2010; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al., 2020).
Technological use among Generation Z helps them take advantage of work flex­
ibility in almost the same way as Generation Y employees do (Ryback, 2016; Mahmoud,
Fuxman, et al., 2020). However, there is more awareness among Generation
Z employees of the importance of financial security, which drives their desire for higher
performance and ignore the criticality of work-life balance. (Flippin, 2017a; Mahmoud,
Fuxman, et al., 2020; Mahmoud, Reisel, et al., 2020). Together, Generation Y and
Generation Z, are more ethnically diverse than any preceding generational cohorts
(Bannon et al., 2011; Flippin, 2017a, 2017b; Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al., 2020; Mahmoud,
Reisel, et al., 2020).
8 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

In this paper, we contend that understanding the generational gap in the workplace is
indispensable as it may cause variations in the effects of COVID-19 perceptions on
employees’ customer orientation. However, when generational differences are well
accounted for, a positive workplace emerges, with lower adverse effects of the COVID-
19 crisis.
Based on the previous studies related to workplace generational variances, and the
earlier hypotheses, we hypothesise the following.

H6: The path from Covid-19 perceptions to customer orientation is not invariant across
Generations X, Y, and Z.

Methods
Our study took place in three countries located in the MENA region comprising of the
United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Egypt. We sent out an online survey between April and
August 2020 via a personalised invitation link to LinkedIn users working in customer
service positions at different organisations in the selected countries. We found the
participants on LinkedIn by setting the filters to return results based on country location
(i.e. Egypt, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates) alongside role title (i.e. customer service).
The sample population on LinkedIn was 65,000 users. Having filtered the search results,
we chose one participant for every three counts. We did that in combination with other
online social networks (i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp) to have a robust sample number of
respondents from each generational group. In each of these phases, all individuals were
made aware of the aim and procedures of the research. They were informed that they
could ask questions, raise issues regarding the survey, or withdraw from the study at any
time. Consent to participate in the study was part of the survey sent to the participants,
and since the survey was performed online, signatures of the participants were not
acquired. Responses to the questionnaire were anonymous. We assured all participants
of the confidentiality of their responses. The survey took about 10 minutes to complete.
Overall, our analysis drew on valid 752 responses. The final sample was made up of
Generation X (32%), Generation Y (46%) and Generation Z (22%). Most of our sample were
male (58%), educated to at least a Batchelor degree level (39%), and had a partner (46%).
Appendix 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the variables under investigation clustered
into generational groups.

Measures and procedure

Appendix 1 shows a set of validated measures that we used in this study. Covid-19 per­
ceptions were assessed using a two-item scale that was designed for this study. We
employed the scales reported in the work of Francis and Barling (2005) to measure job
insecurity, Maslach and Jackson (1981) to measure burnout, Mahmoud, Fuxman, et al.,
2020 to measure workplace motivation, and finally Brown et al. (2002) to measure
customer orientation. All the measures were evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale. We
adopted several indicators to assess the validity and reliability of measures employed in
this study. First, we computed the Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio of Correlations (HTMT) (see
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 9

Table 1. Discriminant validity test (HTMT).

Burnout Covid-19 Perceptions Customer Orientation Job Insecurity
Covid-19 Perceptions 0.21
Customer Orientation 0.17 0.08
Job Insecurity 0.49 0.40 0.07
Motivation 0.39 0.04 0.62 0.22

Table 2. Outer loadings, VIFs, construct reliability and validity and descriptives.
Burnout Covid-19 Perceptions Customer Orientation Job Insecurity Motivation VIF
JSEC01 0.86 1.57
JSEC02 0.68 1.72
JSEC03 0.67 2.21
JSEC04 0.74 1.93
BURNOUT01 0.80 1.53
BURNOUT02 0.70 1.92
BURNOUT03 0.69 1.60
COV01 0.80 1.32
COV02 0.73 1.32
COR01 0.98 2.60
COR02 0.80 2.76
COR03 0.87 2.89
COR04 0.71 2.19
COR05 0.60 2.27
MOT01 0.71 1.87
MOT02 0.88 2.25
MOT03 0.84 2.29
CR 0.78 0.74 0.90 0.83 0.85
AVE 0.54 0.59 0.64 0.55 0.66
Mean 3.06 3.57 3.91 2.98 3.45
STDV 1.19 1.18 0.92 1.17 1.06

Table 1). As a result, we had values of less than 1. Table 2 indicates that all of the
constructs had Average Variance Extracted values (herein AVEs) higher than 0.5 (Fornell
& Larcker, 1981), Composite Reliability values (herein CRs) between .7 and .9 (Hair et al.,
2017), and Variance Inflation Factor values less than 5. Therefore, all the above statistics
imply that all the measures used in this study fulfilled the quality criteria of the discrimi­
nant validity, construct reliability, and convergent validity. Before conducting path and
multigroup analyses utilising a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (herein
PLS-SEM)using SmartPLS 3 (Ringle et al., 2015), we ran Common-Method Bias (herein
CMB) tests, which are required when using perceptual, self-report measures from a single
survey (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The inner Variance Inflation Factor (herein VIF) values (see
Table 3) were all less than 3.3 (Kock, 2015). Hence, there were no common method bias
issues detected. Finally, Appendix 2 demonstrates the descriptive statistics of the path
model constructs for the whole sample and for each generational group was produced
using SPSS Version 26.

Results
We examined the proposed model utilising PLS-SEM. We conducted a path assessment
followed by multigroup analysis (herein, MGA), building on standardised betas (β: for
direct effects), unstandardised betas (B: for indirect effects) and the corresponding
t-values by using the approach of bootstrapping, Q2 for predictive relevance, f2 to
10 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

Table 3. Inner VIFs values.

Burnout Covid-19 Perceptions Customer Orientation Job Insecurity Motivation
Burnout 1.33
Customer Orientation 1.14
Job Insecurity 1.21
Motivation 1.30
Burnout 1.16
Covid-19 Perceptions 1.02
Customer Orientation 1.31
Motivation 1.45
Covid-19 Perceptions 1.09
Customer Orientation 1.46
Job Insecurity 1.15
Motivation 1.51
Burnout 1.19
Covid-19 Perceptions 1.03
Customer Orientation 1.03
Job Insecurity 1.16
Burnout 1.21
Covid-19 Perceptions 1.06
Job Insecurity 1.02
Motivation 1.16

determine effect sizes. Besides, standardised root mean square residual (herein SRMR) was
used to judge the model fit to our data (Henseler et al., 2014).
We conducted Consistent-PLS Algorithm, followed by Consistent PLS Bootstrapping
run at 5,000 sub-samples (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). As a result, Covid-19 perceptions are
found to positively correlate with job insecurity (β = .41, P < .001, f2 > .20) that in turn
positively predicts burnout (β = .50, P < .001, f2 > .20). Further, burnout is found to
negatively relate to workplace motivation (β = – .39, P < .001, f2 = .20) which positively
predicts customer orientation (β = .63, P < .001, f2 > .50). Therefore, we find that H1, H2,
H3, and H4 are fully supported (See Table 5). In addition, Table 6 shows that all the un-
standardised betas are significant at probability value less than .001; thus, we find support
for H5. This finding means that Covid-19 perceptions exert indirect positive effects over
customer orientation (B = −.05, P < .001) that is transmitted via a sequence of mediators,
namely, job insecurity à burnout à motivation. In other words, more intense Covid-
19 perceptions will increase job insecurity which will consequently level up burnout
that will, in turn, adversely affect motivation leading to lower levels of customer orienta­
tion amongst employees. Finally, with SRMR equivalent to .028 < .08, we find our
hypothetical model to be a robust fit to our data (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Table 4 shows
that the Q2 values of all the predictors are greater than 0, which implies adequate
predictive relevance. Also, R2 values for job insecurity (.17), burnout (.25), motivation
(.16), and customer orientation (.39) were above zero suggesting that our model has
substantial predictive accuracy (Cohen, 2013).

Table 4. Predictive relevance (Q2).

SSO SSE Q2 (=1-SSE/SSO)
Burnout 2,256.00 2,022.06 0.104
Customer Orientation 3,760.00 3,002.41 0.201
Job Insecurity 3,008.00 2,839.90 0.056
Motivation 2,256.00 2,091.14 0.073
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 11

Table 5. Hypothesis testing – direct effects.

Hypothesis Path β t f2 Decision
H1 Covid-19 Perceptions -> Job Insecurity 0.41** 9.05** >.20** Supported
H2 Job Insecurity -> Burnout 0.50** 12.82** >.20** Supported
H3 Burnout -> Motivation −0.39** 8.48** =.20** Supported
H4 Motivation -> Customer Orientation 0.63** 20.31** >.50** Supported
** P <.001.

Table 6. Hypothesis 5 testing – indirect effects.

Path B STDEV t
Covid-19 Perceptions -> Job Insecurity -> Burnout 0.21** 0.03 7.51**
Burnout -> Motivation -> Customer Orientation −0.25** 0.03 8.36**
Job Insecurity -> Burnout -> Motivation -> Customer Orientation −0.12** 0.02 6.86**
Covid-19 Perceptions -> Job Insecurity -> Burnout -> Motivation -> Customer Orientation −0.05** 0.01 5.58**
Job Insecurity -> Burnout -> Motivation −0.20** 0.03 7.09**
Covid-19 Perceptions -> Job Insecurity -> Burnout -> Motivation −0.08** 0.01 5.84**
** P <.001.

Finally, we ran an MGA. Using the t-values associated with the multiple comparisons
and reported in the parametric tests, we found the paths: job insecurity à burnout,
burnout à motivation, and motivation à customer orientation substantially not invariant
across Generations X, Y, and Z.

βx = .29**
βy = .39** βy = .56**
Covid-19 βz =.25** Job βz =.46**
Burnout
Perceptions Insecurity
βx = .30**

βz = -.60**
βy = -.30**
βx = -.11NS

Generation

Motivation

βx =.81**

βy = .54** βz = .40**

Customer
Orientation

Figure 2. Path model analysis and invariance assessment.

12 A. B. MAHMOUD ET AL.

Table 7. Hypothesis 6 testing – MGA.

t-Value (Generation t-Value (Generation t-Value (Generation
Path βX βY βZ X vs Generation Y) X vs Generation Z) Y vs Generation Z)
Covid-19 0.29** 0.39** 0.25** 1.41 0.55 1.79
Perceptions ->
Job Insecurity
Job Insecurity -> 0.30** 0.56** 0.46** 3.77** 1.51 1.59
Burnout
Burnout -> −0.11 −0.30** −0.60** 1.52 2.97** 3.33**
Motivation
Motivation -> 0.81** 0.54** 0.40** 5.18** 8.30** 2.07*
Customer
Orientation
* P <.05; ** P <.01.

Figure 2 illustrates the moderated paths by generational differences. Table 7 shows

that although all of the paths remain significant, younger employees, namely,
Generation Y (βY = 0.56; P < .001) levels of burnout tend to be more susceptible to
variations in perceived job insecurity than generation X (βX = 0.30; P < .001). Only
Generation Z (βZ = −0.60; P < .001) and Generation Y (βY = −0.30; P < .001) tend to
experience slumps in motivation as burnout increases. Generation X (βX = −0.11; P = .43)
is significantly less likely to experience a lack of motivation at work, than younger
generations, as a result of burnout. However, the effects of motivation on customer
orientation tend to decline significantly, as we move further towards younger genera­
tions. Overall, unlike Generation Y and Generation Z, the indirect effects of Covid-19
effects on customer orientation were found non-significant amongst Generation
X participants. The reason for that centres on the limited effects of burnout on motiva­
tion amongst the Generation X staff making the favourability of their customer orienta­
tion less vulnerable to Covid-19 perceptions than is amongst younger generations. We
conclude that H6 is partially valid.

Discussion
This study explored the effects of Covid-19 perceptions on customer orientation via job
insecurity, burnout and workplace motivation alongside generational effects of non-
equivalency among a sample of customer service employees working in different busi­
nesses located in three countries in the MENA region. This is the first study linking
customer service employees to customer orientation in the MENA region during the
Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we bridge an important, contemporary, knowledge
gap in the marketing literature pertaining to customer orientation among service orga­
nisations’ customer service employees. We contribute to the customer orientation litera­
ture by underscoring the importance extraneous factors, such as the personal experience
or perceptions of Covid-19’s impact on the workplace, can have on a customer
orientation.
We set out to explore the effects of Covid-19 perceptions on customer orientation by
examining the effects of job insecurity, burnout and workplace motivation across
a sample of customer service employees working in three MENA countries. Such an
examination is both timely and relevant given the natural disruption created by the
 JOURNAL OF STRATEGIC MARKETING 13

Covid-19 pandemic on organisations’ marketing practice (Wang et al., 2020). Our results
reveal that the degree of customer orientation among customer service employees is
influenced by their level of motivation which in turn is determined by the degree of
burnout caused by Covid-19 perceptions. Interestingly, Generation X employees were
found to be the most resilient in their perceptions of COVID-19’s impact on customer
orientation. This finding confirms the work of Stevanin et al. (2018) who also found
support for the resilience related to burnout among Generation X employees in the
service sector.
Our findings have wider literature implications. For instance, within the human
resource management (herein HRM) domain, the ability to motivate and retain staff has
been empirically examined for several decades. Less is known within the HRM domain of
how organisations might achieve employee motivation and retention in a time of global
crisis. Our findings also have implications for the social sciences domain, especially in the
field of cross-cultural studies in business. Our study was set in the MENA region. We
believe there is opportunity to replicate our work in, for example, an Asian or Latin
American setting, given that nations in these regions have similar (that is, emerging)
economies to those in the MENA region, and are also experiencing the effects of the
global Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, within the organisational leadership domain, service
workers’ individual differences (e.g. Generation X) and their customer service orientation
are likely contingent on the nature of the work environment. When the work environment
is uncertain, for example, owing to Covid-19, an organisation’s leaders face the challenge
of creating a workplace environment that enables to continuance of high customer
orientation in the face of uncertainty.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID
Ali B. Mahmoud http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3790-1107
Nicholas Grigoriou http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4163-7852
William D. Reisel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-9504
Dieu Hack-Polay http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1038-5018

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Appendix 1. Measures used in the current study

Variable Item Assessment Source

Burnout I feel emotionally drained from my work 5-point Likert scale. 1 = ‘strongly (Maslach &
Working with people directly puts too much disagree,’ 5 = ‘strongly agree’ Jackson, 1981)
stress on me
I feel fatigued when I get up in the morning
and have to face another day on the job
I’ve become more callous toward people since
I took this job
Motivation Overall, I feel motivated to do my job 5-point Likert scale. 1 = ‘strongly (Mahmoud,
Overall, doing my job is such a source of disagree,’ 5 = ‘strongly agree’ Fuxman, et al.,
inspiration for me 2020)
Overall, I feel determined to do my job
Job Insecurity The possibility of losing my job occupies my 5-point Likert scale. 1 = ‘strongly (Francis &
thoughts constantly. disagree,’ 5 = ‘strongly agree’ Barling, 2005)
No matter how hard I work there is no
guarantee that I am going to keep my job.
I am certain of losing my job.
The probability of being laid-off is high.
Covid-19 I believe that the effect the coronavirus 5-point Likert scale. 1 = positive, Current study.
Perceptions pandemic has had on people is 5 = negative
The coronavirus pandemic is making me feel 5-point Likert scale. 1 = ‘strongly
discomfort disagree,’ 5 = ‘strongly agree’
Customer I try to help customers achieve their goals. 5-point Likert scale. 1 = ‘strongly (Brown et al.,
Orientation I achieve my own goals by satisfying disagree,’ 5 = ‘strongly agree’ 2002)
customers.
I take a problem-solving approach with my
customers.
I am able to answer a customer’s questions
correctly.
I keep the best interests of the customer in
mind.

Appendix 2. Constructs’ descriptive statistics

Whole sample (N = 752) Gen X (N = 241) Gen Y (N = 348) Gen Z (N = 163)

Construct Mean STDV Mean STDV Mean STDV Mean STDV
Burnout 3.06 1.19 2.73 1.15 3.23 1.18 3.17 1.18
Motivation 3.45 1.06 3.65 0.85 3.44 1.14 3.20 1.10
Job Insecurity 2.98 1.17 3.03 1.24 2.96 1.16 2.95 1.07
Covid-19 Perceptions 3.57 1.18 3.73 1.09 3.48 1.27 3.54 1.11
Customer Orientation 3.91 0.92 3.97 0.86 3.94 0.94 3.77 0.94