Who is this research for? Retail and hospitality executives, frontline sales and service leaders, and any managers responsible for customer experience and employee shift scheduling.
Top Answer
This research suggests that day-to-day differences in coworker dynamics—what the authors call “shift climate”—play a critical role in shaping frontline employee behavior and customer loyalty. Frontline employees adjust their effort, service quality, and teamwork based on how customer-focused their coworkers are on a given shift, meaning who works together may matter as much as individual customer orientation, company policies, or management practices.
Executive Summary
New research by Dr. Amy Greiner Fehl (NEOMA Business School), Dr. Valerie Good (Department of Marketing, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas), and Drs. Todd Arnold and Lisa Slevitch and Mohammad Pasham (Oklahoma State University) introduces a new concept—shift climate—to explain why customer service varies from one shift to another within the same organization.
Using scale development and multiple empirical studies, including real-time data from employees and customers, the researchers examine how frontline employees’ perceptions of their coworkers’ customer focus on each shift influence service outcomes. They find that shift climate significantly affects in-role behaviors (doing the job), extra-role behaviors (going above and beyond), and helping behaviors among coworkers.
The findings also show that employees rely on coworkers to reduce risk and regulate emotions. Importantly, the study demonstrates that shift climate directly influences customer loyalty, suggesting that who works together on a shift can meaningfully shape customer experiences and business outcomes.
Expert Insights: What should leaders know about shift dynamics and service performance?
How does shift climate influence frontline employee behavior in real time?
Dr. Valerie Good notes: “Shift climate influences frontline employee behavior dynamically by shaping how employees interact with customers and coworkers within a given shift. Positive shift climates encourage stronger in-role and extra-role behaviors (directed toward customers) and helping behaviors (directed toward peers) because employees rely on their coworkers as important social and job-related resources, consistent with social baseline theory. Findings suggest that when employees perceive their co-workers are customer-focused on a shift, they are better able to focus on delivering high-quality service, regulate emotions, and conserve psychological energy. The findings also reveal that when shift risk management is lower, employees must compensate by engaging in greater in-role and extra-role effort to meet customer needs. Because the composition, mood, and service orientation of a shift can vary as the shift unfolds, frontline employee behaviors—and ultimately the customer experience—can fluctuate in real time as well.”
→ Takeaway: Employees adapt their effort, emotional energy, and customer service behaviors in real time based on the coworkers surrounding them during a shift.
Why do some shifts consistently deliver better customer experiences than others?
Dr. Valerie Good explains: “Depending on the people who populate a shift on any given day and changing group propensity toward service provision, FLE behaviors may vary, potentially altering the overall customer experience. Our research shows customer experience is not only shaped by organizational policies but also by the specific employees working together during a given shift. When employees perceive a positive shift climate, they are more likely to engage in extra-role behaviors that go beyond expectations, improving customer loyalty. This loyalty reflects more than simple satisfaction—it refers to a customer’s enduring commitment to repeatedly return to and choose a specific store over competitors over time. Loyal customers are more likely to revisit the store, purchase more frequently, recommend the business to others, and remain less sensitive to price differences. Because frontline employees directly shape customer interactions and service experiences, the impact of shift climate on customer loyalty is an important finding.”
→ Takeaway: Customer loyalty is shaped not just by company policies, but by the specific mix of employees working together on each shift.
What effect does group mood have on the impact of shift climate?
Dr. Valerie Good notes: “Group mood influences frontline employee behavior by serving as an emotional resource that helps customer-facing employees regulate their feelings and manage the demands of service work. Drawing on social baseline theory, employees naturally expect social groups to help share the burden of emotional regulation, allowing them to conserve psychological energy. When group mood is positive, employees can rely on coworkers for encouragement, reassurance, and emotional support, which reduces the strain of maintaining positive interactions with customers, or service with a smile. As emotions spread through emotional contagion, a positive team vibe strengthens the effects of shift climate, leading employees to perform their roles more effectively, engage in extra-role behaviors, and provide greater support to coworkers. Conversely, negative group moods can drain emotional resources and weaken these beneficial behaviors.”
→ Takeaway: Positive group moods strengthen teamwork and customer service behaviors, while negative moods can quietly weaken performance and emotional resilience.
What can managers do to improve shift composition and reduce service variability?
Dr. Valerie Good explains: “Rather than focusing only on firm-level culture or manager-implemented practices, our research shows that what matters in the moment is frontline employees’ perceptions of their coworkers’ priorities during a specific shift (i.e., example, whether peers are genuinely customer-focused or primarily self-interested). And these perceptions are not trivial. They shape employees’ own behaviors and, ultimately, customer loyalty outcomes. Hence, managers may consider measuring shift climate to gauge how customer-focused frontline employees perceive co-workers to be and use this information to optimize who is scheduled to work together on specific customer-facing shifts.”
→ Takeaway: Monitoring shift climate can help managers build stronger teams by identifying which employee combinations consistently create better customer experiences.
Link to the Original Research
Published in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is “shift climate” in simple terms?
Shift climate refers to an employee’s perception of how focused their coworkers are on meeting customer needs during a specific shift. It captures the day-to-day social and behavioral environment created by the team working together.
Why does customer service vary so much between shifts?
The research suggests that variability is not just about individual employees or managers. It often comes from perceived differences in coworker’s customer focus on each shift.
Do employees work harder when they perceive the shift composition to be risky?
Yes. When coworkers are less reliable or make more mistakes, employees tend to compensate by increasing their own effort, particularly in required and extra-role tasks.
How can managers actually measure or monitor shift climate?
The research introduces a simple four-item scale that asks employees about their coworkers’ customer focus during a shift (e.g., whether coworkers prioritize customer needs or try to improve satisfaction). Managers can use short post-shift surveys or informal check-ins to capture this feedback, helping identify patterns in team dynamics that may not be visible through traditional performance metrics.
Does shift climate really affect customers?
The findings indicate that stronger shift climate is associated with higher customer loyalty intentions, meaning better coworker dynamics can translate into repeat business.
