The Impact of Employees’ Emotional Competence on Customer Orientation of Banking Employees: The Moderating Role of Employees’ Technical Competence

Abstract

This review paper investigates the influence of the emotional competence of employees on the customer orientation of the banking employees with specific focus on the moderating influence of the technical competence of the employees. Customer orientation in the contemporary banking industry has emerged as a key to attaining customer satisfaction, loyalty and competitive advantage. With a high level of emotional competence, such employees can comprehend the needs of customers more effectively, engage in interactions with others, effectively address complaints, and establish positive service experiences. Such abilities would encourage increased customer-oriented behaviour of the banking staff. The article critically examines available literature on emotional competence, customer orientation, technical competence in service organizations and specifically in the banking industry. It covers the impact of emotional competence on the capability of employees to develop rapport, empathize and communicate effectively with customers. Simultaneously, technical competence as job knowledge, product expertise, and operational skills among the employees are examined as the moderating factor that may reinforce the relationship between the emotional competence and customer orientation. Employees with the ability to integrate emotional skills with technical expertise are in a better position to provide efficient and personalized banking services. This paper has indicated that although emotional competence has a positive contribution on customer orientation, it is more effective when employees have high technical competence. The article adds to the existing amount of research on employee abilities in service environments and offers some practical implication to the management of banks. It suggests joint training programs based on emotional and technical skills development to enhance the quality of services, customer relations and organizational performance.