Impact of Organizational Justice on Customer Care and Fostering Engagement Among Emotionally Exhausted Frontline Employees in The Financial Sector During Turbulent Times

Abstract

It has been four years since the crash of Lebanon’s Ponzi Finance Scheme, back when the Lebanese Central Bank declared bankruptcy, depositors’ life savings have been robbed and spent, and private banks enforced harsh capital control. Innocent frontline employees at Lebanese private banks, were forced to face the uproar and violence of the banks’ depositors, who barged in demanding what is rightfully theirs. This research focuses on how the frontliners at the banks perceived organizational justice (POJ), whether employees’ personality could play a role in their perception of justice, how POJ can influence employees’ engagement at work, in return how employees’ engagement (EE) impacts customer care, and finally how employees can experience role conflict as a mediator between being engaged in their work and caring for their customers. We surveyed a random 222 frontliners in private banks across the country, had their data run on SPSS, and arrived at the following findings. Low POJ was reported that significantly effects EE, yet employees were still very frequently engaged at work. A benchmark salary was discovered that motivates employees to be engaged, and generation X being the most engaged in the banks. The more engaged an employee is, the more likely they would experience role conflict, which better served customer care. As for the Big Five personality scale, it failed to pass the reliability test, which is unfortunate because we believe psychographic variables and cultural values might have the answer to ‘why’ frontliners would be engaged despite the odds.