The Impact of social networks within service teams on customer satisfaction —Results of hierarchical linear modeling analysis

Concerning customer satisfaction related researches, most are focused on measurement methods and the establishment of scales. This paper, through social network-based viewpoints, analyzes the causes of customer satisfaction from the social network of team level. This study investigates 47 teams with regard to the impact of social network of team level and staff satisfaction on customer satisfaction. HLM analysis results show: A team´s internal social network (or social capital), the structural or relational dimension, has a significant correlation with the customer satisfaction. It was found from a team´s internal social network that the strength of the staff´s relationship with its customers has a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Group factors of team indirectly impact on customers´ satisfaction through individual factors of staff´s.