Personal Customer Orientation Scale (PeKS)

Abstract

The Personal Customer Orientation Scale (PeKS) is an 8-item instrument developed to measure the degree of personal customer orientation among employees in the service industry. Customer orientation is defined as an individual’s disposition and deliberate effort to meet, understand, and fulfill a client’s expectations and requests (Dormann et al., 2003; Nerdinger, 2003). As employee orientation is a central predictor of customer satisfaction, the PeKS aims to capture this key attitude in scientific research.

The scale was developed and validated primarily within the German-speaking healthcare and retail sectors (Egold, 2007; Egold et al., 2009). Psychometric properties include satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha = .73 in the 8-item version) and evidence for both criterion and discriminant validity. Specifically, the PeKS demonstrates discriminant validity by showing no significant correlation with the Big Five personality traits, and criterion validity through a significant correlation with customer satisfaction. The instrument is intended for research purposes and organizational assessment rather than individual diagnosis.

Keywords

Customer Orientation, Customer Satisfaction, Service Employees, Personnel, Organization, Service Quality, Psychometrics, Frontline Employee

Authors

Nikolai W. Egold

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Personal Customer Orientation Scale (PeKS) is to assess the personal attitudes and behavioral intentions of employees regarding their dedication to customer needs and satisfaction within service contexts. The scale is designed specifically for use in occupational and organizational psychology research, providing a statistically validated measure where many practical industry tools rely on untested heuristic methods.

The instrument is highly applicable in the service sector, particularly for evaluating the orientation of employees, staff members, and management toward clients, customers, or patients. It serves as a crucial tool for investigating the antecedents and consequences of customer orientation, particularly its causal link to customer satisfaction and loyalty behaviors.

Construct

The PeKS measures Personal Customer Orientation (Kundenorientierung). This construct is theoretically positioned as the employee’s disposition and readiness to perceive, recognize, and satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer (Egold et al., 2009; Nerdinger, 2003). It is conceptualized as an individual attitude held by the employee, distinct from organizational customer orientation, which is defined as the perceived internal service climate (Schneider et al., 2000).

The construct focuses on the behavior of the “frontline employee” who represents the direct, often singular, point of contact between the organization and the customer. The scale captures the employee’s proactive effort, attentiveness, politeness, and dedication to problem-solving, all of which are considered inseparable components of the service interaction and crucial drivers of positive service outcomes.

Validity

Evidence for the validity of the PeKS has been established through both discriminant and criterion validation studies.

• Discriminant Validity: Discriminant validity was assessed by correlating the PeKS total index with the five major dimensions of personality (the Big Five), measured using the Neo-FFI (Egold, 2000). Results indicated no significant correlation between personal customer orientation and traits such as Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, or Openness (all correlations ranging from -.11 to .19). This supports the notion that personal customer orientation is an attitude distinct from general personality traits.
• Criterion Validity: Criterion validity was demonstrated by correlating the PeKS scores with external measures of customer outcomes, specifically customer satisfaction (Egold et al., 2009). Utilizing a multi-source design (employees and customers), a significant positive correlation of .25 (p < .01) was found between the employee’s personal customer orientation and the satisfaction reported by their assigned customers. This finding supports the theoretical causal assumption that employee orientation influences customer satisfaction.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the PeKS has been evaluated using Cronbach’s Alpha across different studies and sample populations.

• 8-Item Version: In the original validation study (Egold, 2007), the 8-item scale achieved an internal consistency of α = .73. This value is generally considered satisfactory to good for newly developed scales in psychological research (Bortz, 1993).
• Alternative Versions: A slightly longer 10-item version of the scale used in a later study (Egold et al., 2009) reported a marginally higher internal consistency of α = .76. Conversely, a highly abbreviated 3-item version used in another study (Schuh et al., 2012) showed diminished reliability (α = .58). Researchers are strongly recommended to utilize the full 8-item scale to maintain adequate reliability.

Factor Analysis

Scale reduction and validation were performed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), specifically Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation (Kaiser normalization).

• Initial Development: The scale initially comprised over 45 items, developed based on the SERVQUAL instrument (Parasuraman et al., 1988) and qualitative interviews with service providers. The EFA of the initial 45 items revealed five factors, with the first factor comprising nine items relating directly to core customer orientation.
• 8-Item Reduction: Subsequent analysis led to the reduction to the current 8-item, unidimensional structure, after removing one item (SO14) unsuitable for shift-work services. The final EFA confirmed the unidimensionality of the PeKS. The single extracted component yielded an Eigenvalue of 1.02, accounting for 37.15% of the total variance. Although some individual item factor loadings were low (ranging from .18 to .56), the scale was retained based on its theoretical representation of observable customer-oriented behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Questionnaire/Attitude Scale

Format: 8 positively polarized items measured on a 5-point Likert Scale.

Language Available: German (deutsch)

Population Group: Employees and managers in the service sector (e.g., healthcare providers, therapists, retail staff).

Age Group: Adults (average age in validation samples ranged from 32 to 43.7 years).

Population Details: Validation samples included general practitioners, occupational therapists, and shoe retail employees from the Rhine-Main region of Hesse, Germany (N varied across studies, up to N=166 employees and N=681 customers). Samples were predominantly female (up to 94% in some employee groups).

Test Methodology: The scale can be administered via Paper-and-pencil personal interviewing (PASI) or Computer-assisted self-administered interviewing (CASI). Personal interviews are generally not required. The estimated processing time is approximately one minute. Scoring involves calculating the unweighted mean across the eight items. No reverse coding is necessary as all items are positively keyed. The scale is not appropriate for individual diagnostic purposes.

Keywords

Psychological Assessment, Service Industry, Personnel Management, Organizational Behavior, Validation, Internal Consistency, Unidimensionality

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Nikolai W. Egold, Hochschule Fresenius

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument is made available for use by interested researchers. The scale was first published in Egold (2000) and the final 8-item version was validated and documented in Egold (2007) and Egold et al. (2009). No information regarding usage fees or formal licensing permissions is provided, but the author expresses willingness to share the instrument with researchers.

Reference’s

• Egold, N. W. (2007). Kundenorientierung und Kundenzufriedenheit: Korrelate der personalen und organisationalen Kundenorientierung. [Unveröffentlichte Dissertation]. Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, FB Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften.

• Egold, N. W., van Dick, R. & Zapf, D. (2009). Personale und organisationale Prädiktoren von Kundenorientierung und Kundenzufriedenheit: Eine Untersuchung im therapeutischen Dienstleistungsbereich. Zeitschrift für Personalpsychologie, 8(4), 180–190. https://doi.org/10.1026/1617-6391.8.4.180

• Schuh, S. C., Egold, N. W. & van Dick, R. (2012). Towards understanding the role of organizational identification in service settings: A multilevel study spanning leaders, service employees, and customers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 21(4), 547–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2011.578391

Items of the Personal Customer Orientation Scale (PeKS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.