Secrets behind serving customers with purpose

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This review explores the relationship between managers’ servant leadership and frontline employees’ customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviors, with a focus on the impact of career meaningfulness and of work centrality. The study found that servant leadership positively influences customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviors, and this relationship is affected by career meaningfulness. Additionally, work centrality influences the relationship between career meaningfulness and customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviors, as well as the indirect effect of servant leadership on these behaviors through career meaningfulness. Two pertinent managerial insights are the importance of exhibiting servant leadership behaviors and of prioritizing work centrality in hiring and training programs. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.