The Effect of a Voice of the Customer Visualization System on Employee Satisfaction

Research on internal marketing has extensively documented the factors that contribute to job satisfaction and burnout, focusing on purpose, skill acquisition, wage, and office. However, although the importance of clarifying employees’ meaningful work and satisfying their desire for recognition has been acknowledged, knowledge of the specific factors involved in internal marketing remains scarce. Therefore, this study extends the concept of voice of the customer (VOC), which has previously been limited to marketing research, to the context of internal marketing and examines the research question, “Does a VOC visualization system affect employee attitudes?” An online survey was conducted among 1,000 full-time employees in Japan aged 20–60, incorporating VOC in addition to the factors listed above. We applied structural equation modeling to the data and found that VOC demonstrated a significant positive effect, following skill acquisition and office. By industry, the positive effect of VOC was greater in manufacturing, where customer-centric decision-making is more deeply rooted, than in the infrastructure industry. By department, contrary to prior expectations, VOC had a positive effect on job satisfaction in research and development but no significant effect in sales and marketing. One possible reason is that sales and marketing departments already have access to ample surveys and customer contact points to obtain VOC. Managers should implement a company-wide system that visualizes VOC, or customer feedback, for employees. Thus far, VOC visualization is limited to departments responsible for marketing research. However, managers should recognize that VOC is the foundation of an organization, helping to clarify the meaningfulness of employees’ work and convey customers’ gratitude. Visualizing VOC should be considered especially important for researchers and engineers.