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While retention of highly qualified employees is vital for professional services firms, prior research has largely neglected the role of customers as a driver of employee satisfaction and retention. Drawing on an experimental study and a dyadic field study, this article shows that client satisfaction is an important determinant of employee satisfaction, which in turn increases employee retention. Thus, for professional services firms, the common logic in relationship marketing that employee satisfaction affects client satisfaction can also be reversed. First, in line with balance theory, an attitudinal transfer occurs from the client to the employee which is stronger when both share the same opinion about their collaboration. Second, in line with Herzberg’s motivational theory, client satisfaction indirectly affects employee satisfaction by affecting the perceived appreciation the employee receives from the customer. These findings have three major managerial implications: First, investments into client satisfaction might pay off double by enhancing revenues and profit on one hand, and enhancing employee satisfaction and retention, on the other hand. Second, positive client feedback has positive effects on employee satisfaction and recognition. Third, these results suggest that marketing and human resource issues are intertwined in professional services firms. Thus, service firms should encourage ample communication and collaboration between these functions.

As a consequence of implementing revenue management systems, many service firms (e.g., airlines, hotels, car rentals) systematically overbook capacity, thus striving to maximize the revenue at one particular point in time (i.e., one flight, one night, and one day). The academic literature has not addressed how customers behaviorally respond to overbooking experiences, such as downgrading, denied service, or upgrading. In this article, the authors use the econometric technique of conditional difference-in-differences analysis to study the effect of such incidences on customer usage patterns in an airline context. They find that customers who experience negative consequences of revenue management significantly reduce the amount of their transactions with the airline, whereas upgraded customers exhibit only weak positive responses. The effects of the negative events are stronger for high-value customer groups, whereas significant effects of positive events can be found only for a low-value customer group. The results suggest the need for a stronger focus on customer reactions to revenue management practices. On a more general level, the study contributes to a more interdisciplinary view of service management by demonstrating the need for a closer interaction between management functions (e.g., marketing and operations) in developing and managing concepts of companywide importance.