Informal Ties Scale (Customer–Employee)

What it measures

Three-item manager-rated scale measuring the strength of personal informal relationships between a firm’s customers and its customer-contact employees. Items capture whether customers and contact employees are friends, have good and trusting personal relationships, and have strong informal ties. Serves as a moderator of the effect of open downsizing communication on customer uncertainty.

Representative items

• Typically, our customers and our customer-contact employees are often friends.
• Typically, our customers and our customer-contact employees have good and trusting personal relationships.
• Typically, our customers and our customer-contact employees have strong informal ties.

Citation

Homburg, C., Klarmann, M., & Staritz, S. (2012). Customer uncertainty following downsizing: The effects of extent of downsizing and open communication. Journal of Marketing, 76(3), 112–129.