Revisiting the Service-Profit Chain: A Conceptual Integration of Employee Experience and Engagement for the Contemporary Workforce

Integrating the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study advances a more human-centric and future-ready SPC framework that aligns internal HR practices with external service outcomes through enriched employee experiences. In our conceptualisation, we critically reexamine the nature and relevance of job resources as originally proposed in the SPC, highlighting the need for recalibration in response to emerging work demands such as cognitive overload, emotional labour, and the blurring of work-life boundaries. Concurrently, SDT revisits legacy constructs such as job satisfaction, employee loyalty, and productivity from an employee-centric perspective, foregrounding psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as key drivers of sustainable performance. The study proposes a paradigmatic shift in the SPC framework by advocating for the replacement of job satisfaction with EX and loyalty with Employee Engagement. EX is conceptualised as a multidimensional construct encompassing work design, leadership, well-being, and career development, while engagement captures the intrinsic motivation and discretionary effort essential for delivering superior service. Additionally, this paper argues for a reconceptualisation of Internal Service Quality (ISQ), positioning it as a critical enabler of EX, highlighting job resources, such as flexibility and psychosocial well-being as essential for addressing the heightened demands of contemporary work environments.