Case Study of the Superior Followership of the Service Viewpoint

Abstract

Amid the continuing shift toward a service economy based on service innovation, improving the productivity of service organizations is a major issue. The followership of employees (followers), who support leaders, is a major factor in issue resolution. Follower ship is the process of value co-creation in which followers achieve their own objectives by supporting attainment of goals by the leader. This is the internal service provided by followers to leaders. Research analyzing the behavior of followers toward leaders from the standpoint of such value co-creation remains insufficient, and this paper therefore aims to identify factors of superior followership from a service standpoint. Our case analyses, through a theoretical lens, of Internet service-providing ventures revealed three factors: delivery of value that exceeds expectations (process), the ability to infer needs (concept), and collective values that bolster relationships (organizational philosophy, culture). These factors interact with each other, thereby further enhancing followership.