We tested our propositions in a field study of service
workers in the food services industry. Specifically, respondents
were frontline employees and their supervisors working
in restaurants that were located in a midsize community
dominated by a large university, A research assistant contacted
managers in 35 of the largest restaurants (by number
of employees, including both full-service restaurants and
fast-food operations) to solicit participation in a study of
employee motivation. The local Chamber of Commerce
assisted our efforts by writing a letter of support on our
behalf. Ultimately, we received matched employee/supervisor
responses from 27 firms. The number of matched
responses per firm ranged from 2 to 42, with a mean of 10,4
per company,2