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The happy versus unhappy service worker in the service encounter:Assessing the impact on customer satisfaction

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  • Söderlund, Magnus
  • Rosengren, Sara

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of the service worker's display of emotions (i.e., one aspect of functional service quality) on customer satisfaction under the conditions of different levels of technical service quality by means of an experimental approach (N=600), in which display of emotions (unhappiness vs. happiness) and technical service quality (poor vs. good) were manipulated. The results indicate that the impact of the service worker's emotional display behavior on customer satisfaction is contingent on the level of technical service quality, in the sense that customer satisfaction is affected only when technical service quality is good rather than poor. Encouraging a positive display (e.g., by a smile policy), which many service firms do, is thus not a panacea for improved customer satisfaction. The moderating effect is explained in terms of service encounter congruency, which influences the mediated process by which emotional displays by service workers come to affect customer satisfaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Söderlund, Magnus & Rosengren, Sara, 2010. "The happy versus unhappy service worker in the service encounter:Assessing the impact on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 161-169.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:161-169
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.01.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kumar, Anil, 2021. "Analysing the drivers of customer happiness at authorized workshops and improving retention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Zhu, Hong & Zhou, Yayu & Wu, Yening & Wang, Xin, 2022. "To smile or not to smile: The role of facial expression valence on mundane and luxury products premiumness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Murali, S. & Pugazhendhi, S. & Muralidharan, C., 2016. "Modelling and Investigating the relationship of after sales service quality with customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty – A case study of home appliances business," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 67-83.
    4. Trivedi, Rohit H. & Teichert, Thorsten, 2019. "The effect of ad smiles on consumer attitudes and intentions: Influence of model gender and consumer gender," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 197-205.
    5. Söderlund, Magnus & Sagfossen, Sofie, 2017. "The depicted service employee in marketing communications: An empirical assessment of the impact of facial happiness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 186-193.
    6. Xu, Yingzi & Ling, I-Ling, 2023. "Effects of face masks and photo tags on nonverbal communication in service encounters," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

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