Can music with prosocial lyrics heal the working world? A field intervention in a call center.

Karen Niven

doi:10.1111/jasp.12282

Abstract

Music with lyrics about helping is shown to reduce aggression in the laboratory. This paper tests whether the prosocial lyric effect generalizes to reducing customer aggression in the workplace. A field experiment involved changing the hold music played to customers of a call center. The results of a 3 week study suggested that music significantly affected customers, but not in the way suggested by previous laboratory experiments; compared with days when instrumental background music was played, caller anger and employee exhaustion were lower on days when callers were played popular music with neutral, but not prosocial, lyrics. The findings suggest that music influences customer aggression, but that the prosocial lyric effect may not generalize from the laboratory to the call center.

Highlights

The results of a 3 week study suggested that music significantly affected customers, but not in the way suggested by previous laboratory experiments; compared with days when instrumental background music was played, caller anger and employee exhaustion were lower on days when callers were played popular music with neutral, but not prosocial, lyrics
The findings suggest that music influences customer aggression, but that the prosocial lyric effect may not generalize from the laboratory to the call center
Most customer service organizations do not pay a great deal of attention to the music they play to their customers, with many opting to play instrumental background music to avoid licensing fees

Summary

Introduction

Most customer service organizations do not pay a great deal of attention to the music they play to their customers, with many opting to play instrumental background music to avoid licensing fees. The current study presents the first test of whether the effect of prosocial lyrics on aggression generalizes beyond the laboratory, with a field experiment conducted in a customer service call center It is well-established that music influences people’s interpersonal behavior. The general aggression model (Anderson & Bushman, 2002) states that stimuli such as music influence a person’s internal (cognitive and affective) state and subsequent appraisal and decision processes, making particular interpersonal behaviors more or less Whereas music experienced as aversive should lead to negative affect and so inhibit altruism and encourage aggression, music experienced as pleasant should elicit positive affect and so promote altruism and reduce aggression

Methods

Results

Conclusion