Customer service communication with customers with disability

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review published research on retail customer service communication with people with complex communication needs (CCN) and impacts on their social inclusion.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers searched electronic databases EBSCOHost and Web of Science and found no studies on retail customers with CCN. The search was expanded with the intention of exploring factors affecting people with disability as a group and to locate the experience of people with CCN within findings. Studies found were reviewed by the first author and two external reviewers.FindingsTwelve articles met the broadened inclusion criteria. Analysis using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) found the literature demonstrated some environmental and personal factors that are likely to construct disability in the retail environment for people with CCN. The authors proposed further research to further explore ICF factors not identified in research and to establish links with social inclusion.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to understand the role of retail customer service communication in the social inclusion of people with CCN.Social implicationsThe social inclusion of people with CCN will be assisted by findings on good practice customer service communication.Originality/valueShopping is rarely considered in social inclusion research. This review discovered an absence of research into the impact of retail customer communication on inclusion of customers with CCN and proposed a framework for further enquiry.