Service Provider Type as a Predictor of the Relationship between Sociality and Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between service providers' sociality usage and customer satisfaction with the service provider. The Service Provider Sociality Scale (SPSS) was administered to 250 undergraduate students enrolled in a small, mid-western college and 194 residents from locales near the college. Whether it was a professional (doctor, hairdresser) or nonprofessional (convenience store clerk, fast-food employee) service provider, regression analyses revealed that and socialities were positive for both occupational groups; however, a stronger relationship existed for professional service providers. Nevertheless, regardless of service provider occupational type, courteous expressions explained significantly more unique variance in customer satisfaction than did personal connection socialities. Therefore, the communicative actions of service providers may influence customer perceptions of commitment and affect economic prosperity across service entities. Keywords: service provider; customer; sociality; communication; customer satisfaction ********** Building relationships with customers is an important part of conducting business and, arguably, the existence of most businesses depends on establishing sound relationships with their clientele (Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990; Gremler & Gwinner, 2000). In many service occupations, providers are required to exhibit favorable behaviors such as friendliness and warmth (Tsai & Huang, 2002). For some service providers, customer satisfaction determines employee compensation. At KFC, for example, 35 percent of a manager's annual bonus is tied to the customer satisfaction scores they achieve (Sivadas & Prewitt-Baker, 2000, p. 73). Therefore, regardless of the motives (sincere effort to meet customer needs, economic incentives, etc.), one could ascertain that the communicative interplay between providers and customers plays a significant role in fostering relational development. Indeed, as Ford (2001) suggested, From health care to auto repair to banking, to clerical support, service interactions have become a significant part of our daily routines and the nature of these interactions may dramatically impact our overall quality of life (p. 1). Given that service interactions play a significant role in our lives, limited research has examined the social aspects of service interactions (Ford, 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine service providers' sociality, based on different occupational types, and its relationship to customer satisfaction. Sociality and Satisfaction in Service Interactions Pacanowsky and O'Donnell-Trujillo (1983) defined sociality as performance that encourages a cooperative, social smoothness, void of intense interactions with (pp. 139-140). Courtesies, pleasantries, sociabilities, and privacies are respective dimensions of sociality. Courtesies consist of greeting, promoting politeness, or displaying friendliness. Pleasantries include small talk on subjects related to weather, sports, or politics. Sociabilities entail disclosures that lack serious conversational implications, such as those related to sharing gossip and joking. Privacies are more intimate revelations about oneself to others (Pacanowsky & O'Donnell-Trujillo, 1983). Socialities range from surface-level communications such as greetings and small talk to deeper levels of more intimate disclosures. Socialities differ from other constructs, including immediacy and interaction involvement (Koermer, Ford, Toale, & Dohanos, 2003). Immediacy entails both verbal (e.g., pronoun choice of we vs. you) and nonverbal behavior (e.g., smiling, direct eye contact) used to reduce psychological distance between individuals (Mehrabian, 1967). In the communication field, immediacy has been primarily regarded as a nonverbal construct (for a summation of this work, see Richmond, McCroskey, & Johnson, 2003). …