Service responses to emotional states of business customers

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the service responses of service providers to the affective states of business clients and to test whether they have a positive effect on the client's job performance, as well as their satisfaction and bonding to the service provider.Design/methodology/approach – The results are based on a survey of 240 business travellers in Taiwan. Ordinary least square regression is applied to test the relationships.Findings – Statistical tests confirm that service responses to emotional states have a positive effect on customer satisfaction, job performance and bonding. While service responses aimed at easing customers’ emotional problems increase satisfaction and job performance, true bonding is only facilitated through service responses that are centred on affection and social‐emotional support.Research limitations/implications – The authors investigate the personal service encounter with business customers who are using the service to perform a task. The findings are ...