Affect reflection technology in face-to-face service encounters

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of facial expressions in dyadic interactions between a banking service provider and customer. We conduct experiments in which service providers manipulate their facial expressions while interacting with customers in one of three conditions: In the neutral condition the banker tried to maintain a neutral facial expression; in the smiling condition the banker tried to smile throughout the interaction; in the empathetic condition the banker tried to respond with the same or complementary facial expressions. Results show that the customers (n=46) were more satisfied with the interaction when they perceived the service provider was empathetic. More significantly, the service provider and customer shared synchronized facial expressions with many prolonged smiles, when customers said the service provider was empathetic. We suggested three different criteria to investigate customer satisfaction as follows; according to what the service provider tried to convey, what the customer perceived and what was actually detected in their interactions. According to the analysis of the interactions, smiling bankers who shared smiles were evaluated as the best while smiling bankers who did not share smiles with customers were appraised similar to non-smiling bankers.