Hearing music in service interactions: A theoretical and empirical analysis

Abstract

There is an extensive literature concerned with the impact of music on customers. However, no study has examined its effects on service workers and their interactions with customers.Drawing together literatures on service work and music in everyday life, the article develops a theoretical framework for exploring the role of music in service exchanges. Two central factors are identified -how workers hear, and respond, to the music soundscape, and their relations with customers, given these have the potential to be both alienating and positive to the point of meaningful social interaction. From these, a 2×2 matrix is constructed, comprising four potential scenarios. The authors argue for the likely importance of music's role as a bridge for sociality between worker and customer. The article considers this theorising by drawing upon interviews with 60 retail and café workers in UK chains and independents, and free text comments collected through a survey of workers in a large service retailer. The findings show broad support for music acting as a bridge for sociality. Service workers appropriate music for their own purposes and many use this to provide texture and substance to social interactions with customers.

Hyvinvointi taustamusiikin kokemuksissa

“…We analyze the material, emphasizing the respondents' statements about well-being as expressions of coping, well-being, strain, and satisfaction. We discuss the results with a qualitative study of the topic that emphasizes music as a social and spatial element in the sales situation (Payne et al 2017, Kontukoski & Uimonen 2019. Our data shows that wellbeing at work and perceived musical agency interact.…”

“…Palvelutyötä tekevien suhteet omien työskentelytilojensa musiikkiin ovat jääneet vähemmälle akateemiselle huomiolle. Britanniassa ja Ruotsissa (Payne, Korczynski ja Cluley 2017;Carlén 2018) on kuiten-kin syvennytty myös työntekijöiden kokemuksiin ja heidän valitsemiinsa toimintatapoihin.…”

“…Joissain vastauksissa huomioitiin varsin yksityiskohtaisesti musiikin käynnistämää tai muuten mahdollistamaa positiivista kommunikointia asiakkaiden ja henkilökunnan välillä. Havainto musiikista asiakaskontaktin sävyn positiiviseksi määrittävänä osana toistuu edellä mainitsemassamme brittitut-kimuksessa (Payne, Korczynski ja Cluley 2017, 1433. Tällaisissa palvelutilanteissa musiikki mahdollistaa välittömän tunteen yhteisyydestä.…”

Social representations of marketing work: advertising workers and social media

“…As a result, there is a long history of different work groups producing cultural representations of their experiencesincluding songs, poems, literature and art (Korczynski et al, 2013). Such representations allow workers to bond around shared experiences even though they might not share the same work environments (Payne et al, 2017). Surprisingly little research has investigated marketing workers in this regard.…”

Organizing the sensory: Ear-work, panauralism and sonic agency on a forensic psychiatric unit

“…Despite the widespread interest in the social dimensions of sound and noise across the social sciences and humanities, with some noticeable exceptions (e.g. Kaulingfreks, 2011; Korczynski, 2014; Payne et al, 2017; Shortt, 2013; Styhre, 2013), the role of sound as a source of meaning at work remains under-studied and under-theorized in Management and Organization Studies. For Corbett (2003), this neglect stems from an ‘optocentrism’ (i.e.…”