Nonverbal Communication and Client Satisfaction in Computer-Assisted Transactions

Abstract

This field study tested the arousal-valence model of nonverbal communication by examining the effect of selected immediate nonverbal communication cues exhibited by bank tellers on the satisfaction of their clients in banking transactions. Observations of teller nonverbal communication were compared with measures of customers' perceptions of the computer-assisted transaction and of the teller. An immediacy factor was predicted to relate positively to higher levels of satisfaction with tellers, bank, and transaction. Results were nonsignificant for canonical correlations of nonverbal communication and transaction measures, as well as for additional chi-square analyses of the data. Immediacy in brief impersonal transactions is not a significant predictor of satisfaction.

Client-Nurse Interaction with Individuals with Schizophrenia: A Descriptive Pilot Study

“…Literature on coding verbal and nonverbal behavior was used as a guide for the coding (Argyle, 1975;Burgoon, Buller, & Woodall, 1996;Burgoon, Dillman, & Stern, 1993;Feyeresien & De Lanney 1991;Harrigan, Rosenthal, & Scherer, 2005;Ketrow, 1991;Manusov, 2005;Morse et al, 2003;Noller, 2005;Rosenstein, 2002). Table 1 describes the coding schema.…”

Evaluation of the Indirect Influence of Courteous Service on Customer Discretionary Behavior

“…Prior investigations have typically not found support for displaying courtesy toward customers. For example, Ketrow (1991) and Brown and Sulzer-Azaroff (1994) found no significant relationship between service provider courtesy and customer satisfaction in banks. Sutton and Rafaeli (1988) found a negative relationship between service provider courtesy and sales in convenience stores.…”

“…Such behaviors are intended to help the service provider form a quick '?bond" with the customer and create the necessary rapport for a positive service encounter (Ford & Etienne, 1994). Any behaviors that convey friendliness (McCormick & Kinloch, 1986), immediacy (Ketrow, 1991), sociability (Hester, Koger, & McCauley, 1985), or positive emotion (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1990) may be classified as courteous service.…”

“…In theory, as service providers become more nonverbally direct or "immediate" with customers, they are able to reduce psychological distance and thereby promote friendlier relations with the customers. Eye contact and smiling are the immediacy behaviors most commonly researched in service contexts (Elizur, 1987;Ketrow, 1991;Rafaeli & Sutton, 1990). Head nods, forward leans, touches, body orientation, and physical distance from customers have also been examined as immediacy cues (Ketrow, 1991).…”

“…Behavioral observations are typically conducted with the assumption that participants in the encounters recognize and respond to the behaviors exhibited toward them, but it is possible that trained observers will notice and record more or different behaviors than those perceived by participants in the encounter. Ketrow (1991) addressed the issue of "observernoted versus customer-perceived" behaviors in her research on bank teller immediacy. In the present study, observational validity was checked by comparing external observations with customers' perceptions of cashier nonverbal behaviors.…”