The requisite role of emotional intelligence in customer service in the retail banking sector

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to descriptively identify and refine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in the retail banking employee–customer contact context, and prescriptively use this knowledge to develop a framework for improving true customer service without excess organizational cost, in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts the classical interpretive/constructivist ontology and the interpretivism/constructivism epistemology, and it rests on a tripod of methodological foundations. The first leg is the theoretical work that sets the extant scientific ground for the empirical work to develop. The second incorporates the main (qualitative) empirical tools, i.e. 40 interviews with customers and HR managers (NVivo-analyzed), plus a critical incident technique study. The third includes the supportive tools of secondary data and an expert panel composed of industry and scholarly specialists. Findings EI was empirically shown to modulate the levels of customer satisfaction and to hold a critical role in the company–customer interface, albeit one that is currently and unjustly both undervalued and ineffectively controlled. The findings identify the key factors and exhibited behavioral attributes of EI within the customer service process, and they integrate all into a comprehensive framework of both scholarly and executive worth. Originality/value This study provides distinct theoretical elucidations and conceptualization that have identified and interrelated the relevant works on the subject; empirically refines the variables involved in the EI context of retail banking customer service; and culminates in the form of the proposed framework that incorporates and interrelates the findings into an empirical-data-based composition of both scholarly and executive orientation and worth.

A mathematical modeling approach to analyzing and addressing customer service inefficiencies in an international company

“…Unfortunately, when the quality of customer service is compromised by various issues, it can create significant problems for both the company and its customers(see, for example, [12], [10] and [5]). Some of the most common issues that can negatively impact customer service include unfairness in the treatment of customers, excessive bureaucracy that hinders efficient problem-solving, failure of employees to perform their duties effectively, irresponsibility in addressing customer concerns, untruthfulness in communication, and overall untrustworthiness in the customer service department (see, for example, [3] and [2]).…”