Customer-Employee Rapport in Service Relationships

Abstract

Relationships are an important aspect of doing business, and few businesses can survive without establishing solid relationships with their customers. Although the marketing literature suggests that personal relationships can be important to service firms, little specificity has been provided as to which relational aspects should receive attention. In this study, the authors examine one specific aspect of customer-employee relationships, rapport, that they believe may be particularly salient in service businesses characterized by a high amount of interpersonal interactions. Rapport has received relatively little attention in the marketing literature; the goal of this study is to fill this gap in the literature. In two different service contexts, the authors find support for two empirically distinct dimensions of rapport. They also find a positive relationship between these dimensions and satisfaction, loyalty intent, and word-of-mouth communication. They conclude by suggesting future research directions for further academic inquiry of rapport in service contexts.

Understanding satisfying service encounters in retail banking - a dyadic perspective

“…However, employees have to consider that the creation of a relationship depends on both sides and implies the customer's willingness to open up and to share information. As pointed out in the literature the creation of rapport is the first step for a successful relationship with customers (Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). Customers therefore need to be aware of the direct benefits of entering into a relationship with the service provider.…”

How do Service Encounters Impact on Relationship Benefits

“…The interaction between customers and employees is central to the interpersonal contact in many services, and social benefits are desired by the customer. Gremler and Gwinner (2000) indicate that customer-employee rapport is significantly related to social benefit. A positive relationship between commercial friendships is a key element of social benefit.…”

“…When a customer goes for a haircut, the hairdresser addresses customer by name or asks why he hasn't been in for a long time. A provider that has maintained mutual interpersonal relationships with a level friendship has a better change of creating the social benefit (Gremler and Gwinner, 2000). In other words, the interpersonal relationships that exist between customer and employee foster the development of affinity between the parties (Raajpoot, 2004).…”

How it outsourcing impacts on value creation of manufacturer?

“…Thus, every interaction between employees and customers represents an opportunity to co-create relational values for both parties [27]. Illustrative comments from service employees about camaraderie and social bonding with their customers support this assertion [28]. Based on the statements above, hypothesis 1 is proposed as follows.…”