Journal of Services Marketing

The role of nonverbal communication in service encounters

D.S. Sundaram, Cynthia Webster,
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D.S. Sundaram, Cynthia Webster, (2000) "The role of nonverbal communication in service encounters", Journal of Services
Marketing, Vol. 14 Issue: 5, pp.378-391, https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040010341008
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 An executive summary for
managers and executive The role of nonverbal
readers can be found at the
end of this article communication in service
encounters
D.S. Sundaram
Assistant Professor of Marketing, Indiana University East, Richmond,
Indiana, USA
Cynthia Webster
Professor of Marketing, Mississippi State University, Mississippi,
USA

Keywords Services marketing, Service quality, Non-verbal communication,

Customer satisfaction
Abstract Although the verbal components of service encounters have been investigated,
the nonverbal aspects of employee-customer interactions have remained virtually
unexplored in the marketing literature. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore the
importance of service employees' nonverbal communication during service interactions.
Specifically, a conceptual model is presented that links nonverbal communication
(kinesics, paralanguage, proxemics, and physical appearance), customer affect, and
consumers' evaluations of service providers (with respect to credibility, friendliness,
competence, empathy, courtesy, and trustworthiness). Further, the importance of
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nonverbal elements is discussed and managerial implications are given.

Interaction The interaction between service employees and customers, commonly

referred to as the service encounter, is a critical part of the service delivery
process because its elements greatly impact customers' evaluations of
service consumption experiences (Soloman et al., 1985). Therefore, it is no
surprise that many service managers and researchers have been interested in
the dynamics of service encounters, both contemplating and examining how
they can enhance our understanding of how customers evaluate service
experiences.
Because customers' evaluations of service encounters are based on the nature
of their interactions with service employees, service managers need to be
cognizant of the importance of continuously striving to improve the quality
of the interactions that take place in their business firms. Indeed, leading
service organizations (e.g. Marriott Hotel Corp.) spend considerable effort in
identifying employee behaviors that generate favorable responses from
customers.
Positive influence It is commonly known that employees' display of affective characteristics,
such as friendliness, responsiveness, and enthusiasm, positively influences
customers' overall evaluation of service consumption experiences and
perceptions of service quality. Further, we are aware that employees' verbal
behavior during an encounter (such as words of greeting and courtesy) affect
customer perceptions of employee friendliness and consequently enhance the
perceived quality of the service interaction (Elizur, 1987). However, what is
relatively unclear is the nature of the effect of service employees' actions
particularly their nonverbal behavior on customers' perceptions of service
employees' characteristics (such as their friendliness, competence, and
credibility). This lack of clarity is unfortunate because research in the

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378 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000, pp. 378-391, # MCB UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0887-6045
 communication field reveals that the nonverbal components are at least as
important as the verbal components of interpersonal communication in
shaping the outcome of employee-customer interactions (e.g. Barnum and
Wolniansky, 1989; Burgoon et al., 1990). In fact, nearly half of the
variations in response to interpersonal communication can be attributed to
nonverbal factors (Mehrabian, 1981). It is even suggested that nonverbal
communication, the form of communicating thoughts and emotions without
using words, accounts for nearly 70 percent of all communication (Barnum
and Wolniansky, 1989).
Scarcity of research Service employees' nonverbal behavior remains virtually unexplored despite its
importance with respect to the outcome of service encounters. This scarcity of
research attention is probably due to researchers' earlier focus on macro issues,
such as the antecedents of services quality (e.g. Bolton and Drew, 1991), the
relationship between service quality and business profitability (e.g. Rust et al.,
1995), and service recovery efforts (e.g. Webster and Sundaram, 1998).
Although interpersonal interaction is completely lacking in some service
encounters (e.g. banking via ATM machines), the majority of service
delivery situations involve considerable interpersonal contact between
service provider and customer. For example, a substantial amount of
interaction takes place between employees and customers for travel, dining,
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hotel, health-care, financial, physical fitness, and beauty-related services.

The services characterized by considerable interpersonal contact are likely to
benefit greatly from an investigation of the role of nonverbal communication
on customers' evaluations of service experiences.
A managerial viewpoint From a managerial viewpoint, it is important to understand not only how
service employees' nonverbal behavior their degree of friendliness,
credibility, trustworthiness, and competence relate to customers' perceptions
of service quality, but also how customers evaluate their interaction with
service employees to determine the extent to which service employees are
friendly, credible, trustworthy, and competent. An understanding of the impact
of nonverbal communication on customers' evaluations will enable service
managers to train their employees to utilize nonverbal cues more effectively so
that customers' perceptions will be affected as positively as possible. This
article addresses this issue by examining the role of nonverbal communication
on customers' evaluations of service providers.

Background and conceptual model

Service encounters typically comprisethe delivery of the requested service
and some sort of interpersonal communication between the service employee
and the customer. It is known that interpersonal communication is an integral
part of many service delivery situations and that it greatly impacts
consumers' perceptions. The significance of the effect of interpersonal
communication on customers' evaluations is even greater in ``pure services''
those in which service delivery involves a high degree of person-to-person
interaction and no exchange of tangible objects.
An investigation In an investigation of service employees' behaviors that led to customer
dissatisfaction, unpleasant or displeasing nonverbal behavior surfaced as one
of the major reasons for customer dissatisfaction (Bitner et al., 1990). The
critical role of nonverbal communication is further evident from research
findings indicating that nonverbal cues play a significant role in shaping
receivers' perceptions of communicators' credibility (Burgoon et al., 1990),
persuasive power (Mehrabian and Williams, 1969), courtesy (Ford, 1995),
and interpersonal warmth (Bayes, 1972).

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 379

 The interpersonal An examination of past research focusing on nonverbal communication in
communication process the sociology, psychology and communication fields helps us to understand
better how service customers are likely to process employees' nonverbal
communication. Advocated to explain the interpersonal communication
process within the psychology literature, the modified Brunswickian lens
model suggests that a sender's emotional status and other traits are
externalized or expressed in distal indicator cues (i.e. characteristics of the
sender's nonverbal behavior) (Scherer, 1982; Burgoon et al., 1990). The
receiver, following his or her observation and internalization of the cues,
makes an attribution about the nature of the sender's traits or states, such as
competence, composure, or persuasiveness. This model indicates that during
the communication process, individuals process nonverbal cues in
conjunction with the accompanying verbal message. Indeed, listeners (or
customers) are likely to attend to and elaborate on the nonverbal cues before
actually comprehending the verbal communication.
Past research in sociology and communication indicates that individuals
learn from early childhood how to use nonverbal behavioral signals as a
communication vehicle (Palmer and Simmons, 1995). In fact, the manner in
which individuals learn to communicate nonverbally is similar to how they
learn a vocal language. Once having learned to communicate nonverbally,
individuals consciously and unconsciously integrate nonverbal cues into
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conversations, using them to convey specific social meanings such as

intimacy, immediacy, involvement, and dominance (Burgoon, 1991).
A conceptual model To guide our discussion, we present a conceptual model that highlights the
role of nonverbal communication in service interactions. Although the
complete model is depicted in Figure 1, this article focuses on the section
enclosed by dotted lines the relationships among providers' nonverbal cues
(kinesics, paralanguage, proxemics, and physical appearance), affect, and
customer evaluations. The model suggests that both verbal and nonverbal
elements of communication between the service provider and the customer
influence customers' affect or subjective feelings, which in turn influence
their evaluation of the service encounter. Note that the multitude of
nonverbal communication cues have been grouped into four major
categories: paralanguage, kinetics, proxemics, and physical appearance. The
model further suggests that customers' nonverbal and verbal responses will
influence service providers' nonverbal cues and will also moderate their
interpretation of the providers' nonverbal communication. Regardless of
whether or not service providers' nonverbal cues are in response to

Figure 1.

380 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000

 customers' cues, service providers' nonverbal behavior is likely to have a
significant impact on customers' affective state or feelings.
Affect is included as an intermediate step between nonverbal cues and service
evaluations because customers' affective reaction to the provider is an outcome
of the cognitive process in which they identify, associate, and evaluate verbal
and nonverbal cues disseminated by the service providers. Further, the resulting
affect is likely to guide their evaluations. Although affective reactions are
influenced by both verbal and nonverbal cues, inferences about relationships
and feelings (affect) are more heavily influenced by nonverbal cues (Zajonc,
1980). Thus, whether customers' affective state will be influenced in a positive
or a negative direction depends on the nature of the cues and on whether they
received the anticipated nonverbal cues.
Customers' evaluations Customers' evaluations of the service experience and particularly, their
vary evaluations of the service provider are likely to vary depending on the
valence and directionality of affect. For example, pleasing nonverbal cues
producing positive affect may encourage customers to associate positive
characteristics with service providers, while unpleasant nonverbal cues
producing negative affect are likely to cause customers to view service
providers in a negative manner. In addition, customers are likely to observe
whether service providers reciprocate favorably to their positive nonverbal
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cues.
Following is a discussion of how the four types of nonverbal cues are likely
to influence customers' perceptions of service providers.

Nonverbal channels of communication

Kinesics
Kinesics, also known as body movements, serve as important vehicles for
nonverbal communication. In particular, body orientation (e.g. relaxed, open
posture), eye contact, nodding, hand shaking, and smiling are all powerful
nonverbal signals in interpersonal interactions. Although each body movement
probably does not have its own unique meaning, several body movements tend
to convey similar meaning. For instance, research suggests that the cues of
casual smiling, light laughter, forward body lean, open body posture, and
frequent eye contact are perceived as conveying intimacy and non-dominance
the characteristics commonly associated with friendliness and courtesy. On
the other hand, kinesics such as stoic facial expressions, either staring or
avoiding eye contact, backward lean of body, and closed body posture are
perceived as conveying dominance, unfriendliness, and emotional distance
(e.g. Burgoon et al., 1990; Mehrabian and Williams, 1969).
Eye contact is important Research has shown that eye contact, as a certain aspect of kinesics, is
particularly important with respect to its effect on perceptions and
interpersonal relations. While perceptions of a communicator's credibility
become more favorable with more frequent and appropriately longer eye
contact, perceptions of distrust increase with the absence of eye contact
(Hemsley and Doob, 1978). Further, eye contact has been linked to increased
likeability, believability (Beebe, 1980), and satisfaction (Ketrow and
Perkins, 1986). A study focusing on the role of nonverbal cues in banking
service transactions found that a greater usage of eye contact by bank tellers
resulted in higher customer satisfaction with the service provider and with
the service firm (Ketrow and Perkins, 1986).
The display of interpersonal warmth (i.e. showing interest in and acceptance and
approval of other people) is logically associated with service employees. It is

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 381

 particularly important for service employees to show warmth toward customers
because such behavior serves as the basis for building satisfying relationships.
Although interpersonal warmth can be communicated via both verbal and
nonverbal cues, studies in clinical psychology note that warmth is more
effectively communicated through nonverbal channels. In an investigation of a
variety of vocal and kinesic nonverbal cues, smiling emerged as the most
effective indicator of interpersonal warmth (Bayes, 1972). The same study found
that people who smiled frequently were perceived as exhibiting more warmth
than those who did not smile often. Likewise, the absence of positive facial
expressions and body movements, including smiling, is considered an indication
of negative affect and a lack of warmth and friendliness.
Satisfying relationships Kinesic cues such as eye contact, nodding, hand shaking, and smiling can be
employed at various stages of service delivery to build satisfying relationships.
For example, service providers should make it a point to initiate service
encounters with a smile. And because most people tend to vividly remember
what they have been exposed to at the end of an exchange, service providers
should also conclude the encounter with a pleasant, friendly smile.
In service situations where customers typically have encounters with
different employees, they are likely to have a lasting impression that the firm
and its employees are customer-oriented if those employees greet the
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customers with a smile. If the service employee's smile is accompanied by

eye contact, the impact is even greater. While smiling will create the
perceptions of warmth and friendliness, employees' eye contact will give the
impression that they are sincere about their interest in their customers. As an
example, airlines typically have their crew greet customers while boarding
and unboarding the aircraft. It is imperative for employees to smile at and
have eye contact with each customer. Otherwise, the effect may be more
negative than had the customer not been greeted at all. Customers receiving a
smile usually reciprocate accordingly and feel that the service provider cares
about them and will treat them with respect. For example, physicians and
nurses providing health care services to children have long recognized the
power of smiling. Children tend to bond with those physicians and nurses
who smile and touch them. Such nonverbal behavior tends to comfort
children and leaves the parents with the feeling that the service providers are
caring, concerned, and friendly.
Professional service In professional services situations (e.g. interactions between attorneys and
situations clients), it is both appropriate and wise for customers to be welcomed with a
firm hand shake and eye contact. If the service situation involves considerable
interpersonal conversation or discussion (e.g. physician, attorney, and therapist
visits), service providers can effectively employ nodding and frequent eye
contact to indicate understanding and empathy. In such situations, nodding is
likely to enhance customers' perceptions of trust and courtesy. In all service
situations, the use of frequent eye contact accompanied by other
complementary nonverbal cues will help enhance perceptions of trust,
believability, and sincerity. On the other hand, service employees should never
use nonverbal cues that communicate dominance, unconcern, and superiority,
such as scant or piercing eye contact, finger pointing, and closed body posture.
The preceding discussion leads us to the proposition that:
P1: Smiling, light laughter, and frequent eye contact by service providers
will enhance customers' perceptions of friendliness and courtesy.
P2: Head nodding by service providers will enhance customers' perceptions
of empathy, courtesy, and trust.

382 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000

 P3: Frequent eye contact by service providers will enhance customers'
perceptions of credibility.
P4: Hand shaking by service providers will enhance customers' perceptions
of friendliness and courtesy.

Paralanguage
Interpersonal communication studies indicate that the noncontent or
nonverbal aspects of a message are at least as important as the actual content.
While verbal statements can convey states of being, listeners use
paralinguistic cues, such as vocal pitch, vocal loudness or amplitude, pitch
variation, pauses, and fluency, to perceive the exact state of being. For
example, a communicator might use a verbal statement to convey confidence
(e.g. ``I am positively sure that. . .''), but listeners will consciously and
unconsciously interpret the paralanguage to assess the communicator's
degree of confidence. Research reveals that when a listener or receiver
attempts to judge where the speaker or source is on a contempt-affection
continuum, they rely more on the tone of the voice than on the content of the
message. This fact is evident from Argyle et al.'s (1970) study that found
that, even when the content of the message was disturbed by means of
random splicing of the tape, listeners were able to detect the emotions
expressed in the message based only on the tone of the voice.
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Importance of Using the conveyance of confidence as an example, the drive theory of social
paralanguage facilitation, which links nonverbal cues with states of being, helps us
understand the importance of paralanguage. The drive theory of social
facilitation suggests that individuals with higher levels of confidence tend to
experience increased drive or arousal and will consequently speak faster (i.e.
faster than normal speech rate of 120 to 160 words per minute) and louder than
their less confident counterparts. Indeed, in Kimble and Seidel's (1991) test of
the theory, it was revealed that subjects who responded in a louder voice were
perceived as more confident than those who spoke with less volume.
Further, studies on vocal characteristics have revealed that fluent speech that is
free of long pauses, hesitations, and repetitions is considered more credible than
nonfluent speech (Erickson et al., 1978). However, brief to moderate pauses
tend to enhance perceptions of credibility and trustworthiness (Scherer, 1982).
Similarly, pitch variation was shown also to enhance perceptions of
competence and sociability (Scherer, 1982). On the other hand, disfluencies,
long pauses, increasing and decreasing tempo, and higher pitch were associated
with negative affect and anxiety (Siegman, 1978). On the basis of pitch, speech
rate, vocal intensity, and inflection, communication theorists have classified
speech delivery patterns into a conversational style (lower pitch, slower rate,
lower to moderate volume, and less inflection) and a public speaking or
dynamic style (higher pitch, faster, high vocal intensity, higher inflection)
(Pearce and Conklin, 1971; Pearce and Brommel, 1972). An investigation of
how listeners responded to these two styles revealed that speakers who used a
conversational style were rated as trustworthy, kind, warm, friendly, and
pleasant, while those who used a public speaking style were associated with
dynamism, dominance, and competence (Pearce and Conklin, 1971).
In service situations where it is appropriate (and perhaps even expected) for
service providers to be particularly kind, warm, and friendly (e.g. in the
health and beauty care, hotel, restaurant, transportation, and counseling
services), service providers need to use more paralinguistic cues associated
with a conversational style. Such cues are likely to facilitate employees to
portray an image that they are people-oriented rather than task-oriented. On

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 383

 the other hand, in service situation where consumers are likely to expect the
provider to be more business- or task-oriented, (e.g. in the financial, legal,
and advertising fields), service providers might place more weight on using a
public speaking style. For example, an attorney who wants to present a
competent and yet friendly image might use a public speaking style to
portray competence and dynamism but also the kinesic nonverbal cues of
nodding, frequent eye contact, and occasional smiling to convey warmth and
friendliness. Thus,
P5: Service providers' usage of a slower speech rate, lower pitch, moderate
pauses, and less inflection will enhance customers' perceptions of
friendliness and credibility.
P6: Service providers' usage of a faster speech rate, higher pitch, high vocal
intensity, and higher inflection will enhance customers' perceptions of
competence, but will reduce their perceptions of friendliness.

Proxemics
Touch Proxemics refers to the distance and relative postures of the interactants. An
element of proxemics that is highly relevant in service interactions is touch.
The theory of relational communication suggests that the use of the
nonverbal cue of touch in an interpersonal exchange can increase attentional
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arousal and interpersonal involvement and significantly impact recipients'

attitudes toward the source of the touch.
Specifically, studies on the role of touch in interpersonal communication
reveal that touch enhances one's interpersonal involvement, positive affect,
social attachment, intimacy, and overall liking (Price et al., 1995). Hornik and
Ellis (1988) found that individuals touched by the interviewer showed greater
willingness to participate in mall-intercept interviews. Based on these and
other findings, Hornik (1992) suggested that touching increases compliance.
The persuasive power of touch is further evident in the findings of Patterson et
al. (1986) stating that people tend to associate positive characteristics with the
individual who touched them. Further, these individuals are more likely to act
positively toward those who touched them. For instance, customers who had
been touched by beauty service providers indicated that it was both the verbal
and nonverbal behavior of the provider that attributed to their favorable
attitudes. Similarly, Hornik (1992) found that the restaurant patrons who were
touched by servers tended to express positive regard for the servers and even
complied with requests from the servers.
Health-care services Although touch can be used to communicate friendliness, warmth, and
appreciation in all types of service encounters, the manner in which touch
affects customer evaluations can best be illustrated with health-care services.
A typical health-care service involves multiple encounters, including contact
with a receptionist, nurse, physician, and possibly a pharmacist. The
physician-patient encounter, where touch is highly relevant, involves well
defined activities, including gathering information, giving a medical
examination, and providing recommendations for treatment. The medical
examination stage involves task touch, meaning that the physician touches
the patient as a part of the medical examination. Because task touch is a
required part of the interaction, it will not necessarily be associated with
warmth and friendliness. On the other hand, if the physician engages in
voluntary touch (e.g. pat on the back, holding arm while verbally comforting
the patient) while making treatment recommendations, the touch will be
perceived as an indication of warmth, empathy, and friendliness.

384 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000

 In summary, research findings demonstrate that touch is perceived as a sign
of closeness, warmth, affection, and empathy. Therefore, touch can be
employed by service providers as an effective communication tool to display
friendliness and empathy:
P7: Service providers' usage of touch will enhance customers' perceptions of
friendliness and empathy.

Physical appearance
Physical appearance is another nonverbal element that is an important
determinant of perception in interpersonal interactions. Several service
organizations have policies regarding the physical appearance of their
employees. For example, Disney requires its male employees to remove
facial hair and its female employees to use cosmetics sparingly.
Physical attractiveness An element of physical appearance that is particularly relevant to the service
situation is physical attractiveness. Studies suggest that physically attractive
communicators are more persuasive (Chaiken, 1979), successful in changing
attitudes (Kahle and Homer, 1985), and are perceived as being more friendly
than less attractive communicators. Further, more attractive people are
perceived to be warmer, more poised, and more socially skilled than less
attractive people (Chaiken, 1979).
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Although the impact of a communicator's physical attractiveness diminishes

as the receiver obtains more information about the communicator, physical
attractiveness is an important factor at least during the initial encounter. The
psychology literature offers an explanation of the relationship between
physical attractiveness and an individual's perceptions and behavior.
Basically, individuals have inculcated the physical attractiveness stereotype,
``What is beautiful is good.'' This ubiquitous stereotype is based on society's
teaching that physical beauty is important and desirable. The stereotype about
beauty has led people to associate attractiveness with favorable characteristics
such as friendliness, likeability, and sociability (Reis et al., 1980). It is logical
to suspect that the attractiveness stereotype will operate in service encounters,
just as it does in other types of social situations. Thus, it is logical to expect
that a service provider's physical attractiveness will significantly affect
customers' positive affect and consequently their perceptions of service
providers' credibility, friendliness, competence, empathy, and courtesy.
Appropriate dress codes The physical appearance of service providers can be enhanced by employing
appropriate dress codes. The use of dress codes not only provides an identity
with the organization, but also enhances the appearance of the employees.
For example, several service businesses experimentally manipulated
employee attire to determine the most effective style and manner of dress
with respect to customers' perception of employee professionalism.
The type of attire considered appropriate will vary by service industry and
gender of the service employee. For example, men working in professional
services such as financial and legal services can wear a suit and tie to project
poise, competence, and credibility. Female employees in professional
services settings can wear navy, black, and gray suits to project competence
and credibility. Similarly, service employees working in restaurant, hotel,
museum, and recreational services can wear a tuxedo-type suit to create the
perceptions of competence and credibility. Attire color affects physical
appearance and the resulting perception. In general, darker suits create a
perception of dominance and authority where lighter suits are associated
with friendliness. Pinstripes and solid white shirts are associated with

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 385

 credibility. While warm colors (e.g. red and yellow) are likely to create
perceptions of dominance, cool colors (e.g. green and blue) may reinforce
perceptions of friendliness and warmth. Color intensity has also been shown
to affect perceptions. For instance, light to moderate intensity colors,
compared with bright colors, will result in more positive evaluations.
Based on the preceding discussion, we offer the following propositions:
P8: The physical attractiveness of the service provider will be significantly
related to customers' perceptions of friendliness, credibility,
competence, empathy, and courtesy.
P9: Attire color and intensity worn by the service provider will affect
customers' perceptions of friendliness, competence, and credibility.

Summary and managerial implications

A microscopic look Given the critical role of the service interpersonal encounter on customers'
evaluations of service quality, it is crucial for service managers and researchers to
take a microscopic look at the service encounter to understand better how each
element of employee behavior is likely to influence customers' perceptions.
In all societies, people are conditioned to expect certain nonverbal signals
(e.g. smiles and head nods) as indications of approval or attention during
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conversations. Failure on the part of service personnel to provide such

signals is likely to affect the customer in a negative manner. Thus, in service
encounters it becomes particularly important for service employees to
understand and implement the nonverbal signals that will assure the
customers that they are receiving complete attention and concern.
The significance of nonverbal communication may be even greater in those
interactions which follow service failure. In such interactions, customers are
more likely to attend closer to the service provider's behavior when they are
either complaining or seeking retribution. Following service failure,
customers are desirous of getting their problems or elements of their dissatis-
faction resolved as quickly as possible and, in doing so, they have certain
expectations with respect to service providers' behavior. During this period
of anxiety, customers are particularly vigilant to notice nonverbal cues in an
attempt to discern the service provider's intentions and attitudes regarding
helping them. In such situations, the display of inappropriate nonverbal cues
(e.g. frowning, lack of eye contact, closed body posture, etc.) is likely to
create even more negative feelings on the part of the customer, probably
resulting in negative word-of-mouth communication and intentions to
discontinue their patronage with that particular service provider.
Credence-based services Nonverbal communication is also particularly important when customers
attempt to evaluate credence-based services those in which quality is
especially difficult to assess (e.g. health-care and legal services). In such
service situations, customers are likely to rely heavily on service providers'
nonverbal behavior to develop their attitudes toward satisfaction and quality
or value received. Confirming our view, a study in health-care services
documented that physicians' nonverbal behaviors affected patients'
satisfaction with health care, their compliance with prescribed treatments,
and their rapport with their service provider (Larsen and Smith, 1981).
The proposed linkage between nonverbal cues and customer evaluations has
several implications for service management. Therefore, to help service
managers superintend nonverbal aspects of service employee-customer
interactions, the following guidelines are offered:

386 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000

 (1) Ensure that service employees understand that nonverbal aspects of
communication are at least as important as their verbal communication
in shaping customers' evaluations.
(2) Educate service employees to attend to their nonverbal cues when
interacting with customers. Increase employee sensitivity to nonverbal
cues by using training methods such as role playing and videotaping
actual service interactions to provide feedback on nonverbal behaviors.
For example, Elizur (1987) found that employees increased the
frequency of their display of pleasing nonverbal cues (such as smiling)
when provided with feedback on their nonverbal behaviors.
Continuous feedback (3) Modify service employees' nonverbal behaviors through continuous
feedback and periodic reminders to produce favorable nonverbal cues.
For example, mass-media vehicles such as newsletters can be used by
organizations to remind employees of the importance of nonverbal
elements of communication.
(4) Educate service employees about the linkage between their vocal
characteristics and customers' perceptions. Employees can be trained to
change their speech characteristics so that they will speak with a more
pleasant voice quality that displays warmth and trust. Training may
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involve educating service employees about the process of modifying

their voice tone, diction, pitch, volume, and inflection.
(5) Examine the manner in which service employees dress and determine if
changes need to be made in color, design, and intensity to enhance
physical appearance of employees. Attempt to match employees' manner
of dress with customers' expectations. Note that customers' expectations
will vary depending on their social status and industry type. In general,
require employees to dress formally in professional services and when
interacting with upper class customers. They may dress more casually
when interacting with working or lower class clientele. Cool colors
might be used when wanting to project an image of friendliness, poise,
and warmth, and warm colors may be used to project an image of
activity and excitement.
Periodic surveys 6) Conduct periodic surveys to assess customers' perceptions of service
employees' nonverbal behavior. These surveys can complement the
firm's global evaluation of customer satisfaction and service quality.
Many companies now use customer satisfaction surveys as a basis of
rewarding individual service employees. For example, a component of
the customer satisfaction survey conducted by May Flower Company
focuses on the physical appearance of the truck driver and the sales agent
who delivered the service. Customer satisfaction surveys that assess how
well a particular service employee related with the customer can be used
to determine merit-based rewards and to train employees by identifying
areas for improvement. Further, evaluating individual employee
performance will encourage employees to be cognizant of their behavior
and to be responsive to customer needs.
(7) In addition to surveys, consider using mystery shoppers to assess
employee nonverbal behaviors. A standardized form might be used by
the mystery shoppers to note their observations of an employee's specific
nonverbal behaviors.
(8) Encourage employees to adopt the recommended changes in nonverbal
behaviors by providing positive reinforcements for adaptation.

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 387

 Control over one's nonverbal behavior may be quite difficult at times because
it is partially determined by stressors such as the emotions and thoughts
triggered by customers' behaviors. Therefore, managers should realize that
training service employees to control their nonverbal communication is not an
easy task. However, educating service employees of the significance of
nonverbal communication is better than totally ignoring this essential element
of interpersonal communication. Service employees are more likely to
exercise control over their nonverbal behavior when they are aware of the
tremendous impact that nonverbal behavior has on customer perceptions.
Summary In summary, an understanding of how nonverbal cues affect customers'
evaluations is important to service employees for several reasons. First,
nonverbal cues are effective in reducing psychological distance and in
enhancing the pleasant affect between the interactants. Second, nonverbal
communication modifies and reinforces verbal communication. Further,
customers' interpretation of service providers' nonverbal aspects of
communication is likely to significantly affect their ensuing marketplace
behavior.

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JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 389

 This summary has been Executive summary and implications for managers and
provided to allow managers executives
and executives a rapid
appreciation of the content The main nonverbal cues
of this article. Those with a The delivery of most services involves considerable interpersonal contact
particular interest in the between service provider and customer. Interpersonal communication is
topic covered may then read especially important in the so-called ``pure'' services, where delivering the
the article in toto to take service involves a high degree of person-to-person interaction and no
advantage of the more exchange of tangible objects. The nonverbal aspects of interpersonal
comprehensive description communication the form of communicating thoughts and emotions without
of the research undertaken using words are at least as important as the verbal components in shaping
and its results to get the full the way a customer feels about his or her dealings with an employee.
benefit of the material Sundaram and Webster examine the following nonverbal cues:
present
. kinesics body movements such as eye contact, nodding, hand shaking,
smiling and adopting a relaxed and open posture;
. paralanguage vocal pitch, vocal loudness or amplitude, pitch
variation, pauses and fluency;
. proxemics the distance and relative postures of the service provider
and customer, and particularly the use of touch; and
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. physical appearance.

How nonverbal cues affect the customer

The authors suggest that:
. smiling, light laughter and frequent eye contact by service providers
enhance customers' perceptions of friendliness and courtesy;
. head nodding by service providers enhances customers' perceptions of
empathy, courtesy and trust;
. frequent eye contact by service providers enhances customers'
perceptions of credibility;
. hand shaking by service providers enhances customers' perceptions of
friendliness and courtesy;
. when service providers use a slower speech rate, lower pitch, moderate
pauses and less inflection they enhance customers' perceptions of
friendliness and credibility;
. when service providers use a faster speech rate, higher pitch, high vocal
intensity and higher inflection they enhance customers' perceptions of
competence, but reduce their perceptions of friendliness;
. service providers' usage of touch enhances customers' perceptions of
friendliness and empathy;
. the physical attractiveness of the service provider is significantly related
to customers' perceptions of friendliness, credibility, competence,
empathy and courtesy; and
. the colour and intensity of the clothes worn by the service provider affect
customers' perceptions of friendliness, competence and credibility.

What service managers can do

Sundaram and Webster believe that customers who are complaining or
seeking retribution are likely to pay particularly close attention to an

390 JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000

 employee's nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is also
particularly important when customers attempt to evaluate services such as
health-care and legal services, where quality is especially difficult for the
average consumer to assess.
The authors suggest that service managers should:
(1) Ensure that service employees understand that nonverbal communica-
tion is at least as important as verbal communication.
(2) Train service employees to be sensitive to nonverbal cues through, for
example, role playing and showing videotapes of actual service delivery.
(3) Provide continuous feedback and periodic reminders to staff about the
importance of nonverbal communication.
(4) Offer voice training to employees who need it, so they speak with a voice
which displays warmth and trust.
(5) Attempt to match employees' manner of dress with customers'
expectations. For example, cool colours might be used when wanting to
project an image of friendliness, poise and warmth, and warm colours to
project an image of activity and excitement. Employees should normally
dress formally in professional services and when interacting with upper-
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class customers. They may dress more casually when interacting with a
lower-class clientele.
(6) Conduct periodic surveys to assess customers' perceptions of service
employees' nonverbal behaviour. Consider using mystery shoppers to
achieve a similar end.
(7) Provide incentives to encourage employees to adopt the recommended
changes in nonverbal behaviour.

(A precis of the article ``The role of nonverbal communication in service

encounters''. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for MCB University Press.)

JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING, VOL. 14 NO. 5 2000 391

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