The Social Psychology of Service Interactions

Abstract

My talk today will be successful if I am able to persuade some scholars to study commercial interactions between strangers, a class of social interaction that has been neglected by researchers interested in social issues. Interactions between a provider of goods or services and a customer who are strangers to each other are important because they are now so common, a by-product of the modern service economy. In my talk today, I review and describe the traditional way services have been delivered—in relationships—and a newer way service is delivered—in service “encounters, ” where a customer interacts with a different service provider, or even a machine, each time she needs the same kind of service. I will describe some research findings relating to how these two forms of service delivery differ and how the recipients of service respond to these different forms of service delivery. I will then describe some areas for future research, drawing on existing theories (such as attribution theory and stereotyping), and show how they apply to the study of service interactions. The Service Economy The economy of the United States is dominated today by services, not by manufacturing. The service sector comprises between two thirds and four fifths of the United States ’ national and global economies. What are services? They do not include farming, mining, or the manufacture of durable goods. They do include just about everything else. Services are consumed as they are produced and thus, the person providing the service, the service provider, is a key component of the

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