The role of Emotional Intelligence in service encounters

Emotional intelligence competence

Emotional intelligence competence evolved from the concept of social intelligence,

which Thorndike (1920, p. 228) describes as "the ability to understand and control men and

women, boys and girls – to behave wisely in human connections." EC is commonly

conceptualized in four dimensions (Mayer and Salovey, 1997).

1) Perceiving emotion or the accuracy with which people recognize their own and

others' emotions.

2) Using emotions, or the ability to use emotions, to promote thinking and support

reasoning by channeling them into productive actions.

3) Understanding emotions, the ability to comprehend one's own and others'

emotions, as well as how emotions change over time, and which emotions are

most appropriate in each situation.

4) Controlling emotions, the ability to regulate emotions, or control one's own and

others' emotions.

Research on the business impact of emotional intelligence is largely based on the

management literature, primarily as a predictor of managerial competence and leadership, for

example, Ezzi, Azouzi, and Jarboui, (2016) examined the impact of a leader’s emotional

intelligence on the performance of Tunisian enterprises. The concept of emotional intelligence

is also associated with marketing, which focuses on customer-oriented sales and service

provider skills. research by Radha and prasad (2013) as well as kernbach and Schutte, (2005)

established relatively a long chain of relationships between emotional intelligence and service

encounters or delivery.
 The impact of emotional intelligence competence on service encounters

The concept of the "service encounter", is Lewis and Mitchell, (1990) referred to as

"moments of truth" because it is the opportunity where the customer must form an impression

about the service provided. A service encounter is the interaction between a service

organization and its customers/clients and may take varying forms: Remote counter: by

automated means (e.g., Internet website ATM), face-to-face encounter, or by phone encounter.

Promduang, (2013) stated that it is in the best interest of service organizations to

ensure that their service staff maximizes their performances to provide value to customers.

Kernbach and Schutte, (2005) shed light on the impact of emotional intelligence on service

providers’ performance, they stated that the delivery and performance of services can be

enhanced by linking them with emotional intelligence skills. Zeithaml and Bitner, (2000)

argued that “Emotional labor” is core to the work role of employees in the delivery of services

(as cited in Bardzil and Slaski, 2003). According to Delcourt, Gremler, Riel, and Birgelen,

(2016) Emotional competence (EC) refers to the performance of emotional competence

behaviors that reflect emotional intelligence (EI), or the ability to accurately perceive,

evaluate, and express emotions; the ability to acquire and/or generate feelings while promoting

thinking; the ability to understand emotions and emotional knowledgeability; and the ability to

regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

Prentice (2008) recommended that being skilled in emotional intelligence is not only

about managing emotional customers but also allowing the employee to control their own

emotions and allow them to keep focused and deal with any irrational demands being put

forward to them. (As cited in Promduang, 2013), thus emotional intelligence plays an

important role in the customer-employee relationship.

 In a service encounter, customers often have high expectations for a certain need for a

given product or service. As the interaction progresses, it is natural for emotions to arise,

whether positive or negative. These are crucial moments in the customer interaction process.

The entire focus will be on the customer service representative and how they are prepared to

manage such a crisis (Angelova and Zekiri, 2011). It is essential for frontline employees to

correctly identify emotions to understand them. These will include a thorough comprehension

of all nonverbal cues such as body language, tone, and expression.

Despite the impact of employee emotional competence on service encounters to build

relationships with customers (Giardini & Frese, 2008; Verbekeet al., 2008), only a few studies

have examined EEC in customer–employee interactions in service encounters (Giardini &

Frese, 2008; Kernbach & Schutte, 2005; Weng, 2008; Decourt & Gremler, 2013). These

studies argue that emotionally competent employees must be effective in their interactions

with customers. Additionally, they present some empirical evidence for the power of

employee emotional ability to predict customer attitudes, like trust and satisfaction in service

encounters (Giardini & Frese,2008; Kernbach & Schutte, 2005; Weng, 2008, Decourt &

Gremler, 2013). However, these studies suffer from various limitations. First, kernbach and

Schutte, (2005) examined employee emotional competence in a non-actual service through a

video presentation of a simulated encounter with a service provider which makes it difficult to

decide whether this result is applicable in a real or direct service encounters or not. Second,

Weng, (2008) examined the effect of supervision perceptions of employee emotional

competence on customer trust and satisfaction. The study finds a weak relationship between

EEC and customer trust, but no relationship between EEC and customer satisfaction. Giardini

and Frese, (2008) do not find a significant correlation between self-reported EEC and

customer satisfaction in a field study, concluding that these components are not related these
findings may be due either to the use of employee self-reports of emotional competence,

which can be subject to bias and faking or to the assumption that employee emotional

competence is a stable of service employee. Finally, Decourt and Gremler, (2013) examined

the importance of customer perceptions of employee emotional intelligence competence in

determining customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study finds a strong relationship between

customer perception of EEC and customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, employees’

perception of their emotional competence is also important since service encounter is dyadic

interaction that includes both customers and employees.