Cover not available
Part of
Multimodal Im/politeness: Signed, spoken, written
Edited by Andreas H. Jucker, Iris Hübscher and Lucien Brown
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 333] 2023
► pp. 297–325

Chapter 11
Customer support agents in Spanish live chats

Affective communication and multimodal politeness

ORCID logo | Universitat de València

Little research has been addressed to multimodal politeness in professional-layperson interactions such as between agents and customers in online platforms such as live chats. Customer support plays a significant role in commercial firms and institutions given two functions: achieving successful interactions with customers to maintain their loyalty and, the public image of the company. Thus, this ethnographic study focuses on the effects of live-chat customer support agents including or omitting affective communicative cues such as emoticons, among others, as multimodal politeness strategies in interactions with customers. The illustrative examples here show that when live-chat agents use non-verbal affective communicative markers, interactions become more personal. This improves the level of service satisfaction in customers and the public image of the company.

Keywords: multimodal politeness, digital discourse, emoticons, customer satisfaction, live chat agent, customer service, affective communication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Politeness and multimodality in digital discourse
    • 2.2Emoticons, other non-verbal modes and emotions
    • 2.3Online professional-layperson communication
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research data
    • 3.2Approach
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Communication style type with low affective content
    • 4.2Communication style type with medium affective content
    • 4.3Communication style with high affective content
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 February 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.333.11iya
References
Alsajjan, Bander A.
2014 “Satisfaction-Trust Model: Developing Customer Satisfaction and Trust Indices for Mobile Service Providers in the UK.” International Review of Management and Business Research 3 (2): 1088–1104.Google Scholar
Antonides, Gerrit, Peter C. Verhoef, and Marcel Van Alast
2002 “Customer Perception and Evaluation of Waiting Time: A Field Experiment.” Journal of Customer Psychology 12 (3): 193–202.Google Scholar
Arafah, Burhanuddin, and Hasyim Muhammad
2020 “Linguistic Functions of Emoji in Social Media Communication.” Opcion 35 (24): 20.Google Scholar
Atkins, Kim
2002 “Friendship, Trust, and Forgiveness.” Philosophia 29: 111–132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baron, Naomi
2009 “The Myth of Impoverished Signal: Dispelling the Spoken-Language Fallacy for Emoticons in Online Communication.” In Electronic Emotion, ed. by Jane Vincent, and Leopoldina Fortunati 107–136. Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Bendapundi, Neeli, and Leonard L. Berry
1997 “Customers’ Motivations for Maintaining Relationships with Service Providers.” Journal of Retailing 73 (1): 15–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich
2014 “Conflict Management in Massive Polylogues: A Case Study from YouTube.” Journal of Pragmatics 73: 19–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bovée, Courtland L., and John V. Thill
1992 Study Guide to Accompany Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Brehm, Jack
1966 A Theory of Psychological Reactance. New York (NY): Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Lucien, and Pilar Prieto
2017 “(Im)politeness: Prosody and Gesture.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, ed. by Michael Haugh, Dániel Z. Kádár, and Jonathan Culpeper, 357–379. New York: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byron, Kristin
2008 “Carrying Too Heavy a Load? The Communication and Miscommunication of Emotion by Email.” Academy of Management Review 33 (2): 309–327. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carter, Kimberly A.
2003 “Type Me How You Feel: Quasi-Nonverbal Cues in Computer-Mediated Communication.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics 60 (1): 29–39.Google Scholar
Chaudhuri, Arjun, and Morris B. Holbrook
2001 “The Chain Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The Role of Brand Loyalty.” The Journal of Marketing 65 (2): 81–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Christopherson, Laura
2011 “ ‘Can u help me plz??’: Cyberlanguage Accommodation in Virtual Reference Conversations.” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 48 (1): 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Czepiel, John A., Michael R. Solomon, and Carol F. Surprenant
(eds) 1985 The Service Encounter. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
de Waal, André, and Beatrice van der Heijden
2016 “Increasing Customer Loyalty and Customer Intimacy by Improving the Behavior of Employees.” Journal of Strategy and Management 9 (4): 492–510. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Derks, Daantje, Arjan E. R. Bos, and Jasper von Grumbkow
2007 “Emoticons and Social Interaction on the Internet: The Importance of Social Context.” Computers in Human Behavior 23: 842–84. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Michael, Sheryl E. Klimes, and Rohit Verma
2009 Customer Preferences for Restaurant Technology Innovations. Ithaca, NY: Center for Hospitality Research Publications, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Dresner, Eli, and Susan C. Herring
2010 “Functions of the Nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and Illocutionary Force.” Communication Theory 20 (3): 249–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 “Emoticons and Illocutionary Force.” In Philosophical Dialogue: Writings in Honor of Marcelo Dascal, ed. by Dana Riesenfeld, and Giovanni Scarafile, 59–70. London: College Publication.Google Scholar
Eelen, Gino
2014 A Critique of Politeness Theory. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Etemad-Sajadi, Reza
2014 “The Influence of a Virtual Agent on Web-Users Desire to Visit the Company: The Case of Restaurant’s Website.” International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management 31 (4): 419 – 434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ford, David
Ed. 2002 Understanding Business Marketing and Purchasing. 3rd edition. London: Thomson Learning.Google Scholar
Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar, and Patricia Bou-Franch
2019 “Introduction to Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions.” In Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions, ed. by Patricia Bou-Franch, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 3–22. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giles, Howard
2009 “Communication Accommodation Theory”. In Encyclopedia of Human Relationships, ed. by Harry T. Reis, and Susan Sprecher, 265–267. Los Angeles: Sage.Google Scholar
Guo, Xiaoying, Kwek Choon Ling, and Min Liu
2012 “Evaluating Factors Influencing Consumer Satisfaction Towards Online Shopping in China.” Asian Social Science 8 (13): 40–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, Håkan
(ed) 1982 International Marketing and Purchasing of Industrial Goods. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Haugh, Michael
2007 “The discursive challenge to politeness research: An interactional alternative.” Journal of Politeness Research 3: 295–317. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herring, Susan C.
1994 “Politeness in Computer Culture: Why Women Thank and Men Flame.” In Cultural Performances: Proceedings of the Third Berkeley Women and Language Conference, 278–294. Berkeley: Berkeley Women and Language Group.Google Scholar
2019 “The Coevolution of Computer-Mediated Communication and Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis.” In Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions, ed. by Patricia Bou-Franch, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 25–67. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hu, Yuheng, Ali Tafti, and David Gal
2019 “ ‘Read This, Please?’ The Role of Politeness in Customer Service Engagement on Social Media.” Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS). DOI logo
Hui, Michael K., Mrugank V. Thakor, and Ravi Gill
1998 “The Effects of Delay Type and Service Stage on Consumers’ Reaction to Waiting.” Journal of Consumer Research 24 (4): 469–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Iyanga-Mambo, Ester
2021 “Online Personal Narratives: Comments Sections as Support Groups in Knowledge-sharing Platforms.” In Handbook of Research on Contemporary Storytelling Methods across new Media and Disciplines, ed. by Lorena Clara Mihăeş, Raluca Andreescu, and Anda Dimitriu, 17–39. Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kanovska, Lucie
2009 “Customer Services and their Role for Industrial Small and Medium Companies.” Economics & Management 14: 413–420.Google Scholar
Kataoka, Kuniyoshi
2003 “Emotion and Youth Identities in Personal Letter Writing. An Analysis of Pictorial Signs and Unconventional Punctuation.” In Discourse Constructions of Youth Identities, ed. by Jannis K. Androutsopoulos, and Alexandra Georgakopoulou, 121–149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Katz, Karen L., Blaire M. Larson, and Richard C. Larson
1991 “Prescription for the Waiting in Line Blues: Entertain, Enlighten and Engage.” Sloan Management Review 32 (2): 44–53.Google Scholar
Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen
2001 Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
La, Suna, and Beomjoon Choi
2011 “The Role of Customer Affection and Trust in Loyalty Rebuilding after Service Failure and Recovery.” The Service Industries Journal 32 (1): 105–125. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langlotz, Andreas, and Miriam A. Locher
2017 “(Im)politeness and Emotion.” In Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)Politeness, ed. by Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh, and Dániel Z. Kádár, 287–322. London: Palgrave. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey N.
2014 The Pragmatics of Politeness. Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Locher, Miriam A., and Richard J. Watts
2005 “Politeness Theory and Relational Work.” Journal of Politeness Research 1 (1): 9–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luor, Tainyi, Ling-ling Wu, Hsi-Peng Li, and Yu-Hui Tao
2010 “The Effect of Emoticons in Simplex and Complex Task-Oriented Communication: An Empirical Study of Instant Messaging.” Computers in Human Behavior 26 (5): 889–895. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marshall, P. David
2010 “The Promotion and Presentation of the Self: Celebrity as Marker of Presentational Media.” Celebrity Studies 1 (1): 35–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, Graeme J.
2017 “Investigating the Online Customer Experience: A B2B Perspective.” Marketing Intelligence & Planning 35 (5): 657–672. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McLean, Graeme J., and Kofi Osei-Frimpong
2017 “Examining Satisfaction with the Experience During a Live Chat Service Encounter: Implications for Website Providers.” Computers in Human Behavior 76: 494–508. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, Robyn L., Christine Padgett, and Rachel Grieve
2020 “Accessibility and Emotionality of Online Assessment Feedback: Using Emoticons to Enhance Student Perceptions of Marker Competence and Warmth. Computers & Education 143: 103654. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morgan, Robert M., and Shelby D. Hunt
1994 “The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing.” Journal of Marketing 58 (3): 20–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Park, Chung-Hoon, and Young-Gul Kim
2003 “Identifying Key Factors Affecting Consumer Purchase Behavior in an Online Shopping Context.” International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 31 (1): 16–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Sabater, Carmen
2019 “Emoticons in Relational Writing Practices on WhatsApp: Some Reflections on Gender.” In Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions, ed. by Patricia Bou-Franch, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 163–189. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Provine, Robert R., Robert J. Spencer, and Darcy L. Mandell
2007 “Talking, Smiling and Laughing among Cellphone Users.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 26 (3): 299–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pruyn, Ad, and Ale Smidts
1998 “The Effect of Waiting on Satisfaction with the Service: Beyond Objective Time Measurements.” International Journal of Research in Marketing 15 (4): 321–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel A. Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson
1974 “A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-Taking in Conversation.” Language 50: 696–735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, Helen
2005 “(Im)politeness, Face and Perceptions of Rapport: Unpackaging their Bases and Interrelationships.” Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture 1 (1): 95–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sundar, Aparna, and Edita S. Cao
2020 “Punishing Politeness: The Role of Language in Promoting Brand Trust.” Journal of Business Ethics 164 (1): 39–60. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tombs, Alastair, and Janet R. McColl-Kennedy
2003 “Social-Servicescape Conceptual Model.” Marketing Theory 3 (4): 447–475. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Truel, Ofir, and Catherine E. Connelly
2013 “Too Much Busy to Help: Antecedents and Outcomes of Interactional Justice in Web-Based Service Encounters.” International Journal of Information Management 33: 674–683. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verhagen, Tibert, Jaap Van Ness, Frans Feldberg, and Willemijn Van Dolen
2014 “Virtual Customer Service Agents: Using Social Presence and Personalisation to Shape Online Service Encounters.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 19 (3): 529–545. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verhoef, Peter C., Katherine N. Lemon, A. Parasuraman, Anne Roggeveen, Michael Tsiros, and Leonard A. Schlesinger
2009 “Customer Experience Creation: Determinants, Dynamics and Management Strategies.” Journal of Retailing 85 (1): 31–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yim, Chin Kin, David K. Tse, and Kimmy Wa Chan
2008 “Strengthening Customer Loyalty through Intimacy and Passion: Roles of Customer-Firm Affection and Customer-Staff Relationships in Services.” Journal of Marketing Research 45: 741–756. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yus, Francisco
2001 Ciberpragmática. El Uso del Lenguaje en Internet. Barcelona: Ariel.Google Scholar
2014 “Not all Emoticons Are Created Equal.” Linguagem em (Dis)curso (Special Issue on Relevance Theory) 14 (3): 511–529. DOI logoGoogle Scholar