What the eye does not see,the mind cannot reject: Can call center location explain differences in customer evaluations? |
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| Authors: | Gianfranco Walsh Matthias Gouthier Dwayne D Gremler Simon Brach |
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| Institution: | 1. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Strasse 3, 07743 Jena, Germany;2. EBS Business School, Rheingaustrasse 1, 65375 Oestrich-Winkel, Germany;3. Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA;1. Department of Organization Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics, ETSII, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28006 Madrid, Spain;2. Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SE 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden;1. Competence Center for Marketing, FHWien der WKW, University of Applied Sciences for Management and Communication, Währinger Gürtel 97, 1180, Vienna, Austria.;2. Department of Business Adminstration, University of Vienna, Oskar Morgenstern Platz 1, 1090, Vienna, Austria. |
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| Abstract: | Moving call centers offshore may be an effective way to increase service productivity by lowering costs, yet recent research suggests that customers associate offshore call centers with lower service quality. This study clarifies customer evaluations of call centers with a field study that examines how customer perceptions of a foreign accent, call center location, and the agent's customer orientation relate to nonmonetary performance outcomes. Multivariate analysis of data collected from more than 800 customers using call centers located in three countries suggests that neither accent detection nor call center location relates to customer satisfaction, trust, or word-of-mouth communication; only perceived customer orientation has an effect on these outcomes. These findings suggest offshore call center locations are not necessarily associated with lower performance outcomes and that service firms should place a higher priority on ensuring call center agents have a strong customer orientation, rather than on avoiding the use of call centers abroad. |
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