Building Friendships and Relationships: The Role of Conversation in Hairdressing Service Encounters

Building Friendships and Relationships: The Role of Conversation in Hairdressing Service Encounters Ivana Garzaniti, University of Western Sydney, Glenn Pearce, University of Western Sydney, g.pearce@uws.edu.au John Stanton, University of Western Sydney, j.stanton@uws.edu.au Abstract Drawing from eight hairdressing service encounters in one Australian salon and using interpretive research methods, this paper explores the contribution of conversation as an element of interaction that occurs in hairdressing service encounters. The study sought to understand variations in conversation between short and long term customers; how conversations contribute to the development of commercial friendships and; how relationships develop through conversation. For these clients, conversation played an important function with respect to building friendships and long term relationships, similar to an extended, affective, intimate (EAI) service encounter. This importance warrants further research on the nature and role of service conversation that can offer guidance for improving the conversation skills of service providers. Keywords: conversation, service encounters, hairdressing, relationships

Background and Purpose The service encounter is both social and communicative (Sparks, 1994). The social nature of, and physical contact in the service encounter promotes intimacy (Goodwin & Frame, 1989; Czepiel, 1990; Goodwin & Smith, 1990), which encourages friendly conversation between service employee and customer. The social nature of the service encounter can be attributed to the physical contact required, particularly in people-processing services (Lovelock et al., 2007). Such services involve tangible actions directed at a person ( high touch ), requiring the customer to be physically present during service delivery (Lovelock et al., 2007). People processing is characterized by service customization, continuous relationships and high levels of customer contact (Lovelock, 1983). Moreover, given they are required to be physically present during the performance, there is significant involvement of customers in the service process (Grönroos, 2000; Lovelock et al., 2007). Using a typology of service encounters based on duration, affective content and spatial proximity, proposed by Price et al (1995), people processing service encounters are likely to fall into the extended, affective, intimate (EAI) category. Although Price et al., (1995) regard hairdressing as low affect, findings in this paper suggest it is actually high affect, demanding exchange qualities more likely to be associated with a friendship that engenders the building of a long term relationship. In this paper, the role and importance of conversation in eight hairdressing service encounters is examined from a customer perspective. Analysis of these conversations sought to understand: variations in conversation between short and long term customers, how conversations contribute to commercial friendships and; how relationships develop. Review: Conversation, Service Relationship and Friendship The definition of conversation used in this paper derives from a communications perspective: The continuing social process (Allen & Guy, 1974) where two socialized and co-present persons (Turnbull, 2003) engage in any interactive, spoken exchange with one another (Pridham, 2004). Hairdressing is a people-processing encounter where conversation is likely to play an important role. Solomon et al., (1985) state that hairdressing is characterized by a high degree of person-to-person interaction and the physical contact may create both intimacy and a closeness that decreases the perceived social distance between the service employee and customer (Goodwin & Frame, 1989; Czepiel, 1990; Goodwin & Smith, 1990). This intimacy often encourages conversation between the service employee and customer. Butcher et al., (2002) assert that the hairdresser is constantly within the customer s personal space. Similarly, Price & Arnould (1999) argue that hairdressing throws two people together for a relatively lengthy period of time both parties are held captive to the encounter (p. 47). In such a situation, discussing conversation topics unrelated to the immediate service context can be a strategy for creating verbal closeness or immediacy between the service employee and customer (Ford, 1998). Services are inherently relational in nature (Grönroos, 2000). Czepiel (1990) emphasizes that relationships in services are important given the social nature of service encounters, the active and often face-to-face interaction between service provider and client [and] the

difficulty of assessing service quality (p. 17). Repeated encounters provide occasions for the development of a more complex and personal relationship (Czepiel, 1990). Bendapudi & Berry (1997) contend that customers make investments of both time and effort in identifying service providers and developing relationships with them. In addition to reducing perceived risk, customers can reap social benefits from these relationships (Berry, 1995b). The development of a friendship between service employee and customer has been explored by Goodwin (1996), Gwinner et al., (1998) and Price & Arnould (1999). Czepiel (1990, p.16) argues that since service encounters are social encounters first, it is only natural that repeated encounters develop personal as well as professional dimensions. Bitner (1994) claims the relationship between the service employee and customer often comes to resemble a personal friendship that can affect the customer s quality of life. Further, the interaction between customer-contact service employees and customers (Dubinsky, 1994) and the diversity of conversation topics in the service encounter (Goodwin, 1996) have been considered as comparable to those in a friendship. The sociality present in a service encounter is considered a form of commercial friendship (Gwinner et al., 1998; Price & Arnould, 1999). Price & Arnould (1999) explain that commercial friendships involve high levels of intimacy, talking and self-disclosure and reason that where a commercial friendship exists, the customer feels a closeness to the service employee and is therefore more comfortable sharing their true feelings. These commercial friendships, they contend, are associated with satisfaction, strong service loyalty and positive word of mouth. Goodwin (1996) refers to communality, the degree to which a service relationship resembles a friendship and operationalises communality as conversation interchanges on topics unrelated to the core service (p. 397). Conversation topics in service encounters represent a key indicator of friendship based on their relevance to service delivery (Goodwin, 1996). Whereas functional conversation occurs regardless of the relationship amongst participants, communality is marked by the presence and amount of conversation irrelevant to the core service transaction, that is, non-essential conversation. Conversation contributes to the building of rapport in a relationship between service employees and customers. Gremler & Gwinner, (2000) established that rapport - enjoyable interaction and a personal connection - had a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Lovelock et al., (2007) claims the social relationship that develops in the services context, stems from the development of personal rapport with customers. While the preceding research indicates that the outcomes of the social relationship between service employees and customers have been explored, the process or means of reaching these states (engaging in verbal communication) has been largely ignored. Conversation has been subsumed in the wider social constructs explored. Research Design and Study In order to explore conversation in the context of the hairdressing service encounter, three interpretive research methods were used to access experiences and interactions (Flick, 2007). The first method involved audio recordings of naturally occurring service encounter conversations between hairdressers and customers. Audio-recordings provided accurate, unbiased records of service conversations. The second method involved a cartoon test administered to customers by the researcher immediately after the service encounter. Cartoon

tests are a construction research technique (Papantoniou, 1992; Pearce, 2003; Malhotra & Peterson, 2006) requiring the respondent to construct a response to a pictorially framed question what did you talk about? This selective recall was used to prompt the respondent in the interview that followed. Each participant was interviewed in a private area of salon. The interviews explored the preceding service encounter conversation from the client s perspective. The three-pronged research design allowed examination from multiple viewpoints (Neuman, 2006). Service conversations were drawn from encounters in an outer western Sydney hairdressing salon, a small business employing four hairdressers, three females and a male servicing both male and female clients. Located in an area recognised for its concentration of small hairdressing salons, the salon offers a full range of hair services and has operated for 25 years. Demographics of the salon s clientele were noted and client records were examined to select participants representing typical clients ranging from short to long term. Encounters may vary with the type of hair salon (Lawson, 1999). These can range from large franchise chains with a price and time focus to up-market stylists. This salon is in a middle- price range, and full service. In order to ensure a desirable degree of sample diversity (Patton, 1990), quota sampling (Neuman, 2006) was used to select eight customers and their service encounters. Variables that defined quota categories were gender and relationship length. Gender was chosen because gender composition of the customer-service employee pairing was likely to influence the nature and possibly role of conversation (Brotherton & Penman, 1977; Hall & Braunwald, 1981). The length of relationship between customer and hairdresser was also selected because duration can influence conversation intimacy (Altman & Taylor, 1973). Short-term customers (n=4) were defined as those patronizing the salon for two years or less, whilst long term customers (n=4) were defined as patrons of five years or more. Two durations were selected on the assumption that customers who had patronized the salon for two years or less would have different, possibly less personal relationships with their hairdressers than those customers who had patronized the salon for five years or more. The encounters examined involved two long-serving employees (male and female), each servicing two male and two female customers. Employees were briefed on their potential inclusion in the study by both the business owners and the researcher. Staff involvement was limited to audio-recording their conversations with selected customers during the service encounter. When salon clients - potential research participants - telephoned to make an appointment they were informed of the study and asked whether they would like to participate. Consenting customers were eventually introduced to the researcher. Service encounter conversations between hairdresser and client were discreetly recorded using a digital audio device. Results and Discussion Conversation was generally present during the entire duration of each service encounter. All conversation topics were mapped and themed. Eighty one topic categories were identified. Service or task- oriented service conversation had the highest frequency of conversation categories but accounted for only 7 per cent of all conversation topics. Social conversation topics dominated the conversations of both short and long term clients. Conversations generally progressed from a greeting and service related talk, a follow up or reference to

information from a previous encounter with topics feeding off each other, to a conclusion which again had a task as well as a social component. Long term customers discussed a broader range of topics in service conversations than short term customers. In conversations featuring long term customers, conversation moved from broad to more specific, often personal, topics while conversations involving short term customers tended to remain broad and general. Analysis of both conversation transcripts and cartoon test responses revealed that long term customer conversations were of a more personal nature (family, partners, children, emotions) than conversations with short term customers. These findings resonate with Social Penetration Theory (Altman & Taylor, 1973) that suggests conversational exchanges become broader and deeper as relationship intimacy increases. A broader and deeper (more personal) range of conversation topics occurred in conversations with long term customers, most likely because their relationship with the hairdresser was more developed and intimate. Another indication of a more personal and intimate relationship between long term customers and their hairdressers, was that conversations involving long term customers were more balanced between the hairdresser and customer. In contrast, conversations with short term customers tended to focus more heavily on the customer. A plausible explanation for this finding is that during conversations with short term customers, hairdressers sought to promote customer self-disclosure by allowing them to speak about themselves or by asking questions that required them to self-disclose. This questioning is consistent with Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975) whereby individuals are motivated to seek information about others as a means of reducing the uncertainty they experience. Reducing uncertainty associated with an individual is said to serve as a means for relationship development. Hairdressers may have sought further information as a means of developing a more personal relationship. Resemblance of Service Conversation to Talk Amongst Friends Key findings of this exploratory research are the existence of commercial friendships between hairdressers and customers and how their communication resembles social conversations. Such findings are consistent with the view that service relationships resemble friendship (Bitner, 1994; Goodwin, 1996; Gwinner et al., 1998). Evidence of the existence of a friendship between hairdressers and customers was derived from the presence of non-essential conversation. Non-essential conversation represents communality and Goodwin (1996) claims diversity of topics in the service encounter conversation is similar to that discussed between friends. Case and cross-case analysis of interviews revealed that respondents referred to their hairdresser as their friend, compared the service relationship to a friendship, and compared conversing with their hairdresser to that of talking to a friend. In some instances, long term respondents likened the relationship they had with their hairdresser to family. Overall, long term customers described their hairdresser relationship as more intimate and personal, but given the length of time such a finding could be expected. As another measure of the existence of commercial friendships, respondents were questioned about the degree of personal self-disclosure they engaged in with their hairdressers. Conversation analysis revealed that topics of a personal and intimate nature, were discussed with long term customers. Self-disclosure was also evident when customers discussed personal information about their emotions, relationships and life in general. Such self-

disclosure is a feature of individuals in a relationship (Argyle et al., 1988). Self-disclosure was more prominent in conversations with long term customers due to the more intimate hairdresser relationship. During semi-structured interviews, respondents expressed comfort in having conversations of a personal nature with their hairdressers. Price & Arnould (1999) found that customers associated discussing things of a personal nature with the existence of a commercial friendship with their hairdresser. Commercial friendships, as evidenced in this study, are beneficial for services (Gutek et al., 1999) due to their potential in creating satisfying service experiences and fostering emotional involvement and mutual enjoyment for customers and employees. Where service relationships resemble friendships, customers receive a social benefit in the form of personal recognition (Gwinner et al., 1998). Further, Price & Arnould (1999) found commercial friendships to be associated with satisfaction, strong service loyalty and positive word of mouth. Contribution of Service Conversation to the Development of a Relationship More than half of respondents stated that service conversation helped develop the friendship or relationship they now had with their hairdresser. Interpersonal communication is the lifeblood of relationships (Knapp & Vangelisti, 2005) and relationships are developed as individuals come to know each other through conversation (Argyle, 1994; Duck, 1994). Conversation plays an important role in developing the relationship between contact service employees and customers. In research on service behaviors that lead to satisfied customers, Winsted (2000) claimed that conversation attributes such as engaged in small talk seemed closely related to relationship seeking by customers. Respondents also indicated that service conversation either assisted them find out about the hairdresser and vice versa, or helped them feel more comfortable. Hargie et al., (1994) claim that such self disclosure is vital to the development and maintenance of long term relationships. Implications and Limitations This study explored service encounters of an extended duration and repeat occurrence where significant non-service, unscripted, conversation occurs. Greater understanding of how such conversation contributes to the customer experience can be used to enhance the service encounter. Given competitive pressures, quality of service interactions could assist customers in choosing which service firms to patronise. Whilst the influence of interaction on customers evaluations of service quality has been recognized, there is scant recognition of oral communication as a key dimension of the customer s overall service experience. This research indicates that in hairdressing, conversation has important functions with respect to building friendships and long term relationships, similar to EAI type service encounters. The nuances of conversation development vary between customers, evolving with the length of patronage and also (although not discussed in this paper) possibly with the gender mix of customer and service provider. Further research is required in order to provide guidance to providers on how they can use conversation to engender stronger loyalty from their clients. Limitations arising from the small sample, the study s specific context and the qualitative methods used, restrict the ability to generalise our findings.

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