The effects of nonverbal communication of employees in the family restaurant upon customers’ emotional responses and customer satisfaction

International Journal of Hospitality Management 30 (2011) 542–550

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International Journal of Hospitality Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman

The effects of nonverbal communication of employees in the family restaurant upon customers’ emotional responses and customer satisfaction Hyo Sun Jung 1 , Hye Hyun Yoon ∗ College of Hotel & Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoeki-dong, Dongdaemon-ku, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Keywords: Nonverbal communication Emotional responses Customer satisfaction Family restaurant

a b s t r a c t The purpose of this study was to understand interrelationships among customers’ perception of nonverbal communication, customers’ emotional responses and customer satisfaction in the family restaurant. A total of 333 customers in Korea participated. The results showed that employees’ kinesics and proxemics among nonverbal communications have a significant effect on customers’ positive emotions, while employees’ kinesics and paralanguage affect customers’ negative emotions. Also, it was found that whether customers feel positive or negative determines their satisfaction. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In case of service-oriented companies like restaurants, employees play their role while performing bilateral communication by direct face-to-face contact with customers. Therefore employees’ communication skills are a barometer for successful management (George, 1993; Wolvin, 1994), and thus companies have made a lot of efforts to induce employees to communicate in an efficient manner. Therefore, the service company makes many efforts to boost interaction between its employees and customers. In particular, communication is important in interaction between an employee and a customer (Sparks and Callan, 1992), because the service provider’s communication style plays a very important role in deciding the customer’s satisfaction in cases of close interaction between them in providing service (Rafaeli, 1993). Communication between a service provider and a customer during a transaction is divided into verbal and nonverbal communications. The former, a major information delivery channel, means to choose and deliver words with obvious intention. On the other hand, the latter includes the facial expression, appearance and posture shown by the employee to the customer and, along with language, provides crucial clues for situations where information is delivered and the customer has to interpret it (Burgoon et al., 1990; Chandon et al., 1997). In particular, nonverbal communication plays a large part in the customer’s favorable appraisal of the quality of the service provided (Sundaram and Webster, 2000). Mehrabian and Williams (1969) said that 93% of communication was nonverbal and Barnum and Wolniansky (1989) noted that more than 70%

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 961 9403; fax: +82 2 964 2537. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H.S. Jung), [email protected] (H.H. Yoon). 1 Tel.: +82 2 961 2321; fax: +82 2 964 2537. 0278-4319/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2010.09.005

of communication between people was possible through nonverbal methods. When a situation occurs in which the limitation of language expressions makes it impossible for people to deliver emotions sufficiently, they often have to figure out others’ emotions or deliver their intention through nonverbal clues (Stiff et al., 1994). In other words, a language is essential to human’s communication process, but this process also includes nonverbal aspects, which in particular narrow psychological distance between customers and employees and help them to smoothly communicate with language (Sundaram and Webster, 2000). Such nonverbal communication applies to both the customer and the employee because, for more precise delivery of messages, it is more effective to use nonverbal communication methods such as posture, facial expression and gestures in addition to language expressions (Gabbott and Hogg, 2001). An employee’s use of proper nonverbal communication methods during a transaction significantly influences his or her relationship with the customer (Burgoon et al., 1990), and the former’s nonverbal communicational style reduces problems or conflicts occurring in the service delivery process and greatly affects customer satisfaction (Anderson and Narus, 1990). Therefore, when a service provider tries to deliver positive messages to a customer, the non-communication clues of the former also should be positive, and he or she should figure out the customer’s psychological aspects underlying nonverbal communication elements by properly using nonverbal communication elements. Therefore, in marketing, it is very important to examine nonverbal communication, and in particular, in a service encounter where the customer and the employee interact. Based on the importance of nonverbal communication, many socio-psychological studies on non-communication have been carried out so far (Hargie et al., 1987; Giles and Robinson, 1991; Delmonte, 1991), but those performed in marketing have been few (Gabbott and Hogg, 2000; Sundaram and Webster, 2000).

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In particular, service touch-points have a feature of face to face interactions between customers and employees in service situations and this feature makes employees’ communication decisively affect customers’ emotions and consumption (Solomon et al., 1985). The effect of employees’ communication on customers’ emotional reactions in actual service situations as such can be explained by the emotional contagion theory which suggests that in interactions between two persons, the emotional state of a person affects the other person’s emotion meaning that emotional contagion occurs in the process of interpersonal communications (Verbeke, 1997; Pugh, 2001; Lundqvist, 2008). In other words, Schoenewolf (1990) suggested that the emotional expressions provided by employees would be delivered to customers to make customers have emotional states similar to those of employees. Consequently, since, in the process of personal interactions, the expression of a person’s emotion or grasping others’ emotions becomes possible only through communications, employees’ communication would induce a phenomenon of sympathy where customers’ emotions coincide with employees’ emotions. It can be said that by this mechanism, customers become to grasp part of employees’ emotions through verbal and nonverbal communications provided by employees thereby experiencing positive or negative emotions (Tsai and Huang, 2002). This eventually indicates that employees’ expression of favorable emotions may promote customers’ experience of positive emotions. Due to the phenomenon of emotional contagion, a large part of consumption experiences at service touch-points becomes to be based on interactions with service providers and therefore, it can be said that management of the quality of interactions is very important in terms of management. In terms of this emotional contagion theory, Elizur (1987) mentioned that employees’ communication would affect the emotions experienced by customers at service touch-points and this would in turn affect customers’ behaviors and Sommers et al. (1989) and Sundaram and Webster (2000) stated that employees’ communication methods would induce customers’ favorable emotional reactions in service situations. However, their studies can be said to have just suggested those relationships without verifying customers’ emotional reactions in detail. In particular, there has been no study on family restaurants as a representative people-industry in which communication between employees and customers is very important. In addition, when a service is provided, the interactive relationship between employees and customers is a social relationship, and in the process, customers experience emotions for certain reasons and sometimes use their emotions to obtain what they want. In other words, customers make an emotional response through verbal and nonverbal communications with service providers; emotions are not personal, but have social aspects which can be explained in a social context. Therefore, this study views that a customer’s emotions are a result of the interaction between people in social relations, and attempts to verify how nonverbal communication between customers and employees affects the former’s positive or negative emotions and to examine how employees’ nonverbal communication affects customer satisfaction.

2. Literature review and conceptual model 2.1. Nonverbal communication Nonverbal communication is communication using methods other than language (Jandt, 2001), expressing emotions and delivering postures without language expressions (Argyle, 1975). Scholars’ definitions of nonverbal communication widely vary, but most agree that it means using all communication methods other than language. For example, Miller et al. (1967) said that nonver-

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bal communication was closely related to intentional behaviors, Samover et al. (1981) that it was stimuli with the form of messages other than language in communication, and Dodd (1982) that it was a communication to express intentions using gestures, time and space. In communication in general, and service provision in particular, nonverbal communication plays a large part because the communicator cannot perfectly express what he or she intends to deliver with verbal communication alone. Birdwhistell (1952) also concluded that 65% or more of human communication was delivered in nonverbal forms and only 35% in verbal forms, and Delmonte (1991) said that nonverbal communication delivered more meanings than verbal communication in a more exact manner. Ruesch and Kees (1956) divided elements of nonverbal communication into sign, action and object languages, and Harisson (1974) into performancial, artificial, contextual and mediatory codes. Based on Sundaram and Webster (2000)’s study, this study divided traits of nonverbal communication into kinesics such as gestures; proxemics, which means appropriate space necessary for communication; paralanguage, such as voice and way and speed of talking and physical appearance, such as physical attractiveness, clothes and hairstyles. Kinesics was systemized in detail by Birdwhistell (1952), and it means communication behaviors of expressing opinions with symbols of eyesight, gestures and postures (Argyle, 1994). A service provider’s gestures or postures may then be clues with which a customer grasps that the former is attentive and sincere (Knapp, 1980; Sundaram and Webster, 2000). Proxemics means appropriate space necessary for communication between an employee and a customer. Examining when the customer notices the approaching employee shows that an appropriate distance, not too far away or too close, should be maintained. Burgoon et al. (1990)’s study discovered that appropriate distance between an employee and a customer resulted in the customer’s favorable evaluation of the company. Paralanguage studies diverse sounds from humans other than formal languages, forms the basis for grasping the intensity of content and emotional state through pseudo-languages and affects customers’ degree of understanding and employee’s persuasion (Burgoon, 1979; Argyle, 1983). Physical appearance means physical attractiveness and clothes. As physical attractiveness of employees, which is perceived by customers, is closely related to customer satisfaction of services, companies tend to favor better-looking employees (Koernig and Page, 2002; Söderlund and Julander, 2009). Particularly in the case of a restaurant whose employees come into face-to-face contact with customers, an attractive physical appearance of employees is considered positive for corporate performance, as better-looking staffs have more traits needed for the business (Hurley-Hanson and Giannantonio, 2006). 2.2. Relationship between nonverbal communication and emotional response In one of the major studies on nonverbal communication and the positive emotion of customers, Sundaram and Webster (2000) explained that customers recognizing nonverbal communication of employees positively tended to experience positive emotions, Burgoon et al. (1990) explained that kinesic behaviors of employees, such as attitudes or gestures, produced positive emotions if considered positive by customers. In addition, Price et al. (1995) also argued that in terms of proxemics in relation to nonverbal communications, service providers should maintain appropriate distances from customers in service situations to positively affect customers’ emotions. Also, Lang et al. (1993) asserted that customers’ perception of employees’ appearance was directly related to the former’s positive emotions, and Mehrabian and Blum (1997) suggested that the more positively customers recognized physical attractiveness of employees, the more favorable their emotional

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response to the employees was. Also, Oliver-Rodriguez et al. (1999) said that customers’ positive appraisal of the physical attractiveness of employees led to favorable emotional responses, and Hazlett and Hoehn-Saric (2000) viewed that the physical attractiveness of employees had a significant effect on customers’ favorable emotions. As studies related with employees’ nonverbal communication and negative emotions in other aspects, Sundaram and Webster (2000) suggested that if customers would negatively perceive nonverbal communications, customers would experience negative emotions and Price et al. (1995) said that in terms of proxemics in relation to nonverbal communications, if appropriate distances would not be maintained between employees and customers, customers would become to experience negative emotions. Also, Kim (2007) explained that in service encounters, employees’ paralanguage (voice tone, pitch, and speech speed), if improperly used, had a significant effect on eliciting a negative emotional response from customers; even if employees’ provision of services in proper speed and tone of voice did not encourage customers to feel positively, service provision in an extremely fast manner in a high-pitched voice led them to feel negatively. Ryu and Jang (2007) noted that the more negatively customers’ recognition of employees, including their physical attractiveness, had a close relationship with their negative emotions. Based on previous studies on nonverbal communication, this study assumes that nonverbal communication of employees will have a significant effect on emotional responses of customers, both positive and negative, and the following hypotheses are presented: Hypothesis 1. The perception of employee’s nonverbal communication (kinesicsa , proxemicsb , paralanguagec , physical appearanced ) is positively related to the positive emotions of customers. Hypothesis 2. The perception of employee’s nonverbal communication (kinesicsa , proxemicsb , paralanguagec , physical appearanced ) is negatively related to the negative emotions of customers. 2.3. Relationship between emotional response and customer satisfaction In a study on the positive emotion of customers have to services provided by a company or employees and their satisfaction, Westbrook and Oliver (1991) closely looked into a significant, causal relationship between positive emotion and customer satisfaction, and Turley and Fugate (1992) noted that the emotional response of customers arising from evaluation of store facilities would become a basis for their future favorable judgment of the company. Also, Donovan et al. (1994) said that customers who experienced emotional pleasure spent more money because of their satisfaction with the company. Muller et al. (1991) suggested that the positive emotions experienced by customers at service touch-points would more significantly affect customers’ satisfaction or intentions to revisit than negative emotions would and Oliver (1993) also stated that the positive emotions experienced by customers in service situations would directly affect satisfaction. Also, Bagozzi et al. (1999) considered customers’ emotions as the most important factor in determining their behaviors, and Han and Back (2007) examined positive correlation between consumption affect and satisfaction, Ryu and Jang (2007) viewed that customers’ favorable emotions caused their satisfaction, thus having a significant effect on their future behaviors and Han et al. (2009) that the positive emotion of customers experienced in restaurants had a direct effect on their satisfaction. In addition, as studies related with customers’ negative emotions and satisfaction, Oliver (1993) suggested that customers’

Fig. 1. A proposed conceptual framework.

negative consumption emotions would negatively affect satisfaction and Evrard and Aurier (1994) stated that customers’ negative emotions originating in consumption situations would significantly affect the determination of the degrees to which customers would be satisfied. Oliver (1997) also suggested that negative emotions were a factor that would affect dissatisfaction, Rosenman et al. (1994) stated that emotions unfavorably perceived by customers would decisively affect satisfaction and Zeelenberg and Peter (2004) related that negative emotions such as disappointment would more clearly affect customer satisfaction. Based on the previous studies, this study assumes that two aspects of emotions, positive and negative, have a meaningful impact on customer satisfaction and the following hypotheses are provided: Hypothesis 3. The positive emotion of customers is positively related to customer satisfaction. Hypothesis 4. The negative emotion of customers is negatively related to customer satisfaction. Fig. 1 depicts the conceptual model of this study. It shows how customer perceptions of employee’s nonverbal communications affect emotional response and customer satisfaction. 3. Research methodology 3.1. Sample and data collection The data used for the current study were collected from customers in family restaurants in Seoul, the capital of Korea, in 2010. In order to comply with our objectives and test our research hypotheses, we designed a study based on a personal survey of the family restaurant customers. Five ranked family restaurants were chosen in terms of sales in 2009. A pilot test using 50 customers at family restaurants was conducted to ensure the reliability of the scales, and several modifications were made based on feedback from the pilot test. The final questionnaire instrument included 31 items divided into four parts. The data collection was carried out in the period from 2 to 31 January 2010. With the cooperation of the managers of the family restaurants involved, a questionnaire survey was conducted on customers waiting for their dessert. A total of 700 questionnaires were distributed to visitors of these family restaurants. After eliminating unusable responses among the completed questionnaires, 333 responses were coded for data analysis (47.57% response rate). 3.2. Instrument development Multiple items scales were used to measure each construct in this study. The survey instrument for this study was comprised of four parts. The first three parts pertained to nonverbal communica-

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tion of employees, emotional response and customer satisfaction. Part four contained questions about participant demographic information (e.g., gender, age, education level and visiting frequency in a month). The measurement items for the study constructs are presented in Table 2.

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of sample (n = 333). Characteristics Gender Age

3.2.1. Nonverbal communication Nonverbal communication is the process of communicating emotions and attitudes by means other than language expressions (Argyle, 1975; Jandt, 2001). It is typically divided into four categories: kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage and physical appearance (Sundaram and Webster, 2000). To measure customers’ perceptions of nonverbal communication, this study adapted Burgoon et al. (1990), Gabbott and Hogg (2000), and Sundaram and Webster (2000)’s multi-item scales, modifying them to fit the study settings. Nonverbal communication was measured with sixteen items using a 7-point scale: “How much do you agree or disagree with these statements?” (1: strongly disagree to 7: strongly agree). 3.2.2. Emotional responses Regarding the emotional responses of customers, Bergenwall (1998) coined the definition that emotions were personal feelings arising from certain behaviors or responses (Mano and Oliver, 1993). This study examines two dimensions of customers’ emotional responses: positive and negative. Emotional response was measured using eight items on a 7-point scale (1: strongly disagree to 7: strongly agree) based on Bagozzi et al. (1999), Mano and Oliver (1993), Richins (1997) and Ryu and Jang (2007). 3.2.3. Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction is a condition in which a purchaser recognizes that he or she has been rewarded in return for his or her consideration (Howard and Sheth, 1969). Westbrook (1987) argued that satisfaction includes an evaluation of the consumption emotion elicited by product usage. This study defines customer satisfaction as a judgment of whether a product or service or its qualities have been provided on a satisfactory level (Oliver, 1980). Customer satisfaction was measured by three items on a 7-point scale (1: strongly disagree to 7: strongly agree) based on Fornell et al. (1996) and Spreng et al. (1996). 3.3. Data analysis Descriptive statistics were preformed to profile the respondents’ demographic questions. Following the two-step approach recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood was first performed to estimate the measurement model, which determined whether the manifest variables reflected the hypothesized latent variables. Once the measure was validated, a structural equation model (SEM) was utilized to test the validity of the proposed model and hypotheses. 4. Results 4.1. Descriptive statistics of sample The demographic characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 1. Respondents consisted of 41.7% male and 58.3% female. In terms of age, 47.5% of the respondents were 20–29 years old, 34.5% were 30–39 and 18.0% were 40 or older. The majority of the respondents (66.6%) were highly educated, holding at least a university degree. A large majority (45.0%) of respondents visited a family restaurant 2–3 times per month.

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Education level

Visiting frequency in a month

n Male Female 20–29 30–39 40– ∼College University Graduate school 1 2–3 4–

%

139 194 158 115 60 111 154 68 183 95 55

41.7 58.3 47.5 34.5 18.0 33.3 46.2 20.4 55.0. 28.5 16.5

4.2. Descriptive statistics of variables Table 2 presents the means and standard deviations of each item in relation to the constructs of interest in this study: nonverbal communication of employees, customers’ emotional response and customer satisfaction. The mean value of each item under nonverbal communication of employees ranged from 4.56 to 5.08 on the 7-point scale. Respondents ranked “The employee uses proper eye contact (5.08 ± 1.08)” as the highest nonverbal communication attribute, followed by “The employee has a nice, friendly attitude in serving customers (5.08 ± 1.16).” Respondents ranked “The employee has an attractive look (4.56 ± 1.11)” as the least well performed nonverbal communication of employees. The range of mean value of respondents on customers’ emotional responses produced different outcomes in positive and negative emotions. That of positive emotions ranged from 4.25 to Table 2 Descriptive statistics of variables. Variablesa Nonverbal communication NV1 : The employee has a nice, friendly attitude in serving customers. NV2 : The employee uses proper eye contact. NV3 : The employee nods his/her head properly. NV4 : The employee shakes his/her hands properly. NV5 : The employee serves with polite smiles. NV6 : The employee serves me from a proper distance. NV7 : The employee keeps appropriate distance while serving me. NV8 : The employee has appropriate physical touch with me when providing services. NV9 : The employee converses in a proper tone. NV10 : The employee converses articulately. NV11 : The employee converses in a gentle tone. NV12 : The employee converses in a proper speed. NV13 : The employee’s voice is not boisterous. NV14 : The employee has an attractive look. NV15 : The employee is properly dressed. NV16 : The employee has an arranged hairstyle. Emotional response ER1 : This restaurant makes me feel happy. ER2 : This restaurant makes me feel pleased. ER3 : This restaurant makes me feel entertained. ER4 : This restaurant makes me feel delighted. ER5 : This restaurant makes me feel unhappy. ER6 : This restaurant makes me feel annoyed. ER7 : This restaurant makes me feel bored. ER8 : This restaurant makes me feel disappointed. Customer satisfaction CS1 : I am pleased to visit this restaurant. CS2 : I really enjoyed myself at the restaurant. CS3 : Overall, I am satisfied with my experience at this restaurant.

Mean ± SD 5.08 ± 1.16 5.08 5.05 4.78 4.98 4.74 4.98

± ± ± ± ± ±

1.08 1.16 1.16 1.13 1.16 1.13

4.74 ± 1.17 4.61 4.66 4.88 5.02 4.91 4.56 4.90 4.85

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

1.24 1.26 1.09 1.17 1.12 1.11 1.16 1.21

4.32 4.26 4.45 4.25 2.72 2.54 2.52 2.46

± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±

1.15 1.14 1.15 1.22 1.30 1.30 1.35 1.37

4.52 ± 1.15 4.44 ± 1.23 4.25 ± 1.30

Note: SD, standard deviation. a All items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale from: 1-strongly disagree to 7-strongly agree.

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Table 3 Reliabilities and confirmatory factor analysis. Construct

Standardized loadings

t-value

Kinesics NV1 NV2 NV3 NV4 NV5

.762 .765 .919 .857 .835

Fixed 14.604*** 18.118*** 16.717*** 16.199***

Proxemics NV6 NV7 NV8

.908 .954 .870

Fixed 28.831*** 23.822***

Paralanguage NV9 NV10 NV11 NV12 NV13

.792 .846 .846 .804 .802

Fixed 17.196*** 17.190*** 16.104*** 16.049***

Physical appearance NV14 NV15 NV16

.847 .969 .801

Fixed 22.705*** 18.111***

Positive emotion ER1 ER2 ER3 ER4

.870 .878 .910 .887

Fixed 22.145*** 23.803*** 22.639***

Negative emotion ER5 ER6 ER7 ER8

.946 .955 .944 .911

Fixed 38.007*** 36.103*** 31.244***

Customer satisfaction CS1 CS2 CS3

.886 .927 .841

Fixed 24.843*** 20.734***

CCR

AVE

.893

.688

Item-to-total correlation

Cronbach’s alpha .916

.745 .748 .866 .795 .770 .908

.830

.935 .865 .900 .835

.887

.669

.910 .749 .805 .791 .753 .760

.878

.756

.904 .797 .872 .762

.914

.785

.936 .828 .847 .868 .850

.944

.881

.967 .925 .932 .924 .894

.875

.783

.913 .827 .859 .794

Note: CCR: composite construct reliability; AVE: average variance extracted. 2 = 680.420 (df = 302), p < .001; 2 /df = 2.246; Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) = .865; Normed Fit Index (NFI) = .923; Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) = .949; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .956; Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = .956; Root Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .061; Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) = .053, ***p < .001.

4.45 and “This restaurant makes me feel entertained (4.45 ± 1.15)” had the highest figure while “This restaurant makes me feel delighted (4.25 ± 1.22)” had the lowest figure. On the other hand, that of negative emotions ranged from 2.46 to 2.72 with “This restaurant makes me feel unhappy (2.72 ± 1.30)” producing the highest figure and “This restaurant makes me feel disappointed (2.46 ± 1.37)” the lowest figure. Participants showed a moderate level of customer satisfaction, ranging from 4.25 to 4.52 on the 7-point scale. In detail, respondents showed the highest value for the attribute, “I am pleased to visit this restaurant (4.52 ± 1.15).” On the other hand, “Overall, I am satisfied with my experience at this restaurant (4.25 ± 1.33)” was the least well-performed customer satisfaction attribute. 4.3. Measurement model Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was first undertaken to assess the overall fit of the seven-factor model, which was comprised of nonverbal communication, customers’ emotional response and customer satisfaction. Based on CFA results, we analyzed convergent validity, discriminant validity and reliability of all the multi-items, following the guideline from previous research (Nunally, 1978; Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). The measurement properties are reported in Table 3. As shown in Table 3, the level for internal consistency in each construct was acceptable with Cronbach’s alpha estimates, ranging

from.904 to.967 (Nunally, 1978). Composite construct reliability estimates, ranging from.875 to.944 above the recommended cutoff of.60 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981), were considered acceptable. Convergent validity was observed since all confirmatory factor loadings exceeded.70 and were significant at the alpha level of.001 (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Thus, these results were evidence of the convergent validity of the measures. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the average variance extracted (AVE) with the squared correlation between constructs. Discriminant validity was evident since the variance extracted estimates, ranging from.669 to.881, and exceeded all squared correlations for each pair of constructs, ranging from.040 to.592. These results suggested that the seven-factors were distinct and unidimensional. The 2 fit statistics showed 680.420 with 302 degrees of freedom (p < .001; 2 /df = 2.246). The root mean squares error approximation (RMSEA) was.061, less than the recommended.08 threshold. The comparative fit index (CFI = .956) and the normed fit index (NFI = .923) values exceed the recommended.90. All statistics supported the overall, satisfactory measurement quality given by the number of indicators. Table 4 illustrates the intercorrelations among the seven constructs in this study. An assessment of the bivariate correlations showed that the items used to measure nonverbal communication were positively related to the items associated with positive emotion and customer satisfaction. Also, the items associated with negative emotion were negatively related to nonverbal communication, positive emotion and customer satisfaction.

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Table 4 Correlations estimates.

1. Kinesics 2. Proxemics 3. Paralanguage 4. Physical appearance 5. Positive emotion 6. Negative emotion 7. Customer satisfaction

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1.00 .436** .613** .440** .472** −.316** .426**

1.00 .456** .309** .378** −.214** .297**

1.00 .528** .384** −.339** .335**

1.00 .232** −.201** −193**

1.00 −.382** .770**

1.000 −.375**

1.00

Note: All correlations are significant at p < .001 (2-tailed).

Fig. 2. Structural equation model with parameter estimates.

4.4. Structural equation modeling (SEM) Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the validity of the proposed model and the hypotheses. Fig. 2 presents the estimated model, illustrating the direction and magnitude of the impact of the standardized path coefficients. The chi-square statistic indicated that the overall model did not fit the data well (2 df=308 = 702.993, p < .001). Given the sensitivity of the chi-square statistics to sample size (Bentler and Bonett, 1980; Hair et al., 2006), other fit indexes were also examined. First, normed Chi-square (␹2 /degree of freedom) was considered to reduce the sensitivity of the Chi-square statistic. The value of the normed Chi-square was 2.282, which was below the cut-off criterion of 3.0 (Hair et al., 2006) and showed that the model fit the data well. Other goodnessof-fit indices proved that the structural model reasonably fit the

data (GFI = .862; NFI = .921; CFI = .954; RMSEA = .062). The model’s fit, as indicated by these indexes, was deemed satisfactory; thus, it provided a good basis for testing the hypothesized paths. The parameter estimates of the structural model exhibited the direct effects of one construct on the other. Thereby, a significant coefficient at a certain level of alpha reveals a significant casual relationship between latent constructs (Fig. 2, Table 5). To examine how employee’s nonverbal communication affects customers’ positive emotions, Hypothesis 1 was verified and, as a result, partially accepted. In more detail, kinesics (ˇ = .417; t = 5.319; p < .001) and proxemics (ˇ = .161; t = 2.699; p < .01) among employees’ nonverbal communication elements had a significant effect on customers’ positive emotions, while paralanguage (ˇ = .108; t = 1.304; p > .05) and physical appearance (ˇ = .013; t = .192; p > .05) did not. Hypothesis 2, that employees’ nonverbal communication had a significant effect on customers’ negative emotions, was partially accepted as well. Kinesics (ˇ = −.203; t = −2.510; p < .05) and paralanguage (ˇ = −.207; t = 2.311; p < .05) had a significant effect on customers’ negative emotions, whereas proxemics (ˇ = −.037; t = −.591; p > .05) and physical appearance (ˇ = −.078; t = −1.230; p > .05) did not. Both customers’ positive emotions (ˇ = .803; t = 15.624; p < .001) and negative emotions (ˇ = −.085; t = −2.085; p < .05) had a significant effect on their satisfaction, and therefore Hypotheses 3 and 4 were also accepted. 4.5. Direct effect and indirect effect Structural equation modeling (SEM) has the advantage of calculating total effects based on direct and indirect effects which are not identified by the existing regression analysis methods. Therefore, this study also aims to examine the direct and indirect effects of nonverbal communication on customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction, and the results are suggested in Table 6.

Table 5 Structural parameter estimates. Hypothesized path

Standardized coefficients

t-value

Results

H1 Nonverbal communication → Positive emotion H1a Kinesics → Positive emotion H1b Proxemics → Positive emotion H1c Paralanguage → Positive emotion H1d Physical appearance → Positive emotion

.417 .161 .108 .013

5.319*** 2.699** 1.304 .192

Supported Supported Rejected Rejected

H2 Nonverbal communication → Negative emotion H2a Kinesics → Negative emotion H2b Proxemics → Negative emotion H2c Paralanguage → Negative emotion H2d Physical appearance → Negative emotion H3 Positive emotion → Customer satisfaction H4 Negative emotion → Customer satisfaction

−.203 −.037 −.207 −.078 .803 −.085

−2.510* −.591 −2.311* −1.230 15.624*** −2.085*

Supported Rejected Supported Rejected Supported Supported

Goodness-of-fit statistics

Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

2 (308) = 702.993 (p < .001) 2 /df = 2.282 GFI = .862 NFI = .921 CFI = .954 RMSEA = .062

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Table 6 Standardized direct, indirect, and total effects of construct.

Total effect Positive emotion Negative emotion Customer satisfaction Direct effect Positive emotion Negative emotion Customer satisfaction Indirect effect Positive emotion Negative emotion Customer satisfaction

Kinesics

Proxemics

Paralanguage

Physical appearance

Positive emotion

Negative emotion

.417*** −.203* .352**

.161** −.037 .132*

.108 −.207* .104

.013 −.078 −.063

– – .803***

– – −.085*

.417*** −.203* –

.161** −.037 –

.108 −.207* –

.013 −.078 –

– – .803***

– – −.085*

– –

– –

– –

– – −.063

– – –

– – –

.352**

.132*

.104

Note: Square Multiple Correlation = Positive emotion (.308), Negative emotion (.151), Customer satisfaction (.680); *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

The study discovered that nonverbal communication expressed by employees had both direct and indirect effects on customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction. A factor of nonverbal communication affecting customer satisfaction, the final dependent variable, was the indirect effects of kinesics (ˇ = .352) and proxemics (ˇ = .132). The study shows that kinesics and proxemics in employees’ nonverbal communication are the most significant factors in determining customer satisfaction, which is a similar result to the effect of nonverbal communication on customers’ positive responses. The square multiple correlation, which specifies the casual relationship between endogenous and exogenous variables, demonstrates that customer satisfaction, the final dependent variable, is at a maximum of 68.0%. 5. Discussion 5.1. Conclusion This study attempted to look into the effect of customers’ perception of employees’ nonverbal communication on the customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction. Nonverbal communication is categorized into four areas: kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage and physical appearance. The study shows that employees’ kinesics and proxemics among nonverbal communication methods have a significant effect on customers’ positive emotions, while employees’ kinesics and paralanguage affect customers’ negative emotions. These results are in line with the studies done by Burgoon et al. (1990), Price et al. (1995) and Kim (2007) suggesting that kinesics, proxemics and paralanguage were closely related to customers’ emotions. In addition, it was found that whether customers feel positive or negative determines their satisfaction, which is also consistent with the research results by Turley and Fugate (1992), Oliver (1993), Donovan et al. (1994), Zeelenberg and Peter (2004), Han and Back (2007), Ryu and Jang (2007) and Han et al. (2009). In more detail, family restaurant employees’ kinesics and proxemics, among nonverbal communication methods, are found to have a significant effect on customers’ positive emotions. This means that when employees serve customers in a nice and gentle way and keep a proper distance, customers experience favorable, positive emotions. On the other hand, kinesics and paralanguage are viewed as factors that could lead customers to feel negative emotions. Customers tend to take for granted that employees should serve them in an articulate, gentle voice, so they do not feel positive emotions even if employees do so; however, if employees fail to do so, customers feel negative emotions. In particular, customers think that employees should talk at a proper speed and in an articulate, gentle voice. When a service is provided, if this paralanguage is properly used, customers are not aware that it is proper, but if improperly used, they show negative responses. As for service providers’ kinesics, this was found to have a significant

effect on both positive and negative emotions of customers. When employees in a restaurant show friendly attitudes, make proper gestures such as head nodding, which signals that they are listening to customers, the customers experience positive emotions, but if service providers show rude attitudes or do not listen to them, they experience negative emotions. However, unlike many study results that indicated that of nonverbal communication factors, service providers’ physical attractiveness would significantly affect customers’ positive or negative emotions (Oliver-Rodriguez et al., 1999; Hazlett and Hoehn-Saric, 2000; Sundaram and Webster, 2000), in this study, it was indicated that physical attractiveness did not significantly affect customers’ positive or negative emotions. Based on this result, it is considered that in particular, unlike general businesses that sell only tangible goods, food service businesses sell services with intangible and extinctive natures together with foods as goods (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000) and thus they become to induce customers’ purchases from somewhat different viewpoints and this fact induces other communication factors than employees’ physical attractiveness which is a superficial and visible factor to have closer relationships with emotional reactions. Based on these results, it is concluded that employees need to be trained to show kind attitudes towards customers and keep a proper distance when serving so that customers feel comfortable. Service providers should maintain polite and positive attitudes for customers not to experience negative emotions, and, in terms of paralanguage, such as speech speed, voice tone and pronunciation, they should carefully communicate with customers so that they do not feel uncomfortable. Another finding is that customers’ positive or negative emotions triggered by nonverbal factors have a significant impact on their satisfaction; in particular, with positive emotions having a greater effect than negative ones. This result was similar to Muller et al. (1991)’s statement that positive emotions experienced by customers at service touch-points would more significantly affect their satisfaction or intentions to revisit than negative emotions and Oliver (1993)’s comment that the more positive consumption emotions such as exciting feelings, pleasure and happiness customer would experience in shops, the more strongly customer satisfaction could be affected. This suggests that the more positive emotions customers experience through nonverbal communication with employees, the more satisfied they feel; on the contrary, if they experience negative emotions, their satisfaction with services decreases. This can be verified from the study by Chebat and Slusarczyk (2004) that emphasized how important the emotions experienced by customers at service touch-points and in particular, this study may be interpreted as indicating that since especially emotions are the most easily stored in customers’ memories (Chebat, 2002), positive emotions experienced by customers at service touch points are decisive reasons to induce customers to favorably assess the services.

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Consequently, it can be considered that since customers experience positive or negative emotions at service touch-points due to the communications provided by employees or voluntary behaviors of employees (Tsai and Huang, 2002), and emotions serve intermediary roles in these causal relationships, if interactions are not appropriately made through communications, customer would have negative emotions as well as doing deviating behaviors. Therefore, it is considered that since emotions are the most fundamental part to be experienced by customers in the process of interactions at service touch-points, they would importantly affect customers’ future attitudes such as satisfaction or intentions to act.

549

provision in restaurants, and induce employees to acquire communicative skills through consistent training. Incentives given to employees who perform proper communication also are anticipated to motivate them to promote their service quality. Based on an objective analysis, this study concludes that a high level of nonverbal communication performed and provided by employees to customers has a direct impact on tangible outcomes such as customer satisfaction. In particular, this study provides a desirable result for restaurant managers, which is necessary in their establishment of policies on overall management, by inducing them to establish practical methods of encouraging their employees to change their nonverbal communication in a positive way.

5.2. Managerial implications 5.3. Limitations and future research This study looks into the nonverbal communication made by employees in family restaurants and verifies the varying effects of nonverbal communication elements on customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction; as a result, it is found that nonverbal communication is a critical factor in corporate marketing. Most previous studies have approached nonverbal communication from socio-psychological perspectives and almost no study has been made of family restaurants, in which close interaction and communication between employees and customers are important. In this regard, this study is important because it explores nonverbal communication involving employees and verifies the causal relationship between customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction in family restaurants. Therefore, it is viewed that this study, as early research in this field, is expected to be used for further understanding of nonverbal communication in restaurants. This study also examines that communication in family restaurants is made in nonverbal forms as well as language forms. This demonstrates that various nonverbal means used by service providers to communicate with customers plays a crucial role in determining customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction, and that if employees use nonverbal communication methods more effectively, they are more likely to influence customers. This study indicates that it is crucial for service providers to use nonverbal expressions, including movements, gestures and proper distance, as well as language expressions in order to deliver clear messages to customers. What matters to an actor or actress is not to show a performance without any mistakes in all lines, but to make a performance suitable for a given situation, and this also applies to service providers (Goffman, 1971). Rather than obtaining standardized skills for communication, they need to develop nonverbal communication skills suitable for different circumstances of service provision. In other words, a manager in a family restaurant should make his or her employees serve customers with smiles and bright expressions, respond to them by giving a proper nod and using effective gestures when making an explanation to customers. As customers judge how well employees are trained from their paralanguage, including speech speed and voice tone, concrete training programs should be provided and carried out to help employees understand and develop nonverbal communication methods, including kinesics, proxemics, and paralanguage, in order for them to win favorable appraisal from customers. After all, companies should pay overall attention to designing strategies to manage nonverbal communication methods, which help increase customers’ positive emotions, reduce their negative emotions and trigger their favorable behaviors. In particular, those businesses, such as restaurants, where personal contacts between customers and employees are numerous, need to make additional efforts to promote communication skills of customers who use them in the process of delivering services. To help employees to enhance their natural and positive nonverbal communication skills, companies are expected to develop practical training programs for verbal- and nonverbal communication which may occur in service

Despite its implications, several limitations of the study need to be addressed. First, a problem about the representative characteristic may be doubted due to placing limit targeting the family restaurant customers, who dwell in Metropolitan Area, in sampling. In addition, since the family restaurants selected as study subjects in this study cannot be judged to be representative food service businesses, it can be said that there is also a problem of the representativeness of samples. The questionnaire contents, which were used for measuring the nonverbal communication, used what applied to a general company, not to a foodservice company. Thus, it is judged as likely to be unreasonable to analyze by expanding these results into the whole of the foodservice industry. Also, the perception of the nonverbal communication of employees may be indicated differently depending on individual differences, such as customers’ recognition of a company and an individual’s value system. However, this study has some limits in that the four aspects of nonverbal communication, previously studied in the socio-psychological field, was applied to service provision in family restaurants without any changes. Therefore, it would be more meaningful if future studies consider particular conditions of family restaurants and develop more sophisticated dimensions of service providers’ nonverbal communication. In addition, in a general situation, verbal- and nonverbal communications occur at the same time; in most cases, language communication is a main part of this and enables nonverbal communication. However, this study does not fully control service providers’ verbal communication, but rather confines its scope to nonverbal communication and examines the relationships between each element. Therefore, future studies would be meaningful if they compare and examine the separate effects of the two different types (verbal and nonverbal) of communication methods on customers’ emotional responses and satisfaction. In addition, examining the moderating effect of the causal relationship between customers’ general traits and other nonverbal communication methods would lead to a more specific suggestion. Acknowledgement This work was supported by a grant from the Kyung Hee University in 2009 (KHU-20100128). References Anderson, J., Narus, J., 1990. A model of distributor firm and manufacturing firm working partnership. Journal of Marketing 54 (1), 42–58. Anderson, J.C., Gerbing, D.W., 1988. Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin 103 (3), 411–423. Argyle, M., 1983. The Psychology of Interpersonal Behavior. Penguin, Harmondsworth. Argyle, M., 1975. Bodily Communication. International University Press, New York, NY. Argyle, M., 1994. Bodily Communication. Routledge, London. Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M., Nyer, P.U., 1999. The role of emotions in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 27 (2), 184–206.

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