Employee Smile in Service Encounters: A Review of the Literature and Research Directions

Abstract

Emotions in service encounters transmitted via nonverbal communication have become an increasingly researched topic in the services marketing and consumer behavior literature. The purpose of this research is to explore the literature on verbal and nonverbal communication involving emotions conveyed through facial expressions such as smile (e.g., Guenzi and Pelloni 2004; Sundaram and Webster 2000). Nonverbal components of communication tend to be viewed as important as verbal components in shaping the outcome of employee-customer interactions (e.g., Barnum and Wolniansky 1989; Burgoon et al. 1990; Gabbott and Hogg 2000). Due to their interactive nature, service deliveries involve emotions to a greater extent than many other jobs (Bailey et al. 2001; Liljander and Strandvik 1997) and, arguably, the display of nonverbal emotions, especially smile, is the most important cue in emotional contagion (Howard and Gengler 2001).