Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“So What Are You, a Telephone?”: Emotion Management in Complaint Responses in BELF Phone Interactions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Advancing (Im)politeness Studies

Part of the book series: Advances in (Im)politeness Studies ((AIMS))

  • 140 Accesses

Abstract

Responding to customer complaints is a delicate issue, as customers are likely to hold negative emotions while complaining. This becomes even more challenging when English is used as a business lingua franca (BELF) by Chinese employees working at the complaint center to respond to English-speaking customers in voice-to-voice phone interactions. Positioned within intercultural pragmatics, this chapter draws data from 38 recordings of telephone interactions made between customers and employees of a complaint call center of one Chinese airline, lasting about seven hours in total. A discursive approach is adopted to address the research question: how do customer service agents of complaint centers manage customers’ negative emotions in complaint responses? Data analysis reveals that the agents’ priorities and decisions in emotion management are not only goal-driven, but also highly institutionalized. By employing such strategies as shifting cognitive focus, altering attention, neutralizing strong emotion, and showing sympathy, they demonstrate commitment to their institutional roles. Faced with linguistic, sociocultural, and institutional constraints, the agents are professionally institutionalized and interpersonally de-individualized, which can sometimes make them sound like a machine. This study concludes that there is a tendency of over-institutionalization in BELF phone interactions. The findings shed light on intercultural pragmatics and emotion management practices in business institutions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Akram, A., & Behnam, B. (2012). The pragmatic knowledge of Iranian EFL learners in using face keeping strategies in reaction to complaints at two different levels. English Language Teaching, 5(2), 78–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arguedas, M., Daradoumis, T., & Xhafa, F. (2016). Analyzing how emotion awareness influences students’ motivation, engagement, self-regulation and learning outcome. Educational Technology & Society, 19(2), 87–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arndt, H., & Janney, R. W. (1985). Politeness revisited: Cross-modal supportive strategies. IRAL, 23(4), 281–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayadi, M. M. H., Kamel, E. S., & Karray, F. (2011). Survey on speech emotion recognition, features, classification schemes, and databases. Pattern Recognition, 44, 572–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R. P., Gopinath, M., & Nyer, P. U. (1999). The role of emotions in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27, 184–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bargh, J. A. (2014). Our unconscious mind. Scientific American, 4, 30–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bickhard, M. H. (2000). Motivation and emotion: An interactive process model. In R. D. Ellis, & N. Newton (Eds.), The caldron of consciousness: Motivation, affect and self-organization—An anthology (pp. 161–178). John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bippus, A. M., Dunbar, N. E., & Liu, S. (2012). Humorous responses to interpersonal complaints, effects of humor style and nonverbal expression. The Journal of Psychology, 146(4), 437–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boiger, M., & Mesquita, B. (2015). A socio-dynamic perspective on the construction of emotion. In L. F. Barrett, & J. A. Russell (Eds.), The psychological construction of emotion (pp. 377–398). Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion regulation and culture, are the social consequences of emotion suppression culture-specific? Emotion, 7(1), 30–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., Johnson, S. L., Joormann, J., & Scheier, M. F. (2015). An evolving view of the structure of self-regulation. In G. H. E. Gendolla, M. Tops, & S. L. Koole (Eds.), Handbook of biobehavioral approaches to self-regulation (pp. 9–23). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, W. M., & Haugh, M. (2011). Strategic embarrassment and face threatening in business interactions. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(12), 2948–2963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C. H., Lee, W. P., & Huang, J. Y. (2018). Tracking and recognizing emotions in short text messages from online chatting services. Information Processing & Management, 54(6), 1325–1344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culpeper, J. (2011). Impoliteness: Using language to cause offense. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Culpeper, J., Marti, L., Mei, M., Nevala, M., & Schauer, G. (2010). Cross-cultural variation in the perception of impoliteness, a study of impoliteness events reported by students in England, China, Finland, Germany and Turkey. Intercultural Pragmatics, 7(4), 579–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1872). The expressions of emotions in man and animals (1st ed.). John Murray.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dersley, I., & Wootton, A. J. (2000). Complaint sequences within antagonistic arguments. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 33(4), 375–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon-Gordon, K., Samantha, B. L., & Christensen, K. (2015). Recent innovations in the field of interpersonal emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 36–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drew, P. (1998). Complaints about transgressions and misconduct. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 31(3/4), 295–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drew, P., & Walker, T. (2009). Going too far: Complaining, escalating and disaffiliation. Journal of Pragmatics, 4, 2400–2414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, D. (2005). Moaning, whining and laughing: The subjective side of complaints. Discourse Studies, 7(1), 5–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eid, M., & Diener, E. (2001). Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures, inter and intranational differences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(5), 869–885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Einwiller, S. A., & Steilen, S. (2015). Handling complaints on social network sites: An analysis of complaints and complaint responses on Facebook and Twitter pages of large US companies. Public Relations Review, 41, 195–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1972). Emotions in the human face. Pergamum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). The repertoire or nonverbal behavior, categories, origins, usage and coding. Semiotics, 1, 49–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekström, M., & Lundström, F. (2014). The termination of complaints in calls to an authority for student support. Journal of Pragmatics, 74, 132–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, A., Mattilab, A. S., & Zhao, X. (2015). How does social distance impact customers’ complaint intentions? A cross-cultural examination. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 47, 35–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feidakis, M., Daradoumis, T., Caballe, S., Conesa, J., & Gañán, D. (2013). A dual-modal system that evaluates user’s emotions in virtual learning environments and responds affectively. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 19(11), 1638–1660.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández, I., Carrera, P., Sánchez, F., Paez, D., & Candia, L. (2000). Differences between cultures in emotional verbal and non-verbal reactions. Psicothema, 12, 83–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filip, A. (2013). Complaint management: A customer satisfaction learning process. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 271–275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fridlund, A. J. (1994). Human facial expression: An evolutionary view. Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frijda, N. H. (2007). The laws of emotion. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuoli, M., & Bednarek, M. (2022). Emotional labor in webcare and beyond: A linguistic framework and case study. Journal of Pragmatics, 191, 256–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garín-Muñoz, T., Pérez-Amaral, T., Gijón, C., & López, R. (2016). Consumer complaint behavior in telecommunications, the case of mobile phone users in Spain. Telecommunications Policy, 40, 804–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grandey, A. A. (2000). Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5, 95–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griol, D., Molina, J. M., & Callejas, Z. (2019). Combining speech-based and linguistic classifiers to recognize emotion in user spoken utterances. Neurocomputing, 326–327, 132–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2, 271–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (1999). Emotion regulation: Past, present, future. Cognition & Emotion, 13, 551–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (2013). Emotion regulation: Taking stock and moving forward. Emotion, 13, 359–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J. (2015). Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26, 1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 3–24). The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinemann, T., & Traverso, V. (2009). Complaining in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 2381–2384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85, 551–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart, commercialization of human feeling. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holt, E. (2012). Using laugh responses to defuse complaints. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45(4), 430–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hongladarom, K. (2007). “Don’t blame me for criticizing you … ”: A study of metapragmatic comments in Thai. In W. Bublitz, & A. Hubler (Eds.), Metapragmatics in use (pp. 29–47). John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ide, S. (1989). Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua, 8, 223–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaggar, A. M. (1988). Love and knowledge: Emotion in feminist epistemology. Inquiry, 32, 151–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javornik, A., Filieri, R., & Gumann, R. (2020). "Don’t forget that others are watching, too!" The effect of conversational human voice and reply length on observers’ perceptions of complaint handling in social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 50, 100–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaina, V. K., Kumara, S., & Fernandes, S. L. (2017). Extraction of emotions from multilingual text using intelligent text processing and computational linguistics. Journal of Computational Science, 21, 316–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeanpert, S., Jacquemier-Paquin, L., & Claye-Puaux, S. (2021). The role of human interaction in complaint handling. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 62, 102670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kankaanranta, A., & Brigitte, P. (2010). BELF competence as business knowledge of internationally operating business professionals. Journal of Business Communication, 47(4), 380–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999). Social functions of emotions at multiple levels of analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 13(5), 505–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kienpointner, M. (2008). Impoliteness and emotional arguments. Journal of Politeness Research, 4(2), 243–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, R. T. (1989). The limits of politeness: Therapeutic and courtroom discourse. Multilingua, 8(2–3), 101–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leech, G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, M., Qiu, S., & Liu, Z. (2016). The Chinese way of response to hospitality service failure: The effects of face and guanxi. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 57, 18–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, L. M., Gooty, J., & Williams, M. (2016). The role of leader emotion management in leader-member exchange and follower outcomes. Leadership, 27, 85–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, L. M., Kluemper, D., Nelson, D. L., & Ward, A. (2012). More than happy to help? Customer-focused emotion management strategies. Personnel Psychology, 66(1), 261–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locher, M. A., & Langlotz, A. (2008). Relational work: At the intersection of cognition, interaction and emotion. Bulletin Suisse de Linguistique Appliquee (VALS-ASLA), 88, 165–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewenstein, G. (2007). Affect regulation and affective forecasting. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 180–203). Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louhiala-Salminen, L., Mirjaliisa, C., & Kankaanranta, A. (2005). English as a lingua franca in Nordic corporate mergers: Two case companies. English for Specific Purposes, 24(4), 401–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Flor, A., & Usó-Juan, E. (2015). The role of instruction on EFL learners’ use of complaining apologizing semantic formulas. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 212, 23–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2012). Culture and emotion: The integration of biological and cultural contributions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1), 91–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2013). Emotional language and political aggression. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 32(4), 452–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2014). Emotions expressed in speeches by leaders of ideologically motivated groups predict aggression. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 6(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, D., Yoo, S. H., & Fontaine, J. (2009). Hypocrisy or maturity? Culture and context differentiation. European Journal of Personality, 23(3), 251–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzon, G. (2017). Paths of development of English DMs, (inter)subjectification, deontic reversal and other stories. In C. Fedriani, & A. Sansò (Eds.), Pragmatic markers, discourse markers, and modal particles: New perspectives (pp. 289–304). John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mesquita, B., & Boiger, M. (2014). Emotions in context: A sociodynamic model of emotions. Emotion Review, 6(4), 298–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niven, K. (2016). Why do people engage in interpersonal emotion regulation at work? Organizational Psychological Review, 6(4), 305–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niven, K. (2017). The four key characteristics of interpersonal emotion regulation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 17, 89–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niven, K., Totterdell, P., & Holman, D. (2009). A classification of controlled interpersonal affect regulation strategies. Emotion, 9, 498–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, Y., & Gates, S. C. (2009). Towards real-time measurement of customer satisfaction using automatically generated call transcripts. Proceedings of CIKM, 9, 1387–1396.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plutchik, R. (1997). The circumflex as a general model of the structure of emotions and personality. American Psychological Association, 1, 17–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomerantz, A. (1978). Compliment responses: Notes on the cooperation of multiple constraints. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the organization of conversational interaction (pp. 79–112). Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rozin, P., Lowery, L., Imada, S., & Haidt, J. (1999). The CAD triad hypothesis: A mapping between three moral emotions (contempt, anger, disgust) and three moral codes (community, autonomy, divinity). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(4), 574–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruhi, Ş. (2007). Higher-order intentions and self-politeness in evaluations of (im)politeness, the relevance of compliment responses. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 27(2), 107–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruhi, Ş. (2009). Evoking face in self and other-presentation in Turkish. In F. Bargiela-Chiappini, & M. Haugh (Eds.), Face, communication and social interaction (pp. 155–174). Equinox.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumflex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1161–1178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110, 145–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schegloff, E. A. (1988). Goffman and the analysis of conversation. In P. Drew, & A. J. Wootton (Eds.), Erving Goffman: Exploring the interaction order (pp. 89–135). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schimmack, U., Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2002). Cultural influences on the relation between pleasant emotions and unpleasant emotions, Asian dialectic philosophies or individualism-collectivism? Cognition & Emotion, 16(6), 705–719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuller, B., Batliner, A., Steidl, S., & Seppi, D. (2011). Recognising realistic emotions and affect in speech: State of the art and lessons learnt from the first challenge. Speech Communication, 53(9–10), 1062–1087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selting, M. (2012). Complaint stories and subsequent complaint stories with affect displays. Journal of Pragmatics, 44, 387–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer-Oatey, H. (2002). Managing rapport in talk: using rapport sensitive incidents to explore the motivational concerns underlying the management of relations. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 529–545.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer-Oatey, H. (2011). Conceptualising ‘the relational’ in pragmatics: Insights from metapragmatic emotion and (im) politeness comments. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(14), 3565–3578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sy, T., Horton, C., & Riggio, R. (2018). Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions. The Leadership Quarterly, 29, 58–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trnka, R., Šolcová, I. P., & Tavel, P. (2018). Components of cultural complexity relating to emotions: A conceptual framework. New Ideas in Psychology, 51, 27–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, J. L., & Clobert, M. (2019). Cultural influences on emotion: Established patterns to established patterns. In D. Cohen, & S. Kitayama (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 292–318). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valentini, S., Orsingher, C., & Polyakova, A. (2020). Customers’ emotions in service failure and recovery: A meta-analysis. Marketing Letters, 31, 199–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Janda, S., Polthier, A., & Kuester, S. (2021). Do they see the signs? Organizational response behavior to customer complaint messages. Journal of Business Research, 137, 116–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wan, L. C. (2013). Culture’s impact on consumer complaining responses to embarrassing service failure. Journal of Business Research, 66(3), 298–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weatherall, A., & Robles, J. (2021). How emotions are made to do things. In J. Robles, & A. Weatherall (Eds.), How emotions are made in talk (pp. 1–24). John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M., & Emich, K. (2014). The experience of failed humor: Implications for interpersonal affect regulation. Journal of Business and Psychology, 29, 651–668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, O. (2007). Building genuine trust through interpersonal emotion management: A threat regulation model of trust and collaboration across boundaries. Academy of Management Review, 32, 595–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao, Y., Hudders, L., Claeys, A., & Cauberghe, V. (2018). The impact of expressing mixed valence emotions in organizational crisis communication on consumer’s negative word-of-mouth intention. Public Relations Review, 44, 794–806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz, C., Varnali, K., & Kasnakoglu, B. T. (2016). How do firms benefit from customer complaints? Journal of Business Research, 69, 944–955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zembylas, M. (2005). Teaching with emotion: A postmodern enactment. Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y., & Vásquez, C. (2014). Hotels’ responses to online reviews: Managing consumer dissatisfaction. Discourse, Context & Media, 6, 54–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

    Ping Liu

  2. School of English Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

    Huiying Liu

Authors
  1. Ping Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Huiying Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huiying Liu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Discourse Pragmatics, Zhejiang International Studies University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Chaoqun Xie

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest Statement

No conflict of interest.

Funding

This chapter is part of the research outcome by the “Business Discourse Research Innovation Team” funded by the Department of Education of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2021WCXTD007).

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Meaning

Symbol

Example

Unintelligible text

Guess at unclear text

false start

(???)

(word?)

wo-word

(???) I mean natural

(leaves?) nothing to the imagination

idea is cl-very clear to me now

Overlapping text

[word]

Doris: all men think this is [just great]

Andrea: [of course]

Micropause

Brief pause

Pause of indicated length

(.)

(-)

(0.5)

well (.) enjoy (.) hm (.) what do I enjoy

it (-) eh you can look at other

when (0.2) when in a country

A nonverbal activity

(( ))

((Throat clear))

((Ring))

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Liu, P., Liu, H. (2023). “So What Are You, a Telephone?”: Emotion Management in Complaint Responses in BELF Phone Interactions. In: Xie, C. (eds) Advancing (Im)politeness Studies. Advances in (Im)politeness Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37064-9_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37064-9_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-37063-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-37064-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation