By
Chad Brooks
It takes more than just knowing the
ins and outs of a product or service to make a good customer service
representative, new research suggests.
A study by researchers at Rice University
discovered that conscientious employees are more likely to provide good customer service because they know that good
interpersonal interactions positively impact customer service and, in turn, are
more likely to behave conscientiously when dealing with consumers.
Stephan Motowidlo, a Rice professor
and the study's lead author, said that while technical knowledge of a position
is an important factor in successful job performance, it is only one part of
the performance equation.
"Performance in a professional
service capacity is not just knowing about what the product is and how it
works, but how to sell and talk about it," Motowidlo said.
Historically, institutions have been
very good at examining the technical side of individuals' jobs through IQ
tests. However, Motowidlo said there has been more interest lately in the
nontechnical side of employees' job performance. Just as intelligence impacts
the knowledge acquisition, personality traits affect how interpersonal
skills are learned and used, he said.
"People who know more about
what kinds of actions are successful in dealing with interpersonal service
encounters — such as listening carefully, engaging warmly and countering
questions effectively — handle them more effectively, and their understanding
of successful customer service is shaped by underlying personality
characteristics," Motowidlo said.
Researchers based their conclusions
off of questionnaires from two groups — one group comprising 99 undergraduate
students and the other comprising 80 employees at a community service volunteer agency — and ranked 50 customer-service
encounters as effective or ineffective. The questionnaires from both groups
revealed that people who were accurate in judging the effectiveness of
customer-service activities behaved more effectively and displayed higher
levels of conscientiousness.
Motowidlo said he hopes the study
will encourage future research into how personality helps individuals acquire
the knowledge they need to perform their jobs effectively.
The study was published recently in
the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Originally published on BusinessNewsDaily.
By
Chad Brooks, Business News Daily Senior Writer
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