E-service communications between organizations and customers: an analysis of the Schema Resonance Model
Date
2015
Authors
Song, Xu, author
Christen, Cindy, advisor
Diffrient, Scott, committee member
Gloeckner, Gene, committee member
Hallahan, Kirk, committee member
Long, Marilee, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
To better understand how the one-to-one online communication between an organization representative and an individual customer is conducted and to improve the organization's e-service for customer's information inquiries, this dissertation research proposed a new organization-customer communication model—the Schema Resonance Model. Schema resonance is defined as the resonance between the schemas used by the customer in the sense-making process and the schemas used by the organization representative in the sense-producing process. Hypotheses and research questions were proposed to test whether schema resonance could benefit the organization-customer e-service and to examine whether there were differences based on gender or instant messaging experience when schema resonance took place. A post-test only 3 x 2 x 2 factorial between-subjects experimental/quasi-experimental design was used to test the proposed hypotheses and research questions. The three independent variables examined in the experiment were e-service condition (schema resonance, non-schema resonance, and failed schema resonance), gender (male and female), and instant messaging experience (low and high). A convenience sample of 423 college students participated in the experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three e-service conditions. A total of 409 participants completed the experimental session and took an online survey. A total of 389 survey entries were usable. Individuals in the schema-resonance e-service condition gained a similar amount of knowledge about the information provided in the communication and showed a similar intent to continue using the e-service as those in the non-schema-resonance e-service condition. Female participants in the schema-resonance e-service condition were more satisfied with the overall e-service, the communication approach used in the e-service, and the information provided in the e-service than were females in the non-schema-resonance e-service condition. Males in the schema-resonance and non-schema-resonance e-service conditions had similar levels of satisfaction with the overall e-service, communication approach, and information. In the schema-resonance e-service condition, compared to males, females were more satisfied with the overall e-service, communication approach, and information; and had greater intent to continue using the e-service. In the schema-resonance e-service condition, individuals who had high instant messaging experience showed more intent to continue using the e-service than individuals who had low instant messaging experience. For individuals who had low instant messaging experience, those in the schema-resonance e-service condition showed more satisfaction with the communication approach and more satisfaction with the information than those in non-schema-resonance e-service condition. Compared to individuals in the failed-schema-resonance e-service condition, individuals in the schema-resonance e-service condition showed more knowledge gain; were more satisfied with the overall e-service communication, communication approach, and information; and showed greater intent to continue using the e-service. The success of achieving schema resonance in the simulated organization-customer e-service communication indicated that it is possible to achieve schema resonance in the real-world e-service situation. It would be beneficial for an organization to achieve schema resonance in e-service communication to improve the efficiency of the communication and increase customer’s satisfaction with the e-service. To achieve schema resonance in e-service communication, the organization representative should use one reply to provide the requested information that the customer has requested and the additional information that the customer also plans to request. It is possible to apply the Schema Resonance Model to other types of organization-customer communication, such as face-to-face communication and telephone communication. The Schema Resonance Model proposes a theoretical framework which maps the representative's sense-making and sense-producing processes and the customer's sense-making process involved in the organization-customer communication, classifies two types of schemas (principle schema and adaptation schema) the representative may use in the sense-producing process to produce information for the customer, and suggests a new communication strategy—proactively providing additional information—that the organization representative can consider using in the organization-customer communication to respond to customer's information inquiries.