Empathy Talk in Call Center

Empathy Talk in Call Center

This paper explores what empathy is and how it is communicated for handling customer complaints. After classifying three types of empathy, it exemplifies them with simulated data. It aims to uncover the scope of scientific notion of empathy (attentive empathy; affective empathy; cognitive empathy). It is to investigate which empathic communication might make the customer call effectual for customers and/or agents. It supports the claim that empathic needs are different from customer to customer and different types of empathy work side-by-side. It also tries to address the question whether empathy distracts from the fulfillment of organizational support, service, and efficiency needs. Data of the study illustrate the positive use of empathy in that customers tend to provide an accepting and rewarding context for interaction with empathic agent. A conclusion is made with some observations concerning the pedagogical implications of this research.