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How (Fast) Can I Help You? Tone of Voice and Telephone Operator Efficiency in Interactions 1
Author(s) -
Hecht Marvin A.,
LaFrance Marianne
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1995.tb02389.x
Subject(s) - tone (literature) , directory , conversation , operator (biology) , psychology , pronunciation , speech recognition , telephony , personality , call centre , social psychology , communication , applied psychology , computer science , linguistics , telecommunications , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , repressor , transcription factor , gene , operating system
This study examined how tone of voice related to directory assistance operators' s]peed at handling customer calls. Brief (5‐s) audio exerpts of telephone operator conversation were presented to judges who rated these on 5 personality dimensions and 5 vocal qualities. When these measures were correlated with a key measure of job performance, namely call duration, results showed that operators who were faster at handling calls were rated as significantly more enthusiastic, sympathetic, confident, professional, and friendly (average r = ‐.56). The voices of faster operators were also rated as significantly more changing (vs. monotonous) and as containing clearer (vs. slurred) pronunciation. Results are discussed in terms of the role that tone of voice plays in telephone operator‐customer interaction, and telephone interactions more generally.