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Customer service communication with customers with disability

Susan Elizabeth Taylor (Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Susan Balandin (Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Erin Wilson (Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Kevin Murfitt (Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 23 January 2019

Issue publication date: 8 February 2019

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review published research on retail customer service communication with people with complex communication needs (CCN) and impacts on their social inclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers searched electronic databases EBSCOHost and Web of Science and found no studies on retail customers with CCN. The search was expanded with the intention of exploring factors affecting people with disability as a group and to locate the experience of people with CCN within findings. Studies found were reviewed by the first author and two external reviewers.

Findings

Twelve articles met the broadened inclusion criteria. Analysis using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) found the literature demonstrated some environmental and personal factors that are likely to construct disability in the retail environment for people with CCN. The authors proposed further research to further explore ICF factors not identified in research and to establish links with social inclusion.

Research limitations/implications

Further research is needed to understand the role of retail customer service communication in the social inclusion of people with CCN.

Social implications

The social inclusion of people with CCN will be assisted by findings on good practice customer service communication.

Originality/value

Shopping is rarely considered in social inclusion research. This review discovered an absence of research into the impact of retail customer communication on inclusion of customers with CCN and proposed a framework for further enquiry.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Compliance with ethical standards

Funding: This review does not have any funding source.

Conflict of interest: Susan Taylor declares that she has no conflict of interest. Erin Wilson declares that she has no conflict of interest. Kevin Murfitt declares that he has no conflict of interest. Susan Balandin declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval: All procedures performed in this literature review were reviewed and approved by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee for the protection of human subjects in research and research-related activities. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent: Informed consent was not required for this literature review.

Citation

Taylor, S.E., Balandin, S., Wilson, E. and Murfitt, K. (2019), "Customer service communication with customers with disability", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 228-239. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-10-2017-2400

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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