Cognitive and emotional load influence response time of service agents: A large scale analysis of chat service conversations

Anat Rafaeli, Daniel Altman, Galit B. Yom-Tov

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We highlight two psychological aspects of the load in service work - cognitive load (amount of information customers present) and emotional load (emotions customers present), and examine their effects on response time of service agents, in service conversations conducted using text-based chats. Using operational data of 145,995 chat service conversations, we show that cognitive load and emotional load increase agent response time both between and within service conversations. Our analyses unpack common assumptions that number of customers is identical to amount of work load, and shed light on customer-agent dynamics both between and within service conversations. In studying text-based service communication, which is rapidly expanding and insufficiently studied, we open up exciting opportunities for further research.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1906-1915
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133126
StatePublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes
Event52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019 - Maui, United States
Duration: 8 Jan 201911 Jan 2019

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2019-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference52nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityMaui
Period8/01/1911/01/19

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

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