eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to expand understanding of the factors influencing customer satisfaction and efficiency in contact centers. More specifically, the focus is on examining the grouped impact of the factors. First, this research draws on existing research on the factors influencing customer satisfaction. Second, an empirical research is conducted to discover the combined effect of different factors on hand on customer satisfaction and on the other hand on efficiency.

METHOD A novel method in marketing called fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is the used method. It was chosen because it is suitable for a research with a small population and because it takes both quantitative and qualitative aspects into consideration. It also analyses the impact of factors combined together rather than as separate individuals.

KEY FINDINGS The main findings include the notion that a factor can have a different impact on customer satisfaction and efficiency depending on which other factors it is combined with. Additionally, separate factors or the same factors in a different form influence customer satisfaction and efficiency. Hence, there are trade-offs while attempting to achieve very good levels of both customer satisfaction and efficiency. In addition, the results include findings related to individual factors. For example, it is indicated that a high degree of feedback can have a positive effect on customer satisfaction.

Keywords Customer satisfaction, efficiency, contact center, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, FS/QCA