Abstract:

The current age of digitalisation brings several opportunities and challenges that have precipitated the need to implement digital solutions in organisations. Against this background, technological interface that enables customers to produce service outcome, independent of direct service-employee involvement, is commonly used in organisations in various sectors Extant literature is not keeping pace with the increasing speed in which the digitalisation of society and business is marching forward. In literature, more attention is devoted to personalised service encounter – the use of inter-personal buyer-seller interactions in the process of creating service outcomes. “Personalization”, using software applications/digital tools necessitates lesser inter-personal interactions. Hence, the relationship between companies and customers is increasingly being “depersonalised”. But, we ask in this study the following research question, “does depersonalization affect service provider-customer relationship positively or negatively? To answer this question, thus study aims to identify the pros and cons of depersonalization necessitated by digitalization and how it affects “customer-service provider relationship. The theoretical background rests on the discussion of personalization and depersonalization, technology-based service encounter, customer relationship strategy, opportunities and challenges of digitalization. A qualitative research approach entails both company and customer perspectives. Hence, data was collected through interviews. Findings show that depersonalisation through digitalization, despite some challenges, has positive effects on the “service provider-customer relationship”. Concludes that personalised buyer-seller interactions is considered an unalloyed good. However, adjusting and modifying the service, and making personalised recommendations, are considered a way to greater customer satisfaction. Implications for overcoming the challenges are discussed. Technology will continue to play vital role buyer-seller service encounter and will continue to be a crucial component in the customer-firm interactions. Further studies should investigate the reasons for positive or negative aspects. In addition, it remains open question regarding the perception of "less human error".