Human Error Analysis to Customer Communication for Realtor Service Quality and The Implications to Personnel Training

Abstract

The quality of customer service, especially in realtor service, is centered at customer contact and communication. Because of the inherent diversity in customer demands and the consequent service procedures, the analysis of the service errors or failures in customer communication from the human factors perspective may provide an effective alternative toward the quality improvement in customer services beside the SERVQUAL-based approaches. This study investigates the pattern of communication errors occurred in realtor service operations and the associated latent failures for the implications to personnel training for quality services. Customers with realtor service experiences were interviewed to provide detailed description regarding the communication error(s) encountered while dealt with realtors in the past. Among all types of communication errors in realtor services, it is found that the active errors on providing insufficient or incorrect information regarding the target real estates and the communication errors involved in the price negotiation processes are prominent. The analysis of latent failures further reveals the importance on process transparency and the role of the information systems. For modern C2C service settings like realtors, it is recommended that a double customer framework with the emphasis of support information system should be considered for communication error analysis. Implications and suggestions to personnel training for quality improvement in realtor customer service, in terms of system knowledge and process management, are discussed in details