Men and Women Flight Attendants' Perceptions of Customer Interaction Quality

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Rafan, C. (2023). Men and Women Flight Attendants' Perceptions of Customer Interaction Quality. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

A key component of jobs in the service industry is customer service, where the success of jobs are dependent on the success of the service and interaction. More specifically, flight attendants have been a part of the service industry for a significant amount of time. Although we do see more men entering the occupation, the job of a flight attendant remains mostly dominated by women. However, this might be due to the fact that the traits associated with customer service jobs are traits that are seen as being feminine or being a woman. Prior literature on customer service focuses on perspectives of interactions from the customer, however, this study aims to focus on perspectives of interactions from the employee. Therefore, my research question is: In what ways do men and women flight attendants’ perceptions of customer interactions differ? I use theoretical concepts of legitimacy theory and status characteristics theory to help explain why men and women employees have different perceptions of their interactions. To answer my key research question, I conducted qualitative interviews with flight attendants that have been in the industry for at least three years. The interviews lasted from 30-45 minutes. My findings show that there is a difference in how men and women flight attendants make sense of their interactions. Women flight attendants were more likely to recall how status characteristics affect interactions while men flight attendants were more likely to recall how aspects of their job affect interactions.

Details
Author

Rafan, Chelsea

Title

Men and Women Flight Attendants' Perceptions of Customer Interaction Quality

Physical Description

1 online resource (41 pages) : PDF

Date

2023

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

A key component of jobs in the service industry is customer service, where the success of jobs are dependent on the success of the service and interaction. More specifically, flight attendants have been a part of the service industry for a significant amount of time. Although we do see more men entering the occupation, the job of a flight attendant remains mostly dominated by women. However, this might be due to the fact that the traits associated with customer service jobs are traits that are seen as being feminine or being a woman. Prior literature on customer service focuses on perspectives of interactions from the customer, however, this study aims to focus on perspectives of interactions from the employee. Therefore, my research question is: In what ways do men and women flight attendants’ perceptions of customer interactions differ? I use theoretical concepts of legitimacy theory and status characteristics theory to help explain why men and women employees have different perceptions of their interactions. To answer my key research question, I conducted qualitative interviews with flight attendants that have been in the industry for at least three years. The interviews lasted from 30-45 minutes. My findings show that there is a difference in how men and women flight attendants make sense of their interactions. Women flight attendants were more likely to recall how status characteristics affect interactions while men flight attendants were more likely to recall how aspects of their job affect interactions.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Sociology

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Customer Interactions
Flight Attendants
Organizations
Work

Subject Area

Sociology

Advisor(s)

Kronberg, Anne-Kathrin

Committee Members

Miller, Candace
Dippong, Joseph

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2023.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Rafan_uncc_0694N_13572

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:3497