The Speech Act of Apology by Filipino Call Center Agents

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22218

Keywords:

speech act, apology, call center, BPO, communication

Abstract

The Philippines is a global leader in business process outsourcing (BPO). Many foreign investors view the Philippines as a viable location for their call center operations due to the Filipinos' strength in English proficiency. This study focuses on inbound call center accounts that deal with a variety of call situations, ranging from information requests to difficult calls that require more time to handle, such as complaint calls. Since the goal of any business is customer satisfaction, this research aims to investigate how Filipino call center agents mitigate and reduce the liability and guilt towards customers. Results show that the 90 call center representatives have successfully produced 'perfect apologies' by providing all five strategies posited by Cohen et al. (1986) in most of their complaint calls. However, the sequence is distorted by emphasizing more on offering a repair. This leads to a recommendation that calls center training on apology be emphasized on building personal connections rather than a mechanical response to situations.

Author Biographies

  • Mary Joy V. Sienes, Silliman University, Philippines

    Mary Joy Vailoces Sienes is an ESL Teacher at Vinschool Secondary School, Times City, Hanoi, Vietnam.  She is currently in a residency program of her Ph. D in English with concentration in TESOL at Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines.   Her interest includes qualitative research especially in the line of pragmatics and discourse analysis. 

  • Jasper Eric C. Catan, Silliman University

    Jasper Eric C. Catan currently sits as the Director for Research and Extension Services of Foundation University, Dumaguete City, Philippines. His areas of interest are language pedagogy research, education policy research, service-learning research, and physical and mental health research.

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Published

30-12-2021

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Section

Research Article

How to Cite

Sienes, M. J. V., & Catan, J. E. C. (2021). The Speech Act of Apology by Filipino Call Center Agents. International Journal of TESOL & Education, 2(1), 117-128. https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.22218

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