Mood-sensitive communication styles: Embodiment through a card-based tool

When having a conversation, we often adjust our communication style to respond to the mood of the other person: We talk differently to a person when they are cheerful than when they are grumpy (Niven, Totterdell & Holman, 2009). This ‘mood-sensitive communication’ is particularly important in the context of service encounters because the interaction with frontline service providers is a key determinant of customer experience and loyalty (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2010). A challenge in understanding and regulating such experiences is that they are difficult to distinguish because they are strongly intertwined in our daily interactions. To demonstrate the value of embodiedexperiences in the domain of experience research, we want to engage the audience in an actual experience by using a newly developed and validated card-based tool.