Service Encounters as Rites of Integration: An Information Processing Model

We propose that service encounters (the interaction between customers and employees) can be conceptualized, and managed, as rites of integration. Rites of integration are defined as planned social interactions that have the objective of achieving “a temporary sense of closeness” between customers and service providers. We argue that such rites help to establish the appropriate level of psychological involvement or the appropriate degree of psychological closeness between the service provider and the customer. Psychological involvement facilitates (a) the sharing of information by customers and employees that is necessary for service production and (b) the favorable evaluation, by customers, of the service delivery process. We describe (and give examples of) different types of rites that result in varying levels of involvement. We conclude by offering propositions for the consequences associated with customers having their expectations of involvement confirmed or disconfirmed. These consequences include the importance of a “zone of indifference” around individual expectations of levels of involvement and the negative effects of too much closeness between the employee and customer.