SOCIAL SUPPORT IN THE SERVICE SECTOR - THE ANTECEDENTS, PROCESSES, AND OUTCOMES OF SOCIAL SUPPORT IN AN INTRODUCTORY SERVICE

We examine the role of social support in a service business and its effects on clients' willingness to recommend the service. This study utilized interviews (n = 28) and surveys (n = 99) with clients of a non-profit introductory service assisting singles in finding a lifelong partner. We examined clients' beliefs about marriage, children, singlehood, and service utilization; the practical, social support, and psychosocial benefits in service utilization; and the relationship of these benefits to clients' willingness to recommend the service. Results show that clients received social support and psychosocial benefits in these brief encounters. Clients' assessment of this assisatance was significantly related to their willingness to recommend the service. The findings point to the importance of the quality of interpersonal contact in service encounters and extend earlier work on the provision of social support in business transactions.