Understanding Chinese comfortableness in service

Author : James Stanworth

Abstract :Despite the growing significance of Chinese consumers, little is known about how they interpret various dimensions of service interactions. In Western contexts, where individualism prevails (Bedford & Hwang, 2003), autonomy of choice underpins customer judgments; its absence induces discomfort. By contrast, Chinese customers are shaped by collectivist norms (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), which impose relational expectations and complicate feelings of ease. The Chinese term zìzài (自在) denotes comfort, arising either from adherence to Confucian role-bound norms (Yang, 1995) or from Taoist ideals of natural self expression that alleviate moral pressure (Slingerland, 2000). Feeling zìzài promotes harmony and sustains long-term service relationships. This study examines the antecedents of zìzài and bùzìzài (不自在) in service contexts. We adopt a qualitative design, conducting 15 interviews with Taiwanese customers and eliciting critical incidents (Gremler, 2004) in which zìzài or bùzìzài was salient. We develop a taxonomy of positive and negative service experiences and identify situational cues that trigger these states. Preliminary findings suggest that zìzài emerges as a liminal condition in which customers simultaneously fulfill role expectations and express personal identity. Our results offer practical insights for service employees on fostering zìzài among Chinese customers by recognizing and responding to key interactional elements

Keywords :zìzài, Chinese consumers, service interactions, collectivism, customer comfort

Conference Name :International Conference on Administrative Science and Human Resources Management (ICASHRM-25)

Conference Place Manchester, UK

Conference Date 24th Jun 2025