Abstract

Gaze coveys a lot of information in human interaction and has a strong influence on impression formation and cognitive activities. Nevertheless, there are limited studies about the gaze behavior between employees and customers in the service encounter, and few studies have dealt with the influence of employees' gaze, especially in the Korean consumer environment. This paper aims to study the influence of employees' gaze on customers' gaze behavior and overall experience in the Korean service encounter, using eye tracking methodology. In addition, customers' gaze behavior may be different depending on the cognitive load, and this study attempted to investigate the influence of the cognitive load on the gaze effect. The study was conducted on adults and measured the participants' gaze behavior, social impression, service encounter satisfaction, and revisit intention depending on the employee's gaze and cognitive load. As a result of the study, the direct gaze of the employee had a positive effect on the customers' impression, service encounter satisfaction, and revisit intention. The cognitive load decreased the visual attention of the customer to the employee’s eyes. However, there was no interaction of employees' gaze and cognitive load. This study can provide academic and practical implications by verifying the influence of employees' gaze in Korean service encounter that has not previously received attention.