Press Release
HKBU educates secondary school students about culture of customer service appreciation
Tuesday, 16 Apr 2019
16 April 2019
The Department of Marketing from the School of Business at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has partnered with Ocean Park Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Association of Customer Service Excellence to teach secondary school students about the importance of customer service appreciation and its links to service quality.
The initiative, which is part of the HKSAR Education Bureau's Business-School Partnership Programme (BSPP), unites the support of District Development Networks and helps young people in Hong Kong to improve their life planning skills. The BSPP is supported by district school head associations, the federation of parent-teacher associations and other organisations.
With the support of the District Development Network (Central, Western & Southern), an "Exploring Service Industry - Appreciation Drives Service Excellence cum Kick-off Ceremony of the District Development Network (CW&S)" event was held on 13 April 2019 with the theme of "marketing, tourism and hospitality".
The HKBU Department of Marketing hosted "Exploring Service Industry - Appreciation Drives Service Excellence", which was the first event based around the theme. Led by HKBU professors and student mentors from the Department, a total of around 110 Secondary Four to Six students joined the event to promote the culture of service appreciation.
During the lunch break, a mock service activity was arranged and some of the participating students were asked to act as "servers". Through the interactions between the "servers" and the "customers", all participating students gained a better understanding of the work regularly carried out by service industry practitioners. They were also given a chance to think more deeply about how appreciation improves the performance of service professionals.
An experiential activity was then arranged at Ocean Park. Under the guidance of the HKBU student mentors, the participating secondary school students acted as student ambassadors and helped to promote the culture of customer appreciation. Stationed at 10 different spots around the Park, the student ambassadors invited tourists to give "likes" to high-performing members of staff in the Park and take photos with them. The student ambassadors also encouraged tourists to post and share photos on social media platforms to spread the message and promote the culture of customer appreciation. A total of 134 photos showing appreciation to the Ocean Park frontline staff were uploaded to Instagram.
Dr Henry Fock, Head of the Department of Marketing at HKBU, said: "Customers' willingness to give positive comments shows support and recognition to service staff members, thus enhancing their job performance and in return improving their customer service, which is a great demonstration of the 'upward spiral effect' in marketing practice."
Last year, the Department of Marketing and the Hong Kong Association of Customer Service Excellence jointly conducted a survey. The results showed that service quality is related to positive customer feedback. Dr Fock hopes that through this series of activities participating students will have a chance to explore the industry further and experience the highs and lows of the service industry.
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Media enquiries:
Katrina Leung (3411 2154, katrina_leung@hkbu.edu.hk)
Wong Suk-ling of the Communication and Public Relations Office (3411 2119, hkbunews@hkbu.edu.hk)
