Insurance discourse analysis: Identifying register variables and generic stages in English cross-border complaint calls

Abstract

Interpersonal meaning-making resources are construed by customer service representatives (CSRs) and customers in call center telephone conversations. The purpose of the present study is to explore the contextual features—specifically, register variables and generic stages—that American customers and Filipino CSRs employ to create meaning potentials in cross-border insurance calls. The results of this study reveal that register variables, specific generic stages, and various lexicogrammatical choices play significant roles in call center negotiation. The theoretical framework used in this research is Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), which provides valuable insights into the study of text at the register level, including field, mode, and tenor, as well as semantically, in terms of metafunctions. A data set of over 2000 English conversations from an insurance call center in the Philippines was examined, and 20 longer complaint calls involving complex negotiations were carefully selected for transcription. These calls amounted to approximately four hours of talk, resulting in a total of 39,440 words, and the findings highlight the register variables and common generic stages observed in the analyzed calls. It is observed that customers frequently use the recount strategy in call center encounters. Recounts are typically used by the customer in the Objection stage and are associated with delayed refusal in generic stages, contributing to the formation of experiential meanings. It is hoped that the present study provides insights into call center discourse in the insurance industry by identifying the register and generic features of cross-border complaint calls.