In modern times many companies communicate with people representing various cultures, languages and lifestyles. Such a combination may offer positive opportunities but also cause challenges. Companies’ employees must communicate effectively across cultures to retain good service and build trust and retain happy customers.
Cultural differences affect communication
However, language issues, different dialects and accents, cultural regulations, and customers’ expectations differ and may become a source of confusion. The issue is larger among companies that operate in numerous locations and communicate with customers in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East (Liu & Tian 2020). Cultures are categorized according to their communication features into high-context and low-context cultures. In high-context cultures communication is implicit, indirect and relies heavily on non-verbal cues that e.g. during phone calls are not easy to detect. Low-context cultures feature directness, clarity and the use of words in communication. (Hall 1976.)
The SERVQUAL model consisting of components such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy is applied extensively to evaluate service quality in numerous sectors, such as call centres operating in customer service industry (Lamino & Diaz 2024). These sections can assist companies in understanding how the customers perceive the quality of the services they receive (Parasuraman et al. 1988). In addition, it can demonstrate the effectiveness of the employees in service delivery as it was used by Zihad Ul Islam (2026) in addition to gathering employees’ opinions in the data analysis for his thesis.
The other advantage is that SERVQUAL allows companies to sense the impact of various communication styles and cultures in relation to service. These variations may alter individual customer’s desires of how they prefer to be treated, the speedy way they require answers, and the mode of communication (Krishnendu & Aadithyan 2023). SERVQUAL makes it known as to whether an employee is too confident and caring in these talks. Confidence refers to the fact that the employees demonstrate knowledge and professionalism, whereas care refers to the fact that employees know what customers require and what worries them (Parasuraman et al. 1988).
Intercultural communication skills developed through trainings and best practices
Gathering data and feedback from customer service interactions helps companies in identifying areas for staff trainings, particularly in speaking and understanding other cultures. These trainings contribute to reducing misunderstandings and improving customer satisfaction (Parasuraman et al. 1988). So, SERVQUAL does not merely ensure service quality, but also contributes to how companies develop better relationships with their customers and remain at the forefront of international customer service.
The cross-cultural ability to communicate in written and spoken form is relevant in technological companies despite AI as it produces too general text (Vuoripuro 2026). In spoken communication the most important aspects of service quality, such as being fast, expressing empathy, and providing confidence that alters the level of customer satisfaction and perception of the entire service are needed (Zhang et al. 2023). Besides, assisting employees through best practises to learn about other cultures generates more accurate and flexible communication. With better cross-cultural skills in customer service management, good support systems can enable firms to enhance the quality of services, build customer relationships, and work across the globe.
Authors
Md Zihad Ul Islam graduates with a Bachelor of International Business LAB University of Applied Sciences in June 2026.
Jaana Häkli is Senior Lecturer at LAB University of Applied Sciences.
References
Hall, E. T. 1976. Beyond culture. Anchor Press.
Krishnendu, N. P. & Aadithyan, P. V. 2023. Cross-cultural communication in international business. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 25 (10, Ser. 4), 10-14. Cited 20 Dec 2025. Available at https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-2510041014
Lamino, P. & Diaz, J. 2024. Intercultural competencies: Understanding high- vs. low-context cultures (AEC813). UF/IFAS Extension. Cited 18 Dec 2025. Available at https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-WC475-2024
Liu, T. & Tian, Y. 2020. Applying Hall’s high context and low context cultures model to analyse the implications of cultural differences on functioning in cross-cultural groups. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 3(8), 128-133. Cited 14 Dec 2025. Available at:https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030813
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. & Berry, L. L. 1988. SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12-40. Cited 16 Dec 2025. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200827786_SERVQUAL_A_Multiple-item_Scale_for_Measuring_Consumer_Perceptions_of_Service_Quality
Reubens_Stock_Photos. 2025. AI-luotu, asiakaspalvelu. Pixabay. Cited 3 May 2026. Available at https://pixabay.com/fi/illustrations/ai-luotu-asiakaspalvelu-9753236/
Vuoripuro, V. 2026. Tämän hetken kuumin työntekijä osaa kirjoittaa. Cited 3 May 2026. Available at https://www.hs.fi/nakemys/art-2000011978908.html
Zhang, G., Bhaumik, A. & Rui, P. 2023. Cross-cultural communication strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction in the travel and tourism industry. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, 5(6), 1-10. Cited 13 Dec 2025. Available at https://www.ijfmr.com/
Zihad Ul Islam, Md. 2026. Cultural Communication Challenges in International Customer Service: Case study of APEX DMIT in Bangladesh. Bachelor’s thesis. LAB University of Applied Sciences. Cited 3 May 5 2026. Available at https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/914530
