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Alvarez, C. M. O., K. A. Taylor and C. Gomez (2017): The effects of Hispanic bilinguals language use and stereotype activation on negotiations outcomes, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.158-167
Service encounters often become negotiations between the customer and the service provider. For speakers of multiple languages, the language used in a negotiation can be a critical factor in the success of that encounter. By investigating how U.S. bilinguals negotiate in either English or Spanish, this research examines the effect that the activation of the stereotype related to the minority language-speakers has on negotiation outcomes. The results of two experiments support the general notion that, among U.S. Hispanic bilinguals, the majority language (English) yields more favorable outcomes compared to the minority language (Spanish); a third study with a comparison group of bilinguals in Mexico, where no language-related stereotype exists, shows no effect of the negotiation language on the outcome. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of the findings and areas for future research.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.009 [Google]
Azab, C. and T. Clark (2017): Speak my language or look like me? – Language and ethnicity in bilingual customer service recovery, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.57-68
This research examines the influence of verbal (language) and non-verbal communication (ethnicity) of service providers on customers’ perceptions of service recovery. Drawing insights from speech accommodation theory and inferiority complex, this study uses between subject experimental design to explore conditions under which language convergence and divergence are effective ways to build rapport. Results show that the influence of ethnicity and language cannot be interpreted without considering the ethnic composition of customers and service providers. Results also show that language can trigger stigma with positive country image that interact together to create a more favorable rapport.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.11.012 [Google]
Balaji, M. S., S. K. Roy and W. M. Lassar (2017): Language divergence in service encounters: Revisiting its influence on word-of-mouth, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.210-213
Research on language accommodation highlights the significance of accommodating customers’ language requirements during service encounters. This replication study reinvestigates whether language divergence influences word-of-mouth intentions in a continuously-provided service of retail banking. Specifically, this study examines the relationships among language divergence, interaction quality, relationship quality, and positive word-of-mouth intentions. Consistent with previous research, study findings show that customers served in their second language perceive interactions with a service provider to be less responsive, adversely affecting positive word-of-mouth intentions. Additionally, language divergence has a negative influence on customer perception of information quality and empathy with a service provider, which affects the quality of the relationship customers have with the service provider. These results extend the understanding of the process by which language divergence affects positive word-of-mouth intentions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.07.015 [Google]
Bell, M. L. and M. Puzakova (2017): ¿Y Usted? Social influence effects on consumers’ service language preferences, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.168-177
The phenomenon of consumer multilingualism requires service marketers to consider the impact of service language on service evaluations. While prior research shows that multilingual consumers prefer service in their native language, this research establishes the moderating role of social presence on the relationships between service language and service satisfaction. The current research demonstrates that minority and majority language speakers prefer service in the majority (vs. minority) language when their friend’s native language is different from their own. This research also demonstrates the boundary conditions of this effect, including cultural symbolism and self-reward vs. other-directed consumption focus. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for service marketing.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.030 [Google]
Borda, A., J.-M. G. Geleilate, W. Newburry and S. K. Kundu (2017): Firm internationalization, business group diversification and firm performance: The case of Latin American firms, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.104-113
We examine the influence of multinationality and business group diversification on firm performance. Further, we examine how their interaction varies between service and manufacturing firms. We assess these relations in three Latin American countries using a sample of 103 firms over the period from 2000 to 2007. We found that there is a limit to the positive effects of business group diversification and that business group diversification effectively moderates the multinationality-performance (M-P) relationship. Our results also suggest that diversified business groups have a stronger positive influence on the M-P relationship for service firms compared to manufacturing firms.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.11.006 [Google]
Cayla, J. and K. Bhatnagar (2017): Language and power in India’s “new services”, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.189-198
Language is at the heart of service interactions and a crucial element influencing the relationship between service provider and customer. As a specific form of symbolic capital, language can also be used to exclude and dominate. Our research looks at the role of language in shaping the power dynamic between service providers and customers in the Indian context. This study builds from extensive fieldwork conducted in the area of “new services”, following Indian gym trainers and coffee shop baristas as they interact with elite English-speaking clients. The findings detail how English operates as an invisible boundary in service settings, by excluding Indians who do not speak it with fluency. However, when used to develop expert knowledge, language also becomes an opportunity for lower middle class Indians to resist and invert the domination of the elite.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.07.014 [Google]
De Angelis, M., V. Tassiello, C. Amatulli and M. Costabile (2017): How language abstractness affects service referral persuasiveness, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.119-126
Due to the inherent risk and uncertainty characterizing pre-purchase service evaluation, consumers tend to rely on referrals from other consumers who already have experiences with that service. Thus, companies are eager to stimulate such referrals and improve their effectiveness. To this end, this research investigates how consumers’ linguistic framing of service recommendations influences recipients’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. Specifically, this study focuses on one key dimension of language—its abstractness (vs. concreteness)—and hypothesizes that the effect of language abstractness on referral persuasiveness depends on recipients’ prior knowledge about the service in question. The results of two experiments in the context of financial and medical services demonstrate that abstract language is more effective than concrete language for recipients with high prior knowledge. Moreover, this research shows that recipients’ engagement in mental imagery processing is that makes abstract language more effective for those with high prior knowledge. This articles ends with a discussion of the study’s implications for academic research, social communication and service management, along with its limitations and future research directions.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.006 [Google]
Holmqvist, J., Y. Van Vaerenbergh and C. Grönroos (2017): Language use in services: Recent advances and directions for future research, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.114-118
While many service management and marketing concepts stress the importance of the interaction between a customer and a service provider, prior research devotes relatively little attention to the role of language use in services. This article describes the importance of broadening understanding of this issue and reviews prior research in this area. Next, this article introduces the articles in this special section. Although these articles individually and collectively contribute to a better understanding of the role of language use in services, we contend that much still needs to be learned. In order to assist researchers in their exploration of this topic, this article ends with a future research agenda that might inspire researchers to expand on the boundaries of knowledge on language use in services.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.005 [Google]
Kraak, J. M. and J. Holmqvist (2017): The authentic service employee: Service employees’ language use for authentic service experiences, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.199-209
This study analyzes how service employees’ language use influences the authenticity of a service. The extant service literature on language use remains exclusively focused on the customer’s perceptions of first language use in direct communication. Shifting the focus to the service employee, this paper posits that language could exert a wider influence, contributing both to how customers perceive the authenticity of the service and the entire service experience. Analyzing language use in service encounters, the paper addresses this research gap in the literature from the perspective of the service employee. In many service settings, authenticity is an important part in customers’ construal of their experience. The study analyzes how service employees in British pubs outside the UK may use English with local customers who frequent these pubs to get a taste of Britain and British culture, contributing to the service literature by introducing a typology to align the service employees’ language use with authenticity to strengthen the customer experience. The paper further contributes to service theory by extending the understanding of service sabotage by showing how, why, and in which circumstances service employees may use a language switch to sabotage the customer experience. Finally, the study extends the extant human resources literature on the effects of allowing service employees to be themselves to show that this managerial practice not only benefits the service employees also results in a more authentic customer experience.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.04.182 [Google]
Sundar, A., J. B. Dinsmore, S.-H. W. Paik and F. R. Kardes (2017): Metaphorical communication, self-presentation, and consumer inference in service encounters, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.136-146
In service encounters, the meaning inferred by a customer is a result of verbal and visual communication. This research focuses on how visual metaphorical communication in a service encounter can evoke the concept of power. We show that when representation of the service provider is at the bottom (versus top) of an image, the consumer’s perception of their own power is increased (Study 1). Study 2 demonstrates that power perceptions interact with self-presentational motives to influence intentions to use the service. Further, perceptions of power mediate the effect of visual representation on usage intentions. This occurs only when consumption is public and self-presentational concerns are high. In Study 3, we demonstrate that when the concept of power has little applicability, visual representation of perceived power does not affect intentions to use the service provider. Further, only individuals with a high need for status access the conceptual link between power and visual representation (Study 4). Together, the results further our understanding of the use of visual metaphorical communication in a service encounter.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.029 [Google]
Touchstone, E. E., S. Koslow, P. N. Shamdasani and S. D’Alessandro (2017): The linguistic servicescape: Speaking their language may not be enough, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.147-157
This paper explores Hispanic immigrants’ reactions to linguistic servicescapes in retail banking in Southern California. This fertile area of enquiry combines the sociolinguistic theory of linguistic landscape with research into multilingual service encounters describing what happens in the retail servicescape before the service encounter which sets up expectations for what happens during the service encounter. This new term describes the use of language in and around a service encounter including signage and promotional materials as well as bilingual personnel. In multilingual areas such as Southern California where the use of a minority language is politically charged, effective encoding of symbolic language by the service provider is crucial for the success of a service encounter. The results of this study indicate that management’s actual or perceived lack of sensitivity to appropriate linguistic symbols leads to both confusion and an attribution of discrimination towards the targeted ethnic group—even if none were intended. What is written or said in the service encounter is important, but this research illustrates that the context is also significant. The wider symbolic use of language is key in determining the success of service encounters.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.008 [Google]
Zhang, C., M. Laroche and M.-O. Richard (2017): The differential roles of verbs, nouns, and adjectives in English and Chinese messages among bilingual consumers, Journal of Business Research, 72(), pp.127-135
Different word categories have distinct impacts on consumers’ perceptions of a good or a service. Through 3 studies, this article tests the use of verbs, nouns, and adjectives among bilingual consumers. Study 1 examines word category use among bilinguals who speak both English and Chinese through an open-ended questionnaire. Study 2 measures the participants’ reactions toward advertisements which are composed of different word categories. In Study 3, two experiments test the word category effect in the service domain. The findings indicate that: (1) to describe a good or a service, bilinguals prefer adjectives and nouns in general, while using more verbs in Chinese contexts; (2) English advertisements are perceived as more informative than Chinese ones, and noun-composed advertisements are perceived as more informative than the ones with verbs or adjectives; (3) the interaction effect of language and word category on purchase intentions is true for both advertisements and services; specifically, noun-composed messages are more efficient in affecting bilinguals’ purchase decisions in Chinese contexts, while adjective-composed advertisements work better in English contexts; and (4) in the service domain, the interaction of language and word category has an impact on positive word-of-mouth and website use experience satisfaction. Conceptual and managerial implications are provided.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.10.007 [Google]
