IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v72y2017icp168-177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

¿Y Usted? Social influence effects on consumers' service language preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Bell, Monique L.
  • Puzakova, Marina

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bell, Monique L. & Puzakova, Marina, 2017. "¿Y Usted? Social influence effects on consumers' service language preferences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 168-177.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:72:y:2017:i:c:p:168-177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296316305823
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer J. Argo & Darren W. Dahl & Rajesh V. Manchanda, 2005. "The Influence of a Mere Social Presence in a Retail Context," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 207-212, September.
    2. Jonas Holmqvist & Yves Van Vaerenbergh, 2013. "Perceived importance of native language use in service encounters," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(15-16), pages 1659-1671, December.
    3. Van Vaerenbergh, Yves & Holmqvist, Jonas, 2014. "Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1601-1608.
    4. Suresh Ramanathan & Ann L. McGill, 2007. "Consuming with Others: Social Influences on Moment-to-Moment and Retrospective Evaluations of an Experience," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(4), pages 506-524, July.
    5. Elliot, Esi Abbam & Cherian, Joseph & Casakin, Hernan, 2013. "Cultural metaphors: Enhancing consumer pleasure in ethnic servicescapes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1004-1012.
    6. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Montoya, Detra Y., 2007. "Am I welcome here? Exploring how ethnic consumers assess their place identity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 206-214, March.
    7. Michael B. Beverland & Francis J. Farrelly, 2010. "The Quest for Authenticity in Consumption: Consumers' Purposive Choice of Authentic Cues to Shape Experienced Outcomes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(5), pages 838-856, February.
    8. David Luna & Laura A. Peracchio, 2005. "Advertising to Bilingual Consumers: The Impact of Code-Switching on Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 31(4), pages 760-765, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Helene Tenzer & Siri Terjesen & Anne-Wil Harzing, 2017. "Language in International Business: A Review and Agenda for Future Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 815-854, December.
    2. Carol Azab & Jonas Holmqvist, 2022. "Discrimination in Services: How Service Recovery Efforts Change with Customer Accent," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 355-372, September.
    3. Bhukya, Ramulu & Paul, Justin, 2023. "Social influence research in consumer behavior: What we learned and what we need to learn? – A hybrid systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    4. Theys, Tobias & Adriaenssens, Stef & Verhaest, Dieter & Deschacht, Nick & Rousseau, Sandra, 2020. "Disentangling language from ethnic preferences in the recruitment of domestic workers: A discrete choice experiment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 144-151.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Azab, Carol & Clark, Terry, 2017. "Speak my language or look like me? – Language and ethnicity in bilingual customer service recovery," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 57-68.
    2. Holmqvist, Jonas & Van Vaerenbergh, Yves & Lunardo, Renaud & Dahlén, Micael, 2019. "The Language Backfire Effect: How Frontline Employees Decrease Customer Satisfaction through Language Use," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 115-129.
    3. Touchstone, Ellen E. & Koslow, Scott & Shamdasani, Prem N. & D'Alessandro, Steven, 2017. "The linguistic servicescape: Speaking their language may not be enough," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 147-157.
    4. Kraak, Johannes Marcelus & Holmqvist, Jonas, 2017. "The authentic service employee: Service employees' language use for authentic service experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 199-209.
    5. Alvarez, Cecilia M.O. & Taylor, Kimberly A. & Gomez, Carolina, 2017. "The effects of Hispanic bilinguals language use and stereotype activation on negotiations outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 158-167.
    6. Chatzopoulou, Elena & Navazhylava, Kseniya, 2022. "Ethnic brand identity work: Responding to authenticity tensions through celebrity endorsement in brand digital self-presentation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 974-987.
    7. Weijters, Bert & Baumgartner, Hans & Geuens, Maggie, 2016. "The calibrated sigma method: An efficient remedy for between-group differences in response category use on Likert scales," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 944-960.
    8. Theys, Tobias & Adriaenssens, Stef & Verhaest, Dieter & Deschacht, Nick & Rousseau, Sandra, 2020. "Disentangling language from ethnic preferences in the recruitment of domestic workers: A discrete choice experiment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 144-151.
    9. Lau, Hei Tong & Lee, Richard, 2018. "Ethnic media advertising effectiveness, influences and implications," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 216-220.
    10. Gwarlann Kerviler & Nico Heuvinck & Elodie Gentina, 2022. "“Make an Effort and Show Me the Love!” Effects of Indexical and Iconic Authenticity on Perceived Brand Ethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 89-110, August.
    11. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    12. Eigenraam, Anniek W. & Eelen, Jiska & Verlegh, Peeter W.J., 2021. "Let Me Entertain You? The Importance of Authenticity in Online Customer Engagement," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 53-68.
    13. Manuel Alonso-Dos-Santos & Carmen Zarco & Sardar Mohammadi & Daniela Niño-Amézquita, 2024. "Sponsorship effectiveness on betting intention-unobserved segmentation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    14. Jonathan Dezecot & Nathalie Fleck, 2017. "D'artisan traditionnel à marque artisan : quelle perception de l'artisan par le consommateur ?," Post-Print halshs-02952967, HAL.
    15. Osorio, María Lucila & Centeno-Velázquez, Edgar & López-Pérez, María Eugenia & del Castillo, Ernesto, 2021. "Authenticity, fit and product type: Testing a celebrity brand extension model cross-culturally," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    16. Hu, Miao & Chen, Jie & Chen, Qimei & He, Wei, 2020. "It pays off to be authentic: An examination of direct versus indirect brand mentions on social media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 19-28.
    17. Travis Tae Oh & Michel Tuan Pham, 2022. "A Liberating-Engagement Theory of Consumer Fun [Pleasure Principles: A Review of Research on Hedonic Consumption]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(1), pages 46-73.
    18. Pilar Rojas Gaviria, 2012. "Three essays on how sharing and consuming support home place reconnection in contemporary liquid times," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/209597, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Bian, Xuemei & Wang, Kai-Yu & Smith, Andrew & Yannopoulou, Natalia, 2016. "New insights into unethical counterfeit consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4249-4258.
    20. Jana Holthöwer & Jenny Doorn, 2023. "Robots do not judge: service robots can alleviate embarrassment in service encounters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 767-784, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:72:y:2017:i:c:p:168-177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.