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The depicted service employee in marketing communications: An empirical assessment of the impact of facial happiness

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  • Söderlund, Magnus
  • Sagfossen, Sofie

Abstract

Employees are often depicted in service firms’ marketing communications material. This study examines one particular aspect of such depictions: the signaling of happiness in terms of the employees’ facial expressions. It is assumed that depicted faces transmit emotional signals, that receivers are hardwired to react to such signals, and that the emotional signals influence the outcomes of the receivers’ information processing activities. Our empirical results show that this was indeed the case: employee display of happiness was positively and significantly associated with employee evaluations. The contribution of employee happiness remained significant when other characteristics of the depicted face (e.g., attractiveness) were controlled for. Our results also show that employee evaluations had a positive impact on the overall evaluation of the offer of the employee's firm, and that the employee evaluations mediated the association between employee display of happiness and the evaluation of the offer.

Suggested Citation

  • Söderlund, Magnus & Sagfossen, Sofie, 2017. "The depicted service employee in marketing communications: An empirical assessment of the impact of facial happiness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 186-193.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:38:y:2017:i:c:p:186-193
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.06.006
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Xu, Yingzi & Ling, I-Ling, 2023. "Effects of face masks and photo tags on nonverbal communication in service encounters," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

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