ArticlePDF Available

Abstract and Figures

Purpose – The primary objective of this article is to investigate customer reactions to service employees with accents that differ from a non-native accent taking into account customer emotions. Design/methodology/approach – This article reports on a study with a 2 (accent of service employee: Australian or Indian) × 2 (service employee’s competency: competent or incompetent) × 2 (customer’s affective state: positive or negative) between-subject experimental design to uncover the effects of service employees’ accent on customers’ reactions. Findings – The findings revealed that hearing a service employee with a foreign accent was not enough on its own to influence customer responses. However, when the service employee is incompetent or the customer was in a negative affective state, a foreign accent appeared to exacerbate the situation. Research limitations/implications – While the findings indicate that accents are used a cue for customers to evaluate service employees, further research should also take service types, service outcomes, customer-service employee relationships, customers’ ethnic affiliation and ethnocentrism into consideration when examining the effect of accents. Practical implications – Service managers need to be aware that accents will exacerbate perceptions of already difficult service situations. Providing competent service will help breakdown stereotypes and improve the acceptance of diversity at the customer–employee interface. Originality/value – This article contributes to the service literature about service attributes and is particularly relevant to economies such as the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia where immigrants are a large part of the service work force.
Content may be subject to copyright.
1
The effect of service employees’ accent on customer reactions
Abstract
Purpose The primary objective of this article is to investigate customer reactions to service
employees with accents that differ from a non-native accent taking into account of customer
emotions.
Design/methodology/approach - This article reports on a study with a 2 (accent of service
employee: Australian or Indian) X 2 (service employee’s competency: competent or
incompetent) X 2 (customer’s affective state: positive or negative) between-subject
experimental design to uncover the effects of service employees’ accent on customers’
reactions.
Findings - The findings reveal that hearing a service employee with a foreign accent is not
enough on its own to influence customer responses. However, when the service employee is
incompetent or the customer is in a negative affective state, a foreign accent appears to
exacerbate the situation.
Research limitations/implications While the findings indicate that accents are used by
customers as a cue to evaluate service employees, further research should also take service
types, service outcomes, customer-service employee relationships, customers’ ethnic affiliation
and ethnocentrism into consideration when examining the effect of accents.
Practical implications Service managers need to be aware that accents will exacerbate
perceptions of already difficult service situations. Providing excellent and competent service
will help break down stereotypes and improve the acceptance of diversity at the customer
employee interface.
Originality/value This article contributes to the literature about service attributes and is
particularly relevant to economies such as the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and
Australia where immigrants are a large part of the service work force.
Key words Service, Accent, Customer emotions, Service evaluation
Paper Type Research paper
Introduction
Communication between service employees and customers is a critical element in the service
encounter (Mattsson and den Haring, 1998; Jain et al., 2009). For example, it directly effects
customer satisfaction and trust (de Ruyter and Wetzels, 2000), and commitment (Jones et al.,
2008). As a result, when communication is perceived as difficult, it adversely affects the
2
customer’s perception of, and satisfaction with, the quality of service encounter (Sharma and
Patterson, 1999). Prior research has examined communication within service encounters
including communication patterns (Bitner et al., 1990), behavioural cues (Mattsson and den
Haring, 1998), and displayed emotions (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006). Despite this
comprehensive body of research in service communication there is little research into the
effects of service employee’s accent on service evaluation. While a number of studies
investigate customer reactions to service offshoring and related issues of operation cost (c.f.
Thelen et al., 2011; Thelen et al., 2010; Thelen and Shapiro, 2012), communication issues with
non-native service employees and their accent in particular receive less attention. This lack of
research is surprising as customers are often exposed to service employees with cultures,
customs and accents different to their own. Interactions between people with different accents
are often challenging due to communication difficulties and/or native speaker’s perceptions of
individuals with foreign accents (Hosoda and Stone-Romero, 2010). This article therefore
focusses on addressing this lack of understanding about communications difficulties due to
accents. Specifically, we investigate how service employees’ accents influence customers
reactions (judgement of service employee’s credibility and behavioural intention), taking both
their affective states and emotional responses into account.
Diversity in spoken English
More non-native speakers of English exist in the world than native English speakers (Bloch
and Starks, 1999).With an increasing prevalence of outsourced and off-shored customer service
departments (Punch, 2004), encountering an accent different from customers’ home country
accent is becoming increasingly common. Moreover, with increasing business globalisation
and mobility of people around the world, individuals are now much more likely to interact with
people who differ in culture, ethnicity and language (Kim and Bhawuk, 2008). This is the case
3
in Australia where 27% of residents were born overseas (ABS, 2012). In fact in 2010-11 the
Australian population grew substantially faster through immigration than by natural birth rate
(Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2012). The accent immigrants speak differs from
their adopted country even when their native tongue is English. As such it is very likely
Australian customers will, at some stage, experience dealing with service employees with an
accents differing from standard Australian English. Although previous research shows accents
effect a salesperson’s sales performance (De Shields and de los Santos, 2000), evaluation of
advertised products (Morales et al., 2012) and even job interview judgement and employment
decisions (Hosoda and Stone-Romero, 2010), few studies have explored accents’ effect on
customers’ service evaluation. Investigating effects of accent on customers’ perceptions and
service evaluations is important as studies reported in Social Psychology literature (c.f. Dixon
et al., 2002; Lev-Ari and Keysar, 2010) suggest that hearing an accent conjures up stereotypes
that often lead to prejudice and will influence individuals perception of credibility and truth
during an interaction.
Stereotyping by Accent
Stereotypes are a particular type of cognitive schema that tend to be activated automatically
when people are exposed to social cues such as the appearance, speech or behaviour of others.
These stereotypic schemas form the basis for categorising and grouping people as having
similar behaviour, attitudes and intentions (Tajfel and Forgas, 1981). Therefore, individuals are
categorised by the collective actions, attitudes, and/or traits associated with group membership
(Ford and Stangor, 1992) and hence stereotypic biases are inferred from the group to the
individual. Observer’s perceptions of individuals are often guided by a group’s stereotypic
attributes (Casper et al., 2010), whether justified or not. Moreover stereotyping also guides
interpretation of other’s behaviour (Duncan, 1976) as well as one’s own behaviour toward that
4
individual (Casper et al., 2010). Hearing an accent often triggers perceived differences between
the listener’s in-group and the out-group of the accented speaker thereby leading people to
categorise others based on race. This form of racial categorisation has a biasing and filtering
effect on people’s perceptions of others (Tajfel, 1978). The summary of empirical research on
accent stereotype in Table 1 shows the important role accents play in forming one’s perception
of individual characteristics based on group or race associated stereotypes.
Table 1 about here
Accents per sé are not used to directly evaluate the speech or other characteristics of an
individual but rather act as an automatic trigger that associates the speaker with a social
grouping represented by the accent variety (Fuertes et al., 2012). As such, accents are
commonly used as a reference back to a social group in order to assess an individual’s level of
intelligence and kindness, as well as status, solidarity, economic class, national origin, ethnicity
or profession (Garcia-Marques and Mackie, 1999; Lippi-Green, 1997). In line with this
assertion, Davis (2006) found that North American business students used accent to help assess
characteristics such as intelligence, competence, professionalism, friendliness in others. More
importantly these students also preferred to receive information from salespeople who speak in
their native accent (Davis, 2006). This prejudicial attitude based on a person’s accent may
therefore affect customers’ perception of an accented service employee who represents the
service brand.
The effect of service providers’ accents
Language is a strong indicator of an individual’s ethnic identity and country of origin and thus
is often used for social categorization (Rakić et al., 2011). More importantly, it often leads to
an unfavourable perception of service employees through deceases in trust, communication and
perceived similarity (DeShields and de los Santos, 2000). These factors are key to customer’s
evaluation of service employee’s credibility, long term relationships with the firm, and
5
purchase intentions (Bradford and Weitz, 2009) as well as enhancing customer satisfaction
within service encounters (Mitra and Webster, 1999).
Customers are likely to use accents to categorise and hence associate certain traits
belonging to particular races or ethnicities with service employees in much the same way as
customers associate certain country-of-origin traits with a brand or product (Harrison-Walker,
1995). In a study investigating effects of service employee ethnicity, Harrison-Walker (1995)
find nationality biases influence customer’s choice of service employee. This social
categorization may be positive or negative and is dependent upon context, the country within
which the service takes place, the nationality of the customer, and the country with which the
non-native accent is associated. For example Harrison-Walker (1995) find service employees
are at an advantage when their nationality is the same as the customer compared to when the
two nationalities are different. In a study of Australian customers’ attitudes to accent, Rao Hill
and Tombs (2011) find positive reactions to accent associated with cultural congruency
between the ethnicity of the service employee and the context of the service, for example ethnic
accents in ethnic restaurants. Despite positive attitudes to accented service employees in some
context dependent situations, accents are also cues that trigger prejudicial attitudes and
stereotypes about race, ethnicity and social status (Lippi-Green, 1997) and as such are also
likely to generate discriminatory responses toward accented individuals. In personal-selling
situations Morales et al. (2012) indicate that an accent dissimilar to the buyer tends to hinder
the effectiveness of salespeople. Dealing with an accented service employee is also associated
with perceptions of lower service quality (Bharadwaj and Roggeveen, 2008). Moreover, Rao
Hill and Tombs (2011) find that Australian customers report negative and discriminatory
responses on hearing the accent of Indian and Filipino service workers in call centres even
before these service employees have the opportunity to interact with the customer. This
discriminatory response relates to a lack of perceived service employee credibility as customers
6
believed their issues would not get resolved. These findings are also in line with Lev-Ari and
Keysar (2010)’s study which show that accented speakers are perceived as less credible, even
when racial prejudice does not play a role. These perceptions can be explained from information
processing perspective. When people listen to accented speech, the difficulty they encounter
reduces “processing fluency”. But instead of perceiving the statements as more difficult to
understand, they perceive them as less truthful. Following these lines of arguments, it is
hypothesised that:
H1a. Service employees’ foreign accents have a negative effect on customers’ judgement
of service employees’ credibility.
The effects of customer’s affective state
The service literature reveals a large body of research into the effects of emotions on consumer
behaviour, including the triggers and consequences of these emotions (c.f. Baggozi et al., 1999;
Mattila and Enz, 2002). Aspects of the service encounter, such as service employees
behaviour, the service outcomes (both positive and negative) and the service environment have
all been shown to influence customers affective state. Research into service interactions
indicates that a customer’s affective states significantly influence his/her perception of
satisfaction (Arnould and Price, 1993). In particular, Oliver (1993) finds that both positive
affect (interest and joy), and negative affect (anger, disgust, contempt, shame, guilt, fear, and
sadness) determine satisfaction. Affective events theory (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996)
suggests an individual’s affective state leads directly to affect driven behaviours, which could
include reacting to an accented service employee. In their study of hotel patrons affective states
during customer-employee interactions, Mattila and Enz (2002) find that the customers
affective state is positively related to their evaluation of the encounter including the perceived
competence of the service employee. Similarly, negative affective states influence an
7
individual’s social judgement. For example, Bodenhausen et al. (1994) find that angry
individuals render more stereotypic judgements in a social perception task than neutral mood
individuals and are more likely to rely on simple cues such as a person’s accent when reacting
to social stimuli. Therefore following the interaction with an accented service employee we
hypothesise that:
H1b. Customers negative affective state has a negative effect on customers’ judgement
of service employees’ credibility.
Customers’ emotional responses to accents and service employee competency
Numerous studies in marketing communications literature show that language has emotional
connotations that influence customers perceptions (Holmqvist, 2011; Putoni et al., 2009). This
phenomenon is also widely recognised in the services marketing literature. For example,
emotions displayed by frontline service employees’ produce contagion effects with customers
(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006). Perceived service fairness triggers emotional responses
(Namkung and Jang, 2010). In a more recent study of extreme emotional responses to service
employees (phone rage) customers may engage in injurious speech, aggression, anger, and
antagonism during customeremployee interactions (Harris 2013). Despite this wealth of
knowledge little is known about how accents effect customer emotions. As discussed earlier
non-native accents are key indicators of cultural distance and stigmatise speakers as non-native
born citizens (Derwing and Munro, 2009). Cultural distance between participants in the service
exchange is shown to influence the customers’ reactions (including emotions) to the
communication process (Hopkins et al., 2005; Warden et al., 2003). The narrower the cultural
distance between customer and service employee the more positive the perceived service
experience (Hopkins et al., 2005). Conversely, as cultural distance widens customer’s
perception of the service encounter is likely to become negative (Warden et al., 2003).
8
Communications with an accented service employee often evokes either strong positive
or negative emotions (Rao Hill and Tombs, 2011). While positive emotions are associated with
greater tolerance (Braun-LaTour et al., 2007), unfavourable service outcomes greatly reduce
the customer’s tolerance, consequently creating a strong negative bias toward accented service
employees (Wang et al., 2013). In a study of American consumers’ concerns over offshoring
services, Thelen et al. (2008) find that communication concerns are a key aspect of service
quality perceptions. Likewise Bresnahan et al. (2002) suggest that a foreign accent is likely to
evoke negative stereotypes as accent is a cue that signals an individual’s membership of an out-
group. In Bresnahan et al’s (2002) study of attitudinal and affective responses to accent,
communication is perceived less pleasantly between a native American-English speaker and an
accented speaker compared to two American-English speakers. Further, they also find that
emotional responses become more negative the more unintelligible the accent is. When
investigating Australian customers’ attitudes towards accent, Rao Hill and Tombs (2011) find
a customers’ emotional reaction to an accented service employee is likely to be negative due to
perceived frustrations over a lack of ability to communicate adequately. Moreover, intercultural
service encounters tend to negatively affect the level of comfort the customer has with the
service employee even without any service failure or unfavourable outcomes (Paswan and
Ganesh, 2005). These discussions lead to the following hypothesis:
H2a. Service employees foreign accents have a negative effect on customer emotions.
Service employees competency forms an important component of a customer’s
evaluation of the service employee’s performance, and is positively correlated with emotions
felt by the customer (Mattila and Enz, 2002). Competency involves being capable, organized,
and efficient. These are essential skills a service employee brings to the service encounter and
are significant factors influencing emotional responses. Specifically a service employee who
provides competent service delivery to the customer should generate positive emotions within
9
the customer. Conversely, service employee incompetency is the major driver of negative
emotional response (Price et al., 1995). In line with this argument, we hypothesise that
following the interaction with an accented service employee the:
H2b. Service employee’s (in)competency will have a (negative) positive effect on
customer emotions.
Future behaviour intentions
The literature suggests emotions play a crucial role in decision-making processes (for a review,
see Baggozi et al., 1999). In particular, customer satisfaction with a service encounter is
strongly influenced by customer emotions (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2006). Emotions experienced
during service encounters leave affective traces in the memory, which customers access when
forming their satisfaction evaluation (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). Accordingly, when
customers assess a specific consumption experience, such as dealing with an accented service
employee, they draw strongly on their emotional state and ask themselves questions such as
“How do I feel about the service?” This impact is consistent with the affect-as-information
model in social psychology (Schwarz and Clore, 1988), which suggests people rely on their
emotion and mood as information cues when they make evaluative judgments and future
decisions. Thus we expect that:
H3a. Customer’s positive (negative) emotions have a positive (negative) effect on
customer’s future intention to return to the service employee.
H3b. Customers judgement of service employee credibility is positively related to
customer’s future intention to return to the service employee.
Method
10
The purpose of this study is to investigate how a service employees non-native accent
influences customers reactions (specifically their judgement of service employee’s credibility
and their behavioural intention), taking both their affective states and emotional responses into
account. A scenario-based experiment is used to compare customer reactions to the different
service attributes.
Subjects and design
To test these hypotheses, a 2 (accent of service employee: Australian or Indian) X 2 (service
employee’s competency: competent or incompetent) X 2 (customer’s affective state: positive
or negative) between-subject experimental design was employed. The dependent variables are
customer emotions, impression of service employee and repurchase intentions. Two hundred
and forty eight adult Australian customers were recruited through a marketing research
company’s consumer panel. The median age was 44.5 years with 50.8 percent female. Sixty
two percent of respondents reported having at least one interaction with a hotel receptionist in
the last year. Each respondent listened to only one of the 8 scenarios. The cell size for each
manipulation was 31 respondents.
Stimulus audio scenarios
The experimental stimulus was an audio vignette which played out the interaction between
actors playing the roles of a hotel duty manager and a customer. This context was chosen
because of the high level of customer- interaction in brief and public transactions (Mattila and
Enz, 2002) and it is not uncommon to get intercultural service encounters in the hospitality
industry. The vignette began with a narrator describing the journey and arrival of the customer
to the hotel. The journey was portrayed as either good or bad in order to set the customer’s
affective state as either positive or negative. The actor playing the hotel duty manager had either
an Australian or Indian accent. The way they dealt with the customer was either competent or
incompetent. Each respondent was asked to take on the role of the customer described in the
11
scenario. Audio rather than video was used as the stimulus to avoid extraneous factors such as
liking or dislike for the appearance of service employee, familiarity or otherwise with the hotel,
and influence of the servicescape.
In developing the scenarios, care was taken to ensure the validity of each manipulation.
Pretests (n = 85 respondents) confirmed that both affective state manipulations were successful.
The mean scores were 4.74 (positive manipulation) and 1.64 (negative manipulation) when
rated on a 1 5 scale with 1 being in a negative and 5 being in a positive affective state.
Likewise the manipulation of the competency of the service employee also achieved the desired
effects. The mean scores were 4.14 (competent manipulation) and 1.43 (incompetent
manipulation) when rated on a 1 5 scale with 1 being incompetent and 5 being competent.
The credibility of the scenario was tested using the three items (for example, “I think there are
hotel situation like this in the real world”) on a 5 point scale. The mean scores for these items
were 4.03, 3.75, and 3.79 respectively. These scores were significantly different (t = 15.35, p <
.001) from neutral (neither agree nor disagree) therefore the scenarios can be considered valid.
Measures and procedure
All measures used in this study were either taken directly or adapted from existing scales.
Before presentation of the experimental stimulus respondents pre-existing emotions were
measured using Laros and Steenkamp’s (2005) scale of six basic emotions (anger, fear, sadness,
shame, contentment and happiness). The respondentsrated each emotion on a six-point (0 =
not feeling this at all, 1 = very slightly, 5 = extremely). The respondents’ acceptance of accent
(Davis, 2006) was also measured with 16 items using five-point (1 = strongly disagree, 5 =
strongly agree) Likert-type scales. These pre-existing emotions and the respondents’
acceptance of accent were then held constant as covariates in the later analysis. This was done
because, first, we had to rule out the effect that any emotion prior to participation may have on
the dependent variables. Second, the effects of stereotyping are likely to be lesser with more
12
knowledge and hence acceptance of the situation (Kunda and Thagard, 1996). By treating the
respondent’s acceptance of accent as a covariate we were able to rule out any individual
differences based on this factor.
We note that Davis (2006) did not use the acceptance of accent scale items as an
aggregated scale. Therefore we conducted an EFA on the items to discover this scale to be three
dimensional (accounting for 65% of the variance extracted). This scale was then subjected to a
confirmatory factor analysis. To ensure a good model fit 5 items were removed. The fit statistics
indicate the measurement model is acceptable: χ2 (42, N= 245) = 131.0, p=.000; χ2/df = 3.11;
RMSEA = .068; GFI = .911 CFI = .965; SRMR= .0491. The three factors (Table 2) equate to
assessment of accent (7 items, Cronbach’s alpha = .94), acceptance of accent (2 items, Pearson
correlation = .62) and detection of accent (2 items, Pearson correlation = .37). To check the
discriminant validity of the dimensions in this scale we used Fornell and Larcker’s (1981)
criteria where the average variance extracted (AVE) for each latent variable must be larger than
the squared correlation between it and the other latent variables included in the scale (see Table
3).
After listening to the audio stimulus respondents’ emotions were again measured using
the same six basic emotions scale (Laros and Steenkamp, 2005) to assess the impact of the IVs
on the respondents. The questionnaire also measured the respondents’ impression of the
credibility of the duty manager (Tsalikis et al., 1991), based on three underlying dimensions of
competence (7 items, Cronbach’s alpha = .92), social attractiveness (5 items, Cronbach’s alpha
= .83) and integrity (3 items, Cronbach’s alpha = .76). These latter three dimensions all used
five-point semantic differential scales (e.g. intelligent-not intelligent, friendly-unfriendly).
Repurchase intentions were captured by a 4 item five-point (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly
agree) Likert-type scale (Cronbach’s alpha = .90) adapted from Brady et al. (2002).
13
Although self-reported measures are subject to bias, emotions and acceptance of accents
are subjective, internal matters. There is no known objective external measure of these feelings
(Barrett, 2004) as such self-reporting is still widely used in studies of customer emotions (Laros
and Steenkamp, 2005; Lau-Gesk and Meyers-Levy, 2009; Peck and Wiggins, 2006). Further,
in order to reduce common method bias, items of the same constructs are separated in the
questionnaire and measured as different constructs. We also inverse structures for items,
ensured respondents’ anonymity, and pointed out in the cover letter the fact that there were
neither “right” nor “wrong” answers in order to minimize the risk of evaluation apprehension
(Podsakoff et al., 2003).
Table 2 and Table 3 about here
Analysis and Results
Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics for the variables used in our analysis. The correlations
clearly show that acceptance of accent did not correlate with either the impressions of the duty
manager nor the repurchase intentions, hence providing evidence of discriminant validity. Prior
to testing our hypotheses, a Harman’s one-factor test and confirmatory factor analysis
(confining all items to one factor) were conducted to ensure that common method variance
would not account for our findings. The items for all five variables were entered into an
exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal axis factoring, with varimax rotation, to
ascertain whether our items loaded onto common latent factors. Five factors with eigenvalues
greater than 1.0 emerged, accounting for 71.2% of the total variance. The largest factor did not
account for the majority of the variance (25.5%), thus no general factor is apparent. The factor
analysis was re-run this time constraining the factors extracted to one. The amount of variance
explained by this one factor was 25.7% therefore indicating that one factor does not account
for the majority of covariance among the variables. To further test for common method variance
14
a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The single-factor model did not fit the data well:
χ2 (5, N=245) = 35.179, p=.000; χ2/df = 7.036; RMSEA = .157; GFI = .942; CFI = .959;
SRMR= .0555. Therefore these results suggest that common method variance is not likely to
confound the interpretations of the results.
Table 4 about here
Hypothesis testing
Hypothesis 1a and 1b deal with the effects that service employee’s accent (H1a) and customers
affective state (H1b) have on the respondents’ perception of the service employee’s credibility.
To test these hypotheses we conducted a MANCOVA, using SPSS 19.0, to assess the effects
of service employee’s accent and the customer’s affective state on customers’ judgment of
service employee credibility. Three dimensions of credibility (competence, social
attractiveness and integrity) were set as dependent variables. The respondents pre-existing
emotions (those emotions felt prior to listening to the scenario) and respondent’s acceptance of
accent were included as covariates. Preliminary assumption tests were conducted and no
serious violations were found for normality, linearity, univariate and multivariate outliers,
homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices and multicollinearity. No significant main effects
were found for differences in service employee’s accent (F[3,232] = 1.28, p > .05) nor differences
customers’ affective state (F[3,232] = 0.51, p > .05) on the respondents’ judgment of service
employee credibility. Thus, H1a and H1b are not supported. There was however a multivariate
interaction effect on the respondents’ impression of service employee’s credibility due to
service employee’s accent x customer’s affective state (F[3,232] = 3.82, p < .05). The univariate
results show that this interaction had an effect on competency only (F= 4.40, p < .05). The
univatiate effects were not significant for the social attractiveness or integrity of the service
employee. Further investigation showed that there was no difference in the perceived
competency due to the service employee’s accent when the customers were in a positive
15
affective state. However when the respondents were in a negative affective state, they rated the
competency of the Indian accented service employee significantly lower than the Australian
accented service employee (F = 5.12, p < .05, M Indian = 2.80 v M Australian = 3.19).
For H2a and H2b we also conducted a MANCOVA, using SPSS 19.0. This time we
assessed the effects of service employee’s accent and service employee’s competency on
customer emotions. The six customer emotions (anger, fear, sadness, shame, happiness and
contentment) were set as dependent variables. The respondents pre-existing emotions (those
emotions felt prior to listening to the scenario) and respondent’s acceptance of accent were
again included as covariates. Preliminary assumption tests were conducted as before and again
no serious violations were found. Significant main effects were found for differences in service
employee’s competency (F[6,259] = 3.59, p < .005), but not for differences in service employee’s
accent (F[6,229] = 1.69, p = n.s.), on customer emotions. Thus, hypothesis H2b was supported
but hypothesis H2a was not. The interaction between service employee’s accent and service
employee’s competence produced a significant effect on customer emotions (F[6,225] = 2.74, p
< .05).
To further unpack these results, we examined mean scores for the influence of service
employee’s competency on each of the discrete emotions for both Indian and Australian
accented service employee. Table 5 illustrates that customer emotions are influenced differently
by the competency of service employees with different accents. For example, incompetent
service employees with an Australian accent are more likely to cause an increase the customers’
intensity of felt anger and decreases in contentment and happiness. These effects due to the
competency of the service employee are not seen when the customer interacts with an Indian
accented employee. Incompetent Indian accented service employees are more likely to evoke
customer emotions of fear and sadness.
Table 5 about here
16
Figure 1 graphically shows the interaction effects of competency x accent on the intensity
of customer emotions.
Figure 1 about here
Hypothesis H3a states that there will be a significant positive (negative) relationship
between the customer’s positive (negative) affective responses and his/her repurchase
intentions. Separate multiple regression analyses were conducted to estimate the relationships
between the customer-affect factors and repurchase intentions. The first of these regressed the
customer affect factors on the aggregate repurchase intention variable for the entire sample.
The results indicate that overall the customer affect factors predicted repurchase intentions (adj
R2 = .316, F = 19.78, p < .001). However, when the service employees accent was taken into
account (regression done on Indian and Australian accented service employees separately),
only happiness (β = 0.23, p < .05) and fear (β = -0.27, p < .05) were found to be significant
predictors of repurchase intentions when customers dealt with an Indian accented service
employee. When customers dealt with an Australian accented service employee the emotions
of contentment (β = 0.33, p < .05) and anger (β = -0.33, p < .05) became significant predictors
of repurchase. No other emotions were significant predictors of repurchase intentions.
Hypothesis H3a was supported but with different emotions influencing repurchase intentions
for each of the two different service employee’s accent.
Hypothesis H3b proposes that there will be a significant positive relationship between
customers judgment of service employee’s credibility and the customer’s repurchase
intentions. Again multiple regression analyses were conducted to estimate the relationships
between the customer-affect factors and repurchase intentions. The first of these regressed
respondents’ judgments of the service employee credibility on aggregate repurchase intentions
for the entire sample. The results of this regression indicate that overall customers’ judgment
of service employee credibility predicted repurchase intentions (adj R2 = .399, F = 54.98, p <
17
.001). Thus hypothesis H3b was supported. When the service employee’s accent was taken into
account, only competence of service employee (βIndian = 0.75, p < .001 and βAustralian = 0. 67, p
< .001) was found to be a significant predictor of repurchase intentions. Social attractiveness
of service employee and integrity of service employees were found not to predict repurchase
intentions.
Discussions
The results show that a service employee’s accent, on its own, has no effect on either customer’s
emotions or the customer’s judgments of service employee’s credibility. However the
interaction effects of the service employee’s accent and customer’s affective state have an effect
on customer’s judgment of service employee’s credibility. That is, on hearing a foreign accent,
customers who are already in a negative affective state are more likely to make biased
judgements of the service employee’s competence than those who approach the firm feeling
positive. This can be explained by the zone of tolerance concept in that customers have a
narrower zone of tolerance when they are in a negative affective state and consequently their
evaluation of the service employees are more likely to be influenced by a service employee’s
accent. Similarly, the interaction between a service employee’s accent and competency has an
effect on customer emotions. In particular, when the Australian accented service employee is
perceived as incompetent, there is a reduction in positive emotions (happy and content) while
the Indian service employee had no significant effect on positive emotions. When confronted
with an incompetent Indian service employee the levels of negative emotions increased (fear
and sadness) while the Australian service employee had no significant effect on negative
emotions. This suggests that customer may be fearful of not having the problem resolved when
they encounter an Indian service employee but do not experience the same feeling when dealing
with an Australian service employee.
Service employees competence and customers’ affective responses are both significant
18
indicators for customers’ future repurchase intention. However, different affective responses
and service employee attributes influence repurchase intentions when service employee’s
accents are taken into consideration. Overall, the customer’s affective responses predicted
repurchase intentions. This finding is consistent with previous research of customer emotions
and repurchase intentions based on the S-O-R model (for example, Yalch and Spangenberg,
2000; Gountas and Gountas, 2007). In more detail, happiness and fear were found to be
significant predictors of repurchase intentions when customers dealt with an Indian accented
service employee, but different emotions (contentment and anger) played an important role in
predicting repurchase intentions when customers dealt with an Australian accented service
employee. While a customer experiencing positive emotions is likely to repurchase the service
regardless of the accent of the service employee, this finding does show that an Australian
service employee only needs to generate the less intense positive emotion of contentment,
suggesting that customers are harsher with service employee with an accent. Of the three factors
explaining service employee credibility only competence was found to be a significant
predictor of repurchase intentions. While the effects of competence were significant for both
the Australian and Indian service employee the results showed a stronger effect for the Indian
accented service employee. Consistent with cultural congruency theory, customers see a service
employee with similar accent as someone who is similar to them culturally, and who can
understand them better which in turn inspires confidence and reduces perceived risk,
compensating for competency in the service encounter.
One interesting finding from this study was the further development of an acceptance of
accent scale. While the intent of original scale developed by Davis (2004) was to determine
perceptions of the acceptance of language characteristics it was never used as an aggregated
scale. Hence the ability to produce a single measure for ones acceptance of accent was never
tested. We found by subjecting the items to a combination of EFA and CFA that three
19
dimensions could be derived: assessment of accent, acceptance of accent and detection of
accent. The acceptance and detection dimensions were only captured by two items each
therefore we suggest that more work be done on developing the psychometric properties of this
scale.
Implications and limitations
Our findings reinforce previous research on ethnic stereotypes (Hekman et al., 2010) in the
context of service encounters. At a macro-level, the promotion of multiculturalism within a
wider community and society at large may help to overcome this stereotyping over a long
period of time. However, marketers and organisations also need to provide competent service
to break down these stereotypes and improve the acceptance of diversity at the customer
service employee interface.
Service firms should be aware of the potential influence on customer reactions that
employing frontline service staff with an accent has (Aron and Singh, 2005). If they are unable
to do this they risk alienating and losing customers through a perception of inferior service
provided. Overcoming this perception is crucial as it is not the quality of the outputs from the
actual service encounter that are called into question but the interaction and the ability to
manage pre-existing affective states (particularly a negative one) that appears to influence
customers’ reactions to service employees’ accents. As such, firms may need to develop
strategies to manage customer emotions and reactions to service employees with accents
different to the standard for that region. In the short run, it may be more practical for service
employees with an accent to develop good speech habits rather than changing an accent. For
example, working on volume control, hesitation, or enunciation which can help to facilitate
communication.
20
Further, interpersonal skills training can be used to teach accented service employees
to effectively adapt and cope with predicated negative first impressions. For example, role
playing and other interactive methods can be designed and used to develop skills and/or an
anticipatory mind set to overcome negative first impressions. It is also evident that developing
and displaying a better understanding of the customers pre-existing emotions is needed to
minimise the negative effect of service employees’ accent. Again, it is crucial for front line
employees to be able to identify the demeanour of customers and then to be able to use
appropriate scrips to allay customers’ fears or anxieties and to put them at ease before any
interaction occurs. This current study confirms the importance of recognising customers’
emotions in shaping how they perceive their service experience. More training in recognising
customers’ emotions (especially facial expressions) as well as cross-cultural training should be
undertaken as a way of reducing the customers’ perception that they are not being understood
(Watson and Spence, 2007). For example, ‘emotionprints” (Dasu and Chase, 2010, p. 35) can
be used to track customer emotions and to prescribe attitudes service employees should display
at key moments of service delivery.
This study takes the first step, by utilising an experimental design, to examine customers
reactions to service employees’ accents. While the findings indicate that accents are used as a
cue by customers to evaluate service employees, further research should also take service types,
service outcomes, customer-service employee relationships, customers’ ethnic affiliation and
ethnocentrism (Vida et al., 2008; Barker and Härtel, 2004) into consideration when examining
the effect of accents. Customers who have had a longer history with a company or a service
employee may be less affected by service employee’s accents. Search, experience and credence
service differ in the level of perceived customers’ risk (Mitra et al., 1999), therefore the
importance of cues, such as accent, as surrogates for risk assessment may also differ. Moreover,
21
future research should investigate whether a favourable service outcome is sufficient to
compensate for the negative effect of service employee’s accent.
22
References
Arnould, E.J. and Price, L.L. (1993), “River magic: Extraordinary experience and the
extended service encounter”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 24-45.
Aron, R. and Singh, J.V. (2005), "Getting offshoring right", Harvard Business Review, Vol.
83 No. 12, pp. 135-43.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2012), “Characteristics of recent migrants, Australia,
Nov 2010, available at:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6250.0~Nov+2010~Main+Features~
Overview?OpenDocument/ (accessed 01 February 2013).
Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M. and Nyer, P.U. (1999), “The role of emotions in marketing”,
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp.184206.
Barker, S. and Härtel, C.E.J. (2004), “Intercultural service encounters: An exploratory study
of customer experiences”, Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 3-14.
Bharadwaj, N. and Roggeveen, A.L. (2008), “The impact of offshored and outsourced call
service centres on customer appraisals”, Marketing Letters, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 13-23.
Bitner, M.J., Booms, B.H. and Tetreault, M.S. (1990), “The service encounter: Diagnosing
favorable and unfavorable incidents”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 71-84.
Bloch, B. and Starks, D. (1999), The many faces of English: Intra-language variation and its
implications for international business, Corporate Communications: An International
Journal, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 8088.
Bodenhausen, G.V., Kramer, G.P. and Susser, K. (1994), Happiness and stereotypic thinking
in social judgment”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 66 No. 4, pp.
621-32.
23
Bradford, K.D. and Weitz, B.A. (2009), “Salespersons' management of conflict in buyer-
seller relationships”, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Vol. 29 No. 1,
pp. 2542.
Brady, M.K., Cronin, J.J. and Brand, R.R. (2002), “Performance-only measurement of service
quality: A replication and extension”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 55 No. 1, pp.
17-31.
Braun-LaTour, K.A., Puccinelli, N.M. and Mast, F.W. (2007), “Mood, information
congruency, and overload”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60 No. 11, pp. 1109-
16.
Bresnahan, M.J., Ohashi, R., Nebashi, R., Liu, W.Y. and Shearman, S.M. (2002), “Attitudinal
and affective response toward accented English”, Language & Communication, Vol. 22
No. 2, pp. 171-85.
Cargile, A.C. (2000), “Evaluations of employment suitability: Does accent always matter?”
Journal of Employment Counseling, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp.165-177.
Casper, C., Rothermund, K. and Wentura, D. (2010), “Automatic stereotype activation is
context dependent”, Social Psychology, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 131-36.
Dasu, S. and Chase, R.B. (2010), “Designing the soft side of customer service”, MIT Sloan
Management Review, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 33-39.
Davis, B.D. (2006), “Student perceptions of the acceptance of communication diverseness”,
Journal of Education for Business, Vol. 82 No. 2, pp. 67-73.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship (2012), “Fact Sheet 2 – Key Facts about
Immigration”, available at: http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/02key.htm#3
(accessed 01 February 2013).
24
de Ruyter, K. and Wetzels, M.G.M. (2000), “The impact of perceived listening behavior in
voice-to-voice service encounters, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 276-
84.
Derwing, T.M. and Munro, M.J. (2009), “Putting accent in its place: Rethinking obstacles to
communication”, Language Teaching, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 476-90.
DeShields, O.W., Kara, A. and Kaynak, E. (1996), “Source effects in purchase decisions: The
physical attractiveness and accent of salesperson”, International Journal of Research in
Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 89-101.
DeShields, O.W. and de los Santos, G. (2000), “Salesperson’s accent as a globalization
issue”, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 29-46.
Dixon, J.A., Mahoney, B. and Cocks, R. (2002), “Accents of guilt? Effects of regional accent,
‘race’ and crime type on attributions of guilt”, Journal of Language and Social
Psychology, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 162-68.
Duncan, B.L. (1976), “Social perception and attribution of intergroup violence: Testing the
lower limits of stereotyping of blacks”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 59098.
Ford, T.E. and Stangor, C. (1992), “The role of diagnosticity in stereotype formation:
Perceiving group means and variances”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 63 No. 3, pp. 35667.
Fornell, C. and Larcker,D.F. (1981), “Evaluating structural equation models with unobserved
variables and measurement error”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp.
39-50.
Fuertes, J.N., Gottdiener, W.H., Martin, H., Gilbert, T.C. and Giles, H. (2012), “A meta-
analysis of the effects of speakers’ accents on interpersonal evaluations”, European
Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 12033.
25
Gallois, C. and Callan, V.J. (1981), Personality impressions elicited by accented English
speech”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 347-359.
Gallois, C. and Callan, V.J. (1989), “Attitudes to spoken Australian English: Judgements of
ingroup and ethnic outgroup speakers”, Australian Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 9 No. 1,
pp. 149-160.
Garcia-Marques, L. and Mackie D.M. (1999), The impact of stereotype-incongruent
information on perceived group variability and stereotype change, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 77 No. 5, pp. 979-90.
Gountas, J. and Gountas, S. (2007), “Personality orientations, emotional states, customer
satisfaction, and intention to repurchase”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60 No. 1,
pp. 7275.
Harris, L.C. (2013), “Service employees and customer phone rage: An empirical analysis”,
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47 No. 3/4, pp. 463-484.
Harrison-Walker, L.J. (1995), “The relative effects of national stereotype and advertising
information on the selection of a service employee: An empirical study”, Journal of
Services Marketing, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 47-59.
Hekman, D.R., Aquino, K., Owens, B., Mitchell, T., Schilpzand, P. and Leavitt, K. (2010),
“An examination of whether and how racial and gender biases influence customer
satisfaction, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 238-64.
Hennig-Thurau, T., Groth, M., Paul, M. and Gremler, D.D. (2006), “Are all smiles created
equal? How emotional contagion and emotional labor affect service relationships”,
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 70 No. 3, pp. 58-73.
Holmqvist, J. (2011), “Consumer language preferences in service encounters: A cross-cultural
perspective”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 178-91.
26
Hopkins, S.A., Hopkins, W.E. and Hoffman, K.D. (2005), “Domestic inter-cultural service
encounters: An integrated model”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 329
43.
Hosoda, M. and Stone-Romero, E. (2010), “The effects of foreign accents on employment-
related decisions”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 113-32.
Jain, N., Sethi, A. and Mukherji, S. (2009), “Impact of communication during service
encounters on customer's perception of organization image”, Paradigm, Vol. 13 No. 1,
pp. 56-65.
Jones, T., Taylor, S.F. and Bansal, H.S. (2008), “Commitment to a friend, a service
employee, or a service company—are they distinctions worth making?” Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 473-87.
Kim, Y.Y. and Bhawuk, D.P.S. (2008), “Globalization and diversity: Contributions from
intercultural research”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 32 No. 4,
pp. 301-04.
Kunda, Z. and Thagard, P. (1996), “Forming impressions from stereotypes, traits, and
behaviors: A parallel-constraint-satisfaction theory”, Psychological Review, Vol. 103
No. 2, pp. 284-308.
Laros, F.J.M. and Steenkamp, J-B.E.M. (2005), “Emotions in consumer behaviour: A
hierarchical approach”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 10, pp. 1437-45.
Lau-Gesk, L. and Meyers-Levy, J. (2009), Emotional persuasion: When the valence versus
the resource demands of emotions influence consumers' attitudes”, Journal of
Consumer Research, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 585-599.
Lev-Ari, S. and Keysar, B. (2010), “Why don’t we believe non-native speakers? The
influence of accent on credibility”, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 46
No. 6, pp. 1093-96.
27
Lippi-Green, R. (1997), English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in
the United States, Routledge, London and New York.
Mattila, A.S. and Enz, C.A. (2002) “The role of emotions in service encounters”, Journal of
Service Research, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 268-77.
Mattsson, J. and den Haring, M.J. (1998), Communication dynamics in the service
encounter: A linguistic study in a hotel conference department, International Journal
of Service Industry Management, Vol. 9 No. 5, pp. 416-35.
Mitra, K. and Webster, C. (1999), “The role of communication style and employee-customer
(dis)similarity”, American Marketing Association. Conference Proceedings; Vol. 9, pp.
158-64.
Mitra, K., Reiss, M.C. and Capella, L.M. (1999), An examination of perceived risk,
information search and behavioral intentions in search, experience and credence
services, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 208-28.
Morales, A.C., Scott, M.L. and Yorkson, E.A. (2012), “The role of accent standardness in
message preference and recall”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 41 No. 1, pp. 33-45.
Namkung, Y. and Jang, S.C. (2010), “Effects of perceived service fairness on emotions, and
behavioral intentions in restaurants”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 44 No. 9/10,
pp.1233-59.
Oliver, R.L. (1993), “Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response”,
Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 418-30.
Paswan, A.K. and Ganesh, G. (2005), “Cross-cultural interaction comfort and service
evaluation”, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 1/2, pp. 93-
115.
Peck, J. and Wiggins, J. (2006), “It just feels good: customers' affective response to touch and
its influence on persuasion”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 70 No. 4, pp. 56-69.
28
Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Lee, J.-Y. and Podsakoff, N.P. (2003), “Common method
biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended
remedies”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 879-903.
Price, L.L., Arnould, E.J. and Deibler, S.L. (1995), “Consumers' emotional responses to
service encounters: The influence of the service employee”, International Journal of
Service Industry Management, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 34-63.
Punch, L. (2004), The global back office: Beyond the hype”, Credit Card Management, Vol.
11, p. 26.
Putoni, S., de Langhe, B. and van Osselaer, S. (2009), “Bilingualism and the emotional
intensity of advertising language”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp.
1012-25.
Rakić, T., Steffens, M.C. and Mummendey, A. (2011), Blinded by the accent! The minor
role of looks in ethnic categorization, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 100 No. 1, pp. 16-29.
Rao Hill, S. and Tombs, A. (2011). “The effect of accent of service employees on customer
service evaluation”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 649-66.
Schwarz, N. and Clore, G.L. (1988), “How do I feel about it? Informative functions of
affective states”, in Fiedler, K. and Forgas, J. (Ed.), Affect, Cognition, and Social
Behavior, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Hogrefe International, pp. 4462.
Sharma, N. and Patterson, P.G. (1999), “The impact of communication effectiveness and
service quality on relationship commitment in consumer, professional services”,
Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 151-70.
Tajfel, H. (1978), “Social categorization, social identity and social comparison”, in Tajfel, H.
(Ed.), Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of
Intergroup Relations, London: Academic Press, pp. 61-76.
29
Tajfel, H. and Forgas, J. P. (1981), “Social categorization: Cognitions, values and groups”, in
Forgas, J.P. (Ed.), Social Cognition: Perspectives on Everyday Understanding, London:
Academic Press, pp. 113-40.
Thelen, S., Thelen, T., Magnini, V. and Honeycutt, E. (2008), “Elements of service
ethnocentrism”, Services Marketing Quarterly, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 1-17.
Thelen, S.T., Honeycutt, E.D. and Murphy, T.P. (2010), “Services offshoring: Does perceived
service quality affect country-of-service origin preference?”, Managing Service Quality,
Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 196-212.
Thelen, S.T. and Shapiro, T. (2012), Predicting negative consumer reactions to services
offshoring, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 18193.
Thelen, S.T., Yoo, B. and Magnini V.P. (2011), “An examination of consumer sentiment
toward offshored services”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 39, No.
2, pp. 270-289.
Tsalikis, J., DeShields, O.W. and LaTour, M.S. (1991), “The role of accent on the credibility
and effectiveness of the salesperson”, The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 31-41.
Vida, I., Dmitrovic, T. and Obadia, C. (2008), “The role of ethnic affiliation in consumer
ethnocentrism”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 42 No. 3/4, pp. 327-43.
Wang, Z., Arndt, A.D., Singh, S.N., Biernat, M. and Lui, F. (2013), “You lost me at hello”:
How and when accent-based biases are expressed and supressed”, International Journal
of Research in Marketing, Vol.30 No. 2, pp.185-196.
Warden, C.A., Liu, T.-C., Huang, C.-T. and Lee, C.-H. (2003), “Service failures away from
home: Benefits in intercultural service encounters”, International Journal of Service
Industry Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 43657.
30
Watson, L. and Spence, M.T. (2007), “Causes and consequences of emotions on consumer
behaviour: A review and integrative cognitive appraisal theory”, European Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 41, No. 5/6, pp. 487-511.
Weiss, H.M. and Cropanzano, R. (1996), “Affective events theory: A theoretical discussion
of the structures, causes and consequences of affective experiences at work”, in Staw,
B.M. and Cummings, L.L. (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, Greenwich,
CT: JAI Press, Vol. 18, pp. 1-74.
Westbrook, R.A. and Oliver, R.L. (1991), “The dimensionality of consumption emotion
patterns and consumer satisfaction”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 No.1, pp.
8491.
Yalch, R.F. and Spangenberg, E.R. (2000), The effects of music in a retail setting on real
and perceived shopping times”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 139-
47.
31
Table 1. Summary of empirical research on accent stereotyping
Articles
Context
Accent
Findings
Gallois and
Callan
(1981)
Not
specified
Australian / British
/ French / Greek /
Italian /
Vietnamese
Accented English speech has an effect upon
judgments of the speakers' personalities amongst
Australian audience.
Gallois and
Callan
(1989)
Not
Specified
Australian / Italian
Australian /
Hispanic
Ethnic accent is a sufficient cue to elicit ethnic
stereotypes.
DeShields et
al. (1996)
Advertising
American-English
/ Spanish
In advertisements, salespersons with a standard
accent or dialect were perceived more favourably
and created higher purchase intentions than
foreign-accented salespersons.
DeShields
and de los
Santos
(2000)
Sales-
people
American-English
/ Mexican-English
/ American-
Spanish /
Mexican-Spanish
American-English accented salesperson is the most
influential on consumer purchase intentions in the
US. However, both a Mexican-Spanish and an
American-English-Spanish accented salesperson
had a similar impact in Mexico.
Cargile
(2000)
Job
interviews
American English/
Mandarin Chinese
In inconsistent with previous studies, it was found
that individuals with nonstandard accents are not
discriminated against. They are not found to be
judged less suitable for high-status jobs and more
suitable for low-status jobs.
Lev-Ari and
Keysar
(2010)
Not
specified
American English
/ Mild foreign
accent / Heavy
foreign accent
Accented speakers were perceived as less credible,
even when racial prejudice did not play a role.
Rao Hill and
Tombs
(2011)
Services
Australian /
Various
Australian customers reported negative and
discriminatory responses on hearing the accent of
Indian and Filipino service workers in call centres.
Fuertes et al.
(2012)
Various
Various
A meta-analysis of 20 studies underscores the
finding that speakers' accents have powerful effects
on how others perceive them.
Morales et
al.(2012)
Advertising
British English /
Southern
American English
An accent dissimilar to the buyer tends to hinder the
effectiveness of salespeople.
Wang et al.
(2013)
Call
centres
Std American /
Indian
Std American /
Non-western
Customers rate employees with an accent receiving
a negative bias lower only when a service outcome
is unfavourable for customers.
32
Table 2: Discriminant validly assessment for Acceptance of Accent
Variable
Mean
SD
Assess
Accept
Detect
1. Assessment of Accent
2.64
(.89)
0.69
0.204
0.032
2. Acceptance of Accent
3.30
(1.04)
0.68
0.000
3. Detection of Accent
2.60
(.87)
0.44
Diagonal is AVE.
Upper triangular matrix is correlation between constructs squared, therefore there is discriminant validity
(correlation squared is LESS than AVE)
Table 3: Factor Loadings for Revised Acceptance of Accent scale
Factor Loadings
Assessment of Accent
(α =.94)
I listen to language, speech and accent patterns to help assess the…
1. Helpfulness of a service provider.
0.890
2. Credibility of a service provider.
0.905
3. Competence of a service provider.
0.876
4. Professionalism of a service provider
0.855
5. Cheerfulness of a service provider.
0.776
6. Dependability of a service provider.
0.787
7. Honesty of a service provider.
0.713
Acceptance of Accent
(r =.62)
When interacting with service providers or customer service staff…
8. I believe that their accent will have an effect on my receptiveness to them.
0.871
9. I am more receptive to someone without a foreign accent.
0.780
Detection of Accent
(r =.37)
I can detect different accents in the language…
10. used in newspapers, books, etc.
0.696
11. used in entertainment (movies TV etc)
0.621
33
Table 4. Descriptive statistics and correlations
Variable
Mean
SD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1 Competence of Duty Manager
3.01
(.93)
(α=.92)
2 Social Attractiveness of Duty Manager
3.16
(.82)
.822***
(α=.83)
3 Integrity of Duty Manager
3.19
(.91)
.833***
.814***
(α=.76)
4 Assessment of Accent
2.64
(.89)
.084
.070
.033
(α=.94)
5 Acceptance of Accent
3.30
(1.04)
-.019
.022
-.007
-.361***
(r=.62)
6 Detection of Accent
2.60
(.87)
-.059
-.160**
-.136*
.142**
-.016
(r=.37)
7 Repurchase Intentions
2.39
(.99)
.635***
.522***
.502***
.232**
-.159**
-.002
(α=.90)
Note. Internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach α) are shown in parentheses on the diagonal. r = Pearson
correlation for two item dimensions.
*** p < 0.001 ** p < 0.05
Table 5. Influence of Accent and Competency on Customer emotions
Indian Service Provider
Australian Service Provider
Competent
Incompetent
Competent
Incompetent
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
F
Mean (SD)
Mean (SD)
F
Anger
2.65 (.19)
3.06 (.19)
2.92
2.68 (.17)
3.53 (.17)
11.30***
Fear
1.16 (.18)
2.06 (.18)
12.76***
1.39 (.17)
1.54 (.17)
0.36
Shame
0.84 (.14)
1.13 (.14)
2.21
1.34 (.16)
1.11 (.16)
1.03
Sadness
1.63 (.18)
2.17 (.18)
4.44**
2.10 (.19)
1.97 (.19)
0.22
Happiness
1.43 (.19)
1.53 (.19)
0.14
1.89 (.19)
1.22 (.19)
6.17**
Contentment
1.40 (.18)
1.74 (.18)
1.60
1.97 (.17)
1.14 (.17)
11.87***
*** p < 0.001 ** p < 0.05
34
Figure 1. Effects of accent x competency on customer emotions
... The repercussions of language barriers extend to influencing perceptions of competence and trustworthiness. Research by Hideg et al. (2022) highlights the adverse outcomes that individuals with nonnative accents experience in the workplace like lower levels of recommendations regarding hiring (e.g., Deprez-Sims & Morris, 2010), reduced sales in terms of customer intention to purchase or receive a service (Tombs & Rao Hill, 2014), and lower perceptions of competence and trust among managers and team members (Tenzer et al., 2014). Nonnative speakers are commonly stereotyped as less competent and intelligent (Hideg et al., 2022). ...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives: Previous research has investigated cultural stress and well-being among individuals such as Hispanic college students and immigrants from other countries. However, there is a need to explore the impact of cultural stress among immigrants with a focus on the workforce. Method: Drawing from cultural stress theory, we present a theoretical framework that considers workplace context while exploring strategies that may mitigate the impact of cultural stress in the workplace, such as promoting diversity and inclusion, addressing biases and discrimination, and supporting employee mental health. Result: We provide actionable steps that can guide leaders to work toward a workplace where individuals develop a sense of belonging. Conclusion: This article provides a novel perspective on workplace diversity and inclusion that emphasizes the importance of considering cultural context in understanding and addressing workplace stress, with implications for psychology in the workplace.
... exclusion. In the literature, language variations or style is primarily discussed with regard to its influences on native listeners when they interact with nonnative speakers (DeShields & Santos, 2000;Rao Hill & Tombs, 2011) and its psychological impact on the native speakers (Tombs & Rao Hill, 2014). Therefore, this study adds to the literature by examining the phenomenon from a nonnative speaker's (customer's) ...
Article
Full-text available
Language is crucial for successful service exchange, yet it can also become a source of chronic social exclusion for nonnative speakers in the host country. This research examines how language‐based chronic social exclusion affects nonnative consumers' experiences and consequently, their tipping behavior. The results from a survey with 355 nonnative speakers in the USA and 355 nonnative speakers in the UK, along with a field study, reveal that these customers feel threatened in terms of their relational and efficacy needs, influencing their desire to restore their self‐image. This, in turn, positively influences their tipping behavior. This study is the first to empirically explore language‐based chronic social exclusion and its psychological and behavioral effects from the speakers' (nonnative customers') perspective in a service exchange setting. It highlights the importance of inclusive practices and policies to support socially excluded customers based on their language.
... Our findings thus warn that the negative effects of foreign accents might have been overstated or overgeneralized in extant accent literature. Despite research suggesting a hierarchy of preferences among different accents (Hosoda and Stone-Romero 2010), most previous studies were conducted in English-speaking countries and/or contrasted local accents with stigmatized accents such as Filipino (Roggeveen, Bharadwaj, and Hoyer 2007), Indian (Boussebaa, Sinha, and Gabriel 2014;Tombs and Rao Hill 2014), or Polish and Turkish (Walsh et al. 2012), rather than with less discriminated accents such as Scandinavian, Dutch, German, Italian, or French. This implies that a wider range of accents and cultural contexts (i.e., non-English speaking countries) must be included in future accent studies. ...
Article
Full-text available
The increase of immigrant employees in services has made intercultural service encounters a commonplace phenomenon. In these encounters, customers frequently use service employees' accent to infer their ethnic background, often eliciting cultural stereotypes. However, it is still unknown how accent-based stereotyping impacts customer participation (CP), that is, the degree to which customers engage in the service process by contributing effort, knowledge, and information to improve their service experience. Addressing this question in four experimental studies (N = 1,027), we find that (1) customers contribute less to the service encounter voluntarily when the employee has an unfavorable foreign (compared to a local) accent, (2) the negative effects of unfavorable accents on voluntary CP are stronger than the positive effects of favorable ones, (3) accent-based employee stereotypes (superiority, attractiveness, dynamism) mediate the impact of accents on CP, (4) unfavorable accents impede even participatory tasks mandatory for service completion, and (5) accent effects on CP are dampened for customers with a high need for interaction and can be managerially neutralized through self-service options that offer customers higher control over the service delivery. Our findings inform staffing and training decisions for frontline service roles commonly undertaken by immigrants and assist the design of intercultural service delivery systems.
... In addition, we were also able to find the problem-solving theme. For instance, some try to improve their communication skills rather than blaming other external factor, as suggested by Hill and Tombs, 2011) and found to result in some psychological responses (Tombs and Rao Hill, 2014). This study adds to this somewhat sparse literature by exploring how the non-native speakers take the language-related stigma as a strong social identity cue, especially in the era where they find widespread discrimination around them. ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose – Language plays an important role in a successful service exchange, but it can become a source of discrimination if one party is a non-native speaker in the host country. This study examines the linguistic racism that non-native customers experience in Inter Culture Service Encounters (ICSEs) and delve into factors that contribute to the underlying psychological responses and the behavioral outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – A phenomenological approach was used where 16 individuals were interviewed to discover themes through non-native customers' lens using an inductive process. Next, the emerged categories were classified based on extant literature, using a deductive approach. Findings – The findings highlight the role of language varieties as a strong social identity cue for non-native customers where the associated stigma makes them see ICSE as a stereotype threat. Most importantly, these experiences shape their future behavior by avoiding direct interactions with the servers and adopting other service channels. Several ‘social others’ influence this process. Originality/value – This study explores the notion of linguistic racism in an ICSE from a non-native consumers’ lens and thus adds to this under-researched literature. Using a phenomenological approach, we propose a framework focusing on the perception of language-related stigma and discrimination experienced by non-native consumers along with possible behavioral responses.
Article
Ovaj rad pruža opsežan pregled studija o efektu podrijetla usluga, bilo da se radi o empirijskim istraživanjima ili drugim vrstama radova. Kada je riječ o proučavanju efekta podrijetla proizvoda i usluga općenito, radovi fokusirani na proizvode u velikoj mjeri premašuju one fokusirane na usluge, što uključuje i preglede literature. Zbog toga, ali i činjenice da današnje globalizirano tržište podrazumijeva razmjenu te slobodan protok ne samo proizvoda već i usluga iz cijelog svijeta, cilj ovog rada bio je pružiti detaljan uvid u efekte podrijetla usluga. Analizom studija o efektu podrijetla proizvoda i usluga identificirana su 104 rada koja proučavaju efekt podrijetla usluge, na temelju kojih su predstavljene preporuke za buduća istraživanja.
Article
Purpose Language and dialect, customs and service attitudes are just a few of the characteristics that make each culture unique. Consequently, the presence of people from different cultures during a service encounter may impact service quality, as what constitutes good service quality is perceived differently across cultures. As a country with a multicultural society, culturally diverse migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) play an increasingly important role in the Australian hospitality and accommodation sector. Within this regional context, this study aims to contribute to a more robust understanding of the influence of workforce cultural diversity on different aspects of front-desk accommodation service quality in the accommodation industry. Design/methodology/approach In this qualitative study, 31 semi-structured in-depth interviews with guests, front-desk staff and managers at service apartments in Western Australia were conducted, followed by validation interviews with five hospitality human resource management experts. Findings The results of the interviews suggest that cultural diversity of NESB staff affects several aspects of Australian accommodation front-desk services, including communication quality, staff-guest interaction and guest satisfaction. Findings point out that culturally diverse NESB front-desk staff may face cross-cultural communication barriers due to different foreign accents and the presence of local slang, improve guest-staff interaction and the overall guest experience in case of similar cultural backgrounds with guests and provide authentic representations of multiculturalism in Australia. Originality/value The study sheds new light on tourists’ shifting perceptions and expectations of authenticity, particularly in Australia, where cultural diversity has increased in prominence. Moreover, in the Australian accommodation service, many NESB employees who have learned American/British English have difficulty conversing with people with Australian accents, especially when Australian slang is also present.
Article
Full-text available
This study shows that most customers are frustrated because of the unintelligible communication they usually have with Immigrants Customer Service Relations (ICSRs). Customers’ experience worsens when they find it difficult to understand the customer representatives they are communicating with because their accents make them unintelligible, causing communication breakdown. This study adopted the qualitative research approach. Frame Analysis (FA) and Discursive Social Psychological (DSP) methods were used to analyze Reddit online forum users’ responses to a peer’s question posed on the forum. It found that accents play a significant role in why some customers, using American customers as cases, are rude to ICSRs. Aside from this, it also found that other factors, such as the organizations’ systems—long wait times to access CSRs, network connection failures, inexperienced CSRs, and acts of racism affect customer experience.
Article
Full-text available
Purpose – While language is vital for a successful service exchange, it can also become a source of vulnerability if one party is a non-native speaker in an Inter-Culture Service Encounter (ICSE). Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between language-related stigma that non-native customers perceive in an ICSE, and the associated psychological and behavioral responses. Design/methodology/approach – A survey and an experimental study were used to collect data from non-native speakers in the USA with English as their second language. Structural Equation Modeling procedure was used to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings – The findings suggest that the customers who perceive language-related stigmatization in an ICSE context experience intergroup anxiety and a lack of social belonging. In turn, intergroup anxiety influences their interaction comfort with the service provider. In the end, these experiences shape their future buying behavior, i.e., they tend to avoid direct interactions with the servers and prefer smart services. Originality –This study is the first to empirically examine the language-related stigmatization and associated psychological and behavioral responses from the non-native customers’ perspective in the services exchange setting. Research limitations/implications – Future research is needed to explore the focal phenomenon in other service contexts and cultures to enrich knowledge on language vulnerabilities. Practical implications – The study highlights the importance of technology, not just from a convenience perspective, but also as an accommodation mechanism for linguistically vulnerable customers. Keywords – Vulnerable Consumers, Stereotype Threat, Smart Services, Stigma
Article
Purpose The purpose of this study is to further our understanding of the effects of service employees’ accents on service outcomes and to investigate the boundary conditions of service type, service criticality and accent-service congruence. Design/methodology/approach This study reports on three scenario-based experiments with between-subject designs to assess customer reactions to service employees with nonstandard accents. Findings The findings revealed that the three service-related extraneous factors investigated in this study influence the direction and strength of accent’s impact. Service employees’ nonstandard accents generally negatively influence customers’ satisfaction with a service provider and purchase intentions. This effect is stronger for credence services than for experience services. While customer satisfaction with the service encounter tends to stay the same regardless of service criticality, they have less purchase intention in high service criticality situations when they deal with service employee with a nonstandard accent. Accent-service congruence enhances both satisfaction and purchase intention. Research limitations/implications This study makes contributions to the accent in service interaction literature by enabling the authors to have a more complete understanding of how accent effects drive customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Future studies can take customer-related factors such as customer-service employee relationships, customers’ ethnic affiliation and ethnocentrism into consideration when examining the effects of accent in service interactions. Practical implications Service managers need to be aware when nonstandard accents’ negative effects will elevate – credence service and service with higher criticality are better provided by service employee with a standard accent. A nonstandard accent that matches the service improves customer satisfaction and purchase intention and could be used to its advantage. Originality/value This study contributes to the service literature about service employees’ interaction with customers and is particularly relevant in multicultural societies with increasingly diverse workforces.
Article
Full-text available
In this study, the authors examine the effects of two facets of employee emotions on customers’ assessments of service encounters. Drawing on emotional contagion and emotional labor theories, they investigate the influence of the extent of service employees’ display of positive emotions and the authenticity of their emotional labor display on customers’ emotional states and, subsequently, on customers’ assessments of the service interaction and their relationship with the service provider. To test the study hypotheses, 223 consumers participated in a simulated service encounter in which actors played the roles of service employees. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, the employees varied both the extent of their smiling behavior and their emotional labor display by engaging in surface or deep acting. The results show that the authenticity of employees’ emotional labor display directly affects customers’ emotional states. However, contrary to expectations, the extent of employee smiling does not influence customer emotions, providing no support for the existence of primitive emotional contagion in service interactions. Furthermore, employee emotions exert an influence on customer outcomes that are of interest to marketers.
Article
Full-text available
A growing body of consumer research studies emotions evoked by marketing stimuli, products and brands. Yet, there has been a wide divergence in the content and structure of emotions used in these studies. In this paper, we will show that the seemingly diverging research streams can be integrated in a hierarchical consumer emotions model. The superordinate level consists of the frequently encountered general dimensions positive and negative affect. The subordinate level consists of specific emotions, based on Richins' (Richins, Marsha L. Measuring Emotions in the Consumption Experience. J. Consum. Res. 24 (2) (1997) 127–146) Consumption Emotion Set (CES), and as an intermediate level, we propose four negative and four positive basic emotions. We successfully conducted a preliminary test of this second-order model, and compare the superordinate and basic level emotion means for different types of food. The results suggest that basic emotions provide more information about the feelings of the consumer over and above positive and negative affect. D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Article
Full-text available
This research examines the impact of spokesperson accents used in persuasive communications on consumer evaluations of and memory for products and services. Leveraging the construct of accent standardness (i.e., perceived accent prestige and "correctness"), in four experiments, listeners demonstrate their overall preferences by giving higher ratings to products advertised using less-familiar, more-standard accents (e.g., British) relative to more-familiar, less-standard accents (e.g., American Southern). However, consumer preferences for standard accents do not positively impact their memory; standard accents actually lower brand recall. Thus, when choosing a spokesperson's accent, there is a trade-off: increasing brand preference by using a standard accent or improving memory by using a more familiar, nonstandard accent.
Article
The service encounter frequently is the service from the customer's point of view. Using the critical incident method, the authors collected 700 incidents from customers of airlines, hotels, and restaurants. The incidents were categorized to isolate the particular events and related behaviors of contact employees that cause customers to distinguish very satisfactory service encounters from very dissatisfactory ones. Key implications for managers and researchers are highlighted.
Article
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Article
Communication is an interactive process for building a relationship between the organization and the customer. Effective communication during service encounters has a definite impact on customer’s perception of the organization. This qualitative study attempts to explore how the customer’s perception of the organization image is impacted by the way the service engineer communicates with the customer during a service interaction and the receptionist’s manner of lodging a complaint at the call centre. There has been considerable research on the impact of service quality on consumer perception leading to loyalty towards an organization. However, not much material was found on the impact of verbal and non-verbal communication on service quality. The study was carried out in organizations providing cooling solutions to both individual as well as institutional customers. Telephonic interviews were conducted with both these types of customers. To reinforce the veracity of the conclusions drawn from the first set of interviews, a second round of telephonic interviews were also conducted with customers of two other multinational companies dealing with the same product. An interesting revelation of the study was that most organizations did not revert to the customer for feedback once the complaint was attended to. A follow-up call after the service encounter would certainly enhance the image of the company in the eyes of the customers. It would not only show the organization’s commitment to quality but also increase customer loyalty through relationship building.
Article
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.