Title

"You Lost Me at Hello": How and when accent-based biases are expressed and suppressed

Authors

Authors

Z. Wang; A. D. Arndt; S. N. Singh; M. Biernat;F. Liu

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Int. J. Res. Mark.

Keywords

Employee accent; Call service; Justification-suppression model; BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS; CUSTOMER SATISFACTION; ENGLISH SPEAKERS; SERVICE; MEDIATION; LINE; COMMUNICATION; STEREOTYPES; DECISIONS; PREJUDICE; Business

Abstract

This research examines customer biases relating to employee accents in call service encounters. Extant research and practitioners generally assume that customers automatically evaluate call service employees with a nonstandard accent lower than employees with a standard accent. However, using the justification-suppression model as a framework, we argue that customers frequently suppress accent biases toward call service employees. We conduct three empirical studies, and our findings indicate that customers rate employees with an accent receiving a negative bias lower only when a service outcome is unfavorable for customers. In contrast, accents receiving a positive bias only impact customer evaluations when service outcomes are favorable for customers. Additionally, we demonstrate that the suppression and justification of accent biases rely on both cognitive and affective mechanisms. Finally, we show that customers who are informed of the frequency of a favorable vs. unfavorable outcome are more likely to suppress biases. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Journal Title

International Journal of Research in Marketing

Volume

30

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

185

Last Page

196

WOS Identifier

WOS:000318263600009

ISSN

0167-8116

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