مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

The importance of language in marketing communications as well as in service encounters is acknowledged in the literature (Holmqvist & Grönroos, 2012; Van Vaerenbergh & Holmqvist, 2014). Choosing the right language and the most effective terms has always been the main concerns of strategic planners. Given the prominent relationship between advertising and services (Turley & Kelley, 1997), and the essential role of language in services, to investigate the use of words in advertising and service encounters is of great importance. Suggett (2014) reports the 10 most powerful words that could boost advertising return on investment. Although these powerful words may work well in general, companies usually ignore the interactive aspects of communications between a company and its consumers in advertising practices, and fail to design their strategies in a customer-centric view (Holmqvist, Van Vaerenbergh, & Grönroos, 2014; Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Also language is a prominent element in this interaction (Holmqvist, Guest, & Grönroos, 2015). Not only should the linguistic symbols used by native speakers be studied, but also the relevant word categories. For example, all the 10 powerful words reported by Suggett (2014) fall into either the adjective (e.g., new), verb (e.g., discover), or noun (e.g., results) categories. Speaking the consumers’ language facilitates the communications between a company and its consumers (Holmqvist & Grönroos, 2012); consequently, this impacts consumers’ purchase decisions and post-purchase behaviors (Holmqvist et al., 2015). However, to speak the right language and to choose the right words are never easy; thus this topic is worthy of further investigation. A consumer’s evaluation of a good or a service can be influenced by many factors, but culture has been researched on various aspects (Laroche, Toffoli, Zhang, & Pons, 2001; Mazaheri, Richard, & Laroche, 2011). A typical culture can influence an individuals’ judgment through specific regulations and norms. Among all the cultural elements, language is a factor that should not be neglected (Semin, 2012), inasmuch as the right language and words can smooth the consumption experience, and even save a company from service failure (Van Vaerenbergh & Holmqvist, 2014). Previous research focused on the language phonetical, structural, lexical and other related attributes, and reported the attributes’ effect on cognitive processes, emotional reactions, and so on (Tavassoli, 1999; Tavassoli & Han, 2001; Tavassoli & Lee, 2003).

In modern societies, people travel and migrate more frequently. To hear people speak a language other than their mother tongue is not rare. Given this trend, linguists have investigated the second language acquisition and learning processes, the differences between the first and the second languages, and even the impact of the language differences on individual behavior in a marketing context (Laroche et al., 2001; Zhang & Schmitt, 2004). Scholars find that the different languages used in advertising would prime people with different cultures. This impact of language makes people respond differently to the Chinese version of a questionnaire compared to the English one (Toffoli & Laroche, 2002). Sometimes, people from different cultures use different word categories to describe the same object. In Maass, Karasawa, Politi, and Suga (2006) study, when participants are asked to describe their close persons (i.e. their families and friends), Italians are more likely to use adjectives whereas Japanese are more prone to using verbs. In accordance with the construal level theory (Maass et al., 2006), individuals with different cultural backgrounds have distinctive preferences in language use. For instance, individuals have different perceptions of the psychological distance from the exposure of different languages in service settings (Holmqvist et al., 2015). Forming language in line with customers’ preferences (e.g. their native language) can reduce the psychological distance and perceived risk toward the company, and even create value (Holmqvist & Grönroos, 2012; Holmqvist et al., 2014, 2015). In addition, consumers may be emotionally attached to the service language in service encounters if the consumers’ desired languages are spoken (Holmqvist, 2011). Knowing that language is important, more questions arise: Do marketers interpret consumers’ preferences correctly and use their desired languages and words? Are the findings from interpersonal descriptions applicable to non-interpersonal contexts? Will the same results be obtained in the service domain? How companies’ language strategies respond to bilingual or multilingual consumers? These questions relate to the call for research on language in service encounters (Grönroos & Voima, 2013; Holmqvist & Grönroos, 2012; Holmqvist et al., 2014).

To be specific, this article focuses on the language preferences of bilinguals who speak both English (alphabetic) and Chinese (ideographic) (Schmitt, Pan, & Tavassoli, 1994). Being as two representative languages from alphabetic and ideographic systems, as well as being distinctive and essential in marketing, English and Chinese are two typical languages to investigate (Francis, Lam, & Walls, 2002; Schmitt et al., 1994). This article aims to find out: 1) if bilinguals (i.e. speaking both English and Chinese) use more adjectives to describe a product when responding in English, but use more verbs when responding in Chinese; 2) if an advertisement or a service encounter using Chinese (English) is perceived as more favorable when composed with verbs (adjectives); and 3) how consumers react to nouns given their powerful role in marketing