Language as a cultural vessel in online servicescapes: Its impact on consumers' perceived risk, attitudes, and behavioural intentions

Abstract

Globalisation and the broader use of the Internet have led both academia and professionals to dedicate a great deal of attention to the analysis of the cultural differences that exist within a market and between different markets. Language emerges as a relevant issue in current marketing and communication management environments, especially in online servicescape. Following this premise, the current paper examines the role of language as a vessel of cultural values, namely, individualism and uncertainty avoidance, and its impact on consumer's perceived risk, attitudes, and behavioural intentions in online servicescape. To address this objective, an experimental design was performed. The sample comprised 491 Internet users from 2 different national cultures (British and Spanish). Users were asked to browse an experimental website in their native or first language, whereas the other half of the sample browsed in their second language (British subjects browsing in Spanish and vice versa). The unique contribution of this study lies in demonstrating that online information processing is moderated by the language by which users elaborate information and their cultural values in terms of the dimensions of individualism and uncertainty avoidance. The findings provide valuable insights into the role of language in international marketing strategies, as well as in multicultural and cross‐cultural integrated marketing communications. In this regard, marketers must acknowledge the symbolic cues of language and the competitive advantage that might derive from a strategic language choice to evoke emotions and forge attitudes that are consistent with brand and corporate values.

The perception of e-servicescape and its influence on perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty

“…the level of shop personalisation, online path finding assistance, environment atmospherics, and manner of product presentation), etc. Although the language was not taken into consideration in this study, its importance as a moderating effect in online servicescapes has been proven (Alcántara-Pilar et al, 2017) and future research could investigate the impact of language on e-servicescape perception. The construct of perceived e-shopping value could be analysed from additional content on the internet, such as social networks or forums.…”

How language affects consumers' processing of numerical cues

“…This research contributes to the growing literatures on psycholinguistics, numerical processing, ABNs, and numerosity (Table 1) by providing a unique psycholinguistic angle that combines two research streams: the effect of language on consumer behavior (Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Crespo, & Porcu, 2017; Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Porcu, & Crespo‐Almendros, 2017; Li & Kalyanaraman, 2012) and numerical processing (Colome et al, 2010; Pandelaere et al, 2011; Pica et al, 2004). We provide evidence for the effect of language on tasks related to making numerical comparisons and demonstrate an implication of this effect in the context of comparative ABN evaluations.…”

“…Our research provides important theoretical and managerial contributions to the growing literatures on (a) the effect of language on consumer behavior and branding (Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Crespo, & Porcu, 2017; Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Porcu, & Crespo‐Almendros, 2017; Klink, 2000; LeClerc, Schmitt, & Dubé, 1994; Li & Kalyanaraman, 2012), (b) numerical processing and numerosity (Pandelaere et al, 2011), and (c) ABNs (Gunasti & Ozcan, 2016; Kara, Gunasti, & Ross Jr., 2015). Previous research has documented the effects of language on consumer behavior, such as online information processing, evaluations of advertisements (Li & Kalyanaraman, 2012), purchase intentions (Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Crespo, & Porcu, 2017; Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Porcu, & Crespo‐Almendros, 2017), and numerical processing (Colome, Laka, & Sebastian‐Galles, 2010; Pica, Lemer, Izard, & Dehaene, 2004). Our examination integrates these two research streams on language and numerical processing and provides a unique angle by documenting the effect of linguistic numeral structures on consumers' evaluations of numerical information in the context of a product's brand names, prices, and attributes.…”

“…(De Cruz, 2009, p. 327), and argue that the scope of the hypothesis is too broad (Hardin & Banaji, 1993). Instead, they propose that language affects cognition in more limited ways (Hunt & Agnoli, 1991), such as numerical cognition (Colome et al, 2010; Pica et al, 2004), online information processing (Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Crespo, & Porcu, 2017; Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Porcu, & Crespo‐Almendros, 2017), and purchase intentions (Li & Kalyanaraman, 2012). The majority of the extant literature has approached the effects of language from two perspectives: sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics (Carnevale, Luna, & Lerman, 2017).…”

“…The majority of the extant literature has approached the effects of language from two perspectives: sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics (Carnevale, Luna, & Lerman, 2017). Sociolinguistics investigates how language influences collective (e.g., societal) and individual relational dynamics by focusing on the effect of linguistic variables/structures in relation to culture and other social factors, while psycholinguistics investigates how individuals process language by focusing on the effect of linguistic variables/structures on how the mind works in relation to memory, information processing, and knowledge (Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Crespo, & Porcu, 2017; Alcántara‐Pilar, Del Barrio‐García, Porcu, & Crespo‐Almendros, 2017).…”