International Journal of

Research in
;II
ELSEVIER Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
Marketing

Source effects in purchase decisions: The impact of physical

attractiveness and accent of salesperson
Oscar W. DeShields J r . a.*, A l i K a r a b, E r d e n e r Kaynak c
a Department of Marketing, School of Business Administration and Economics, California State UnitJersity, Northridge, 18111
Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330-8245, USA
b College of BusinessAdministration, Pennsylvania State University at York, York, PA 17403, USA
c School of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, Middletown, PA 17057, USA
Received 15 November 1994; accepted 15 September 1995

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the impact of salesperson physical attractiveness and accent on receiver
purchase intentions. Twenty-four broadcast commercials were produced by manipulating attractiveness and accent
factors. Participating in the study were 963 subjects who evaluated the product/service being advertised. Consistent
with the argument that if receivers behave according to the physical attractiveness stereotype, they should perceive
attractive salespersons more favorably and respond to their sales pitches more readily than they do to unattractive
salespersons, purchase intentions were more favorably influenced by attractive salespersons' message. Also, study
findings indicate that salespersons with a standard accent or dialect were perceived more favorably and created
higher purchase intentions than foreign-accented salespersons. Implications for advertising and personal selling are
discussed.

Keywords: Salesperson accent; Physical attractiveness; Categorization theory; Personal selling; Communication
effectiveness

I. Introduction receiver perception of the sender's physical ap-

pearance. Also, several studies have reported that
Marketing and social psychology literature re-
sender accent is an additional factor or moderat-
peatedly note that receiver perception of the
ing variable influencing receiver message ap-
sender influences message effectiveness (Alpert
proval (Bradac and Wisegarver, 1984; Foon, 1986;
and Anderson, 1973; Reingen and Kernan, 1994).
Tsalikis et al., 1991).
Kelman (1961) argued that sender attractiveness
However, findings and conclusions of the dif-
is an important dimension influencing receiver
ferent researchers mentioned above are inconsis-
approval of a message. Empirical studies demon-
tent. Reingen and Kernan (1994) reported that
strate a 'what is beautiful is good' halo effect in
more favorable selling skills are attributed to
highly attractive salespersons; buyers treat osten-
* Tel.: (818) 885-2458; fax: (818) 885-4903. sibly attractive sellers more cordially, and attrac-

0167-8116/96/$15.00 © 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

SSDI 0167-81 16(95)00036-4
90 o.w. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
tive persons get more donations when soliciting
for charitable organizations. In addition, attrac-
tive people are better liked and are assumed to
be more sociable, independent, and exciting
(Bringham, 1980; Patzer, 1983; Patzer, 1985),
while less attractive people are assumed to be
deviant and are often stigmatized (Jones et al.,
1978; Unger et al., 1982). Wilson and Sherrell
(1993), on the other hand, reported that respon-
dent attitude change is not related to the attrac-
tiveness of the speaker.
Tsalikis et al. (1991) reported that an Ameri-
can salesperson with a standard American-En-
glish accent has an advantage over a Greek-
American salesperson with a Greek-English ac-
cent when addressing an English-speaking audi-
ence. They also showed that there was no signifi-
cant interaction between respondent exposure to
an accent and the respondent evaluation of the
accent. Tsalikis et al. (1992) found that a sales
pitch presented in standard accent evokes more
favorable judgements on all measured dimensions
than the same sales pitch presented in foreign
accent.
Tajfel's (Tajfel, 1981) categorization theory can
be utilized to shed light on this topic. Tajfel's
(1981) social categorization, social identity, and
social comparison theory is a category-based
model explaining how the receiver decodes or
evaluates the spokesperson. According to the the-
ory, the receiver first evaluates the spokesperson
along the dimensions of attractiveness and ac-
cent. Next, the receiver identifies himself or her-
self with the spokesperson along those catego-
rized dimensions. Finally, these categories form
the basis for a comparison with the spokesperson.
However, criteria for comparison are based upon
the standards of the dominant group, such as
white Anglo-Saxon males in the United States.
Also, a positive identification with the spokesper-
son, based on the standards of the dominant
group, results in the receiver being positively in-
fluenced by the spokesperson. Hence, advertisers
who use presenters with a positive receiver iden-
tity, coupled with attractiveness and accent di-
mensions, can expect a positive influence on
members of the target market.
It is posited in this study that decoding theory
provides some explanations to receiver evaluation
of the sender. Hence, the objective of this study is
to investigate the relationship between
spokesperson attractiveness and accent and con-
sumer purchase intentions, and therefore to un-
derstand the usefulness of decoding theory in
explaining and predicting consumer purchase in-
tentions.
2. Spokesperson dimensions and consumer deci-
sion making
Persuasion research has focused on identifying
those attributes of a spokesperson affecting the
impact of persuasive communication. Two of the
factors cited in current literature are: (1)
spokesperson attractiveness (Alpert and Anderson,
1973; Baker and Churchill, 1977; Joseph, 1982;
Swartz, 1984; Eagly et al., 1991), and (2)
spokesperson accent (Bradac and Wisegarver,
1984; Foon, 1986; Tsalikis et al., 1991).
2.1. Spokesperson attractiveness
Abundant research evidence attests to the pos-
itive expected marketing consequences of em-
ploying attractive versus unattractive spokesper-
sons and models (Baker and Churchill, 1977;
Joseph, 1982; Courtney and Whipple, 1983; Reid
and Soley,'1983; Caballero and Pride, 1984; Kahle
and Homer, 1985; McGuire, 1985; Belch et al.,
1987; Kamins, 1990). Spokesperson attractive-
ness, a general concept, encompasses three fea-
tures: similarity, familiarity, and liking (Swartz,
1984). Persuasion through an identification pro-
cess is based on the receiver finding the source
attractive in terms of intellectual skills, personal-
ity properties, lifestyle characteristics, etc. Attrac-
tive people are better liked and are assumed to
be more sociable, independent, and exciting, while
less attractive people are assumed to be deviant.
Joseph's (Joseph, 1982) review of the experi-
mental findings from advertising and related dis-
ciplines on the impact of physically attractive
spokespersons and models on opinion change,
product evaluation, source perception, and recall
shows that attractive - as compared to unattrac-
 O. W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
tive - spokespersons are consistently liked more,
are viewed in more favorable terms, and have a
positive effect on the products with which they
are associated. Chaiken (1986) argued that a mes-
sage p r e s e n t e d by a physically attractive
spokesperson will be more persuasive than a simi-
lar message presented by a less physically attrac-
tive spokesperson.
Snyder and Rothbart (1971) reported that
source attractiveness is related positively to
agreement, although the impact seems less con-
sistent when the spokesperson is female. Further-
more, they note that there are no differences
between attractive and unattractive spokesperson
on perceived honesty, competence, dominance,
personal effectiveness and personal success.
Baker and Churchill (1977) noted that the impact
of physical attractiveness may be restricted by the
type of product or topic, the sex of the receiver,
and the sex of the spokesperson. Kamins (1990)
used social adaptation theory to explain that the
influence of a physically attractive celebrity is
moderated by the relationship between the
celebrity's image and the product's image. If the
product can be viewed as contributing to or com-
patible with the celebrity's image, then the
celebrity as spokesperson can significantly en-
hance the credibility of the advertisement for that
particular product. Landy and Sigall (1974) con-
cluded that a model's physical attractiveness
would not be important if the product being
promoted already had a strong brand image or
clearly observable benefits. However, if the prod-
uct did not contain these advantages, various
irrelevant cues, including a model's physical at-
tractiveness, would significantly affect customer
response to the product and the advertisement.
Joseph (1977) reported that when a female
spokesperson is an expert, her physical attractive-
ness has little effect on subject preferences; how-
ever, when she is not an expert, subjects agree
more with a highly attractive spokesperson than
with a medium or low attractive spokesperson. In
other words, when objective or task-related char-
acteristics are weak, subjects resort to irrelevant
cues, such as physical attractiveness to form opin-
ions.
Umberson and Hughes (1987) used status
91
characteristics theory (SCT) to explain the effects
of physical attractiveness on psychological well-
being and achievement. Berger et al. (1977) de-
fined a status characteristic as any characteristic
that has differentially evaluated states that are
associated directly or indirectly with expectation
states (p. 35). A status characteristic is a distin-
guishing feature that can be used to classify the
individual; for example, a positive or negative
category such as attractive or unattractive. Conse-
quently, SCT and Berger and colleagues' (1977)
definition and use of a status characteristic fits
the criteria of a 'category' that individuals use to
differentiate and evaluate others.
Webster and Driskell's (1983) review indicates
that attractiveness meets the criteria for a dif-
fused status characteristic in the sense that a
generalized state of attractiveness may be associ-
ated with the ability to perform certain tasks
better. According to this line of thinking, a group
of people consisting of white attractive males in
the United States may be connected with greater
perceived ability and skills (Webster and Driskell,
1983; Eagly and Wood, 1985). As a result, the
status characteristic of white attractive male be-
comes a criterion to categorize individuals.
2.2. Spokesperson accent
Tsalikis et al. (1991) noted that the role of
accent in spokesperson credibility has been over-
looked in the current marketing literature, al-
though this area has received much attention in
the social psychology and linguistics literature. A
number of researchers have posited that speech
style, including accent, appears to have a power-
ful impact on the ratings of respondents over a
broad range of characteristics attributed to the
presenter (Lambert, 1967; Giles and Sassoon,
1983; Bradac and Wisegarver, 1984).
Edwards (1982) reported that a variety of in-
vestigations in English-speaking countries (e.g.,
the United States, Canada, Britain, and Aus-
tralia) found that presenters with a standard ac-
cent or dialect are perceived to exhibit more
traits of (a) competence as indicated by intelli-
gence, confidence, ambition, and industriousness,
and (b) status/prestige as indicated by profes-
92 O. IV.. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. o f Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
sionalism. However, presenters with nonstandard
accents are perceived as having more traits of (a)
personal integrity as indicated by sincerity, relia-
bility, and generosity, and (b) social attractiveness
as indicated by friendliness and warmth (Lam-
bert, 1967; Powesland and Giles, 1975). Berechree
and Ball (1979) noted in an Australian investiga-
tion that greater competence and social attrac-
tiveness ratings are displayed for the Cultivated
Australian as opposed to the two other dialect
varieties - Broad and General. Also, Carranza
and Ryan (1975) reported comparable results in
an investigation of responses to Spanish and En-
glish presenters, where English is viewed more
favorably than Spanish on the dimensions of in-
tegrity, attractiveness, and status. Additional sup-
port for these findings is noted in an investigation
of speech patterns in a Canadian setting by Ed-
wards and Jacobsen (1987), and in indigenous
versus foreign-accented presenters (Ryan et al.,
1977; Callan et al., 1983). Garcia (1984) explained
how individuals categorize persons by speech
characteristics (e.g., accent, speech style). Using
Tajfel's (Tajfel, 1972) theory of social categoriza-
tion and concepts of intergroup relations and
psychological distinctiveness (Tajfel, 1974), Gar-
cia (1984) obtained evidence that the speech
characteristics of a person play a fundamental
role in assessing, among other things, race, age,
social class, profession, and way of dressing.
3. Research hypotheses
To provide a better understanding of the influ-
ence of spokesperson attractiveness and accent,
Tajfel's decoding theory is used in this study as a
conceptual framework. According to the theory,
the receiver first evaluates the spokesperson along
the dimensions of attractiveness and accent. Next,
the receiver identifies himself or herself with the
spokesperson along those categorized dimen-
sions. Finally, these categories form the basis for
a comparison with the spokesperson. The criteria
for the comparison are based upon the standards
of the dominant group, for example, white
Anglo-Saxon males in the United States. Also, a
positive identification with the spokesperson,
based on the standards of the dominant group,
results in the receiver being positively influenced
by the spokesperson. Hence, using Tajfel's decod-
ing theory, it is hypothesized that an American
audience's purchase intentions would be more
favorably influenced by an American-English-
accented spokesperson than by a Spanish-En-
glish- accented spokesperson. Also, theory and
literature state that an attractive spokesperson
will have a more positive impact on consumer
purchase intentions. Consequently, Tajfel would
view attractiveness as one of the categories or
dimensions that consumers could use to evaluate
the spokesperson, and a physically attractive
source represents a cue to process the message
systematically. Therefore, the following two hy-
potheses are proposed:
141: A n attractive salesperson will have a greater
positive impact on purchase intentions than an
unattractive salesperson.
H2: A n American-English-accented salesperson will
have a greater positive impact on purchase inten-
tions than a Spanish-accented salesperson.
Using the same theoretical framework, it can
be further hypothesized that a salesperson speak-
ing English with a Cuban accent will have a
greater positive impact on purchase intentions of
consumers in the City of Miami, where this study
was conducted, than a salesperson speaking En-
glish with a Nicaraguan accent, because of the
City's socio-cultural composition. Since a signifi-
cant proportion of the residents have a Cuban
background (dominant ethnic culture) and are
more exposed to English with a Cuban accent,
English with other Spanish accents will be evalu-
ated as less effective. Hence, it is hypothesized
that
H3: A Cuban-English-accented salesperson will
have a greater positive impact on purchase inten-
tions than a Nicaraguan-English-accented salesper-
son.
H4: A Spanish-accented salesperson will have a
greater positive impact on purchase intentions of
 O. I4( DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
bilingual respondents than on purchase intentions
o f monolingual respondents.
4. T h e s t u d y
A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design
was used with salesperson physical attractiveness
(attractive and unattractive), accent (American-
English, Spanish-English), and the speaking capa-
bility of the audience (English-only and bilingual
- English and Spanish) as the between-subject
factors.
F o u r salesmen (two attractive and two
unattractive) were used for the study. The sales-
men were chosen from a list of ten males who
were rated on a seven-point attractiveness-unat-
tractiveness scale by a sample of college students.
Based on the results of the survey, three males
were rated as attractive and three were rated as
unattractive. An additional measure of attractive-
ness was derived from 67 respondents (28 males
and 39 females). Gender, ethnicity, and culture
were taken into account, and video tapes were
used for respondents to make evaluations. A two-
way A N O V A with a repeated measure of one
factor (level of attractiveness) indicated there was
a statistically-significant difference (F-value 45.56,
p < 0.0001) between the attractiveness levels of
the salesmen.
4.1. Pretest o f accent
A panel of six judges - three C u b a n - A m e r i -
can and three N i c a r a g u a n - A m e r i c a n students -
were used to determine an accent recognition
factor. This procedure determined whether the
panel could distinguish a Cuban-English accent
from a Nicaraguan-English accent. Four of the six
judges recognized the difference on every occa-
sion. As a result, two Cuban-English and two
Nicaraguan-English accents were selected for the
study. The above procedure was also used for
selecting the American-English accents. Two
speakers from each of the three accent categories
were selected for the study (two American-En-
glish, two Cuban-English, and two Nicaraguan-
English).
93
4.2. Data collection
The p r o d u c t / s e r v i c e selected as the focus of
the ad message was automobile insurance. This
service was chosen because it is a service category
that students are aware of and frequently pur-
chase. At the taping session, a hypothetical sales
pitch was p r e p a r e d with an American-English
accent, Cuban-English accent, and Nicaraguan-
English accent. Two American males, two Cuban
males, and two Nicaraguan males were used for
authenticity. Each person read aloud the message
several times, and the most natural rendition was
chosen by the same group used to evaluate the
accents. Naturalness, considered in terms of mes-
sage flow and realistic sales pitch, was deter-
mined by the evaluating group. Each of the six
recordings lasted approximately 55 seconds. The
following sales pitch message was read by the
salesmen:
You know, I am glad I started working for this
particular car insurance company. The car insur-
ance business today is so complicated and has so
many types of coverage available, that the client
can easily become confused. However, at this
company we can cut through the clutter and
provide people with personalized service, help
them identify their insurance needs, and provide
them with the best policy at a very competitive
price.
Our claims d e p a r t m e n t is very efficient, and all
claims are processed in a speedy and professional
manner.
Furthermore, this company has been in business
since, 1949, and with the way that we do business,
we will be here for many more years. ! am so glad
I work for this company.
Twenty-four commercials were produced by
using two different attractive persons, two differ-
ent unattractive persons, two different American
accents, two different Cuban-English accents, and
two different Nicaraguan-English accents (four
levels of attractiveness x six levels of accents =
24). To eliminate any variation in audience evalu-
ation created by changes in voice quality, the
same three accents - American-English, Cuban-
English, and Nicaraguan-English - were pre-
sented by using voice-overs for the spokesperson.
94 O.W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
This procedure was feasible because the commer-
cials showed the spokesperson sitting at a desk
and thinking about the sales pitch he would make
to potential customers. The spokesperson was not
moving his lips; rather, his thoughts were 'heard'
by the audience.
A total of 963 respondents viewed the com-
mercials in a university classroom setting. The
students were told they would view/hear a sales-
man presenting a message, and they would be
asked to give their impressions of the spokesper-
son. It was a completely randomized design, where
each respondent viewed only one commercial.
4.3. Questionnaire
After seeing the video tapes, respondents were
asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of
four separate measurement scales: a 12-item se-
mantic differential scale for salesman credibility
(Brennan and Brennan, 1981; Seggie et al., 1982;
Brennan and Brennan, 1983; Callan et al., 1983;
Kalmar et al., 1987; Ohanian, 1990); a three-item
semantic differential scale measuring respondent
purchase intentions; three scales measuring voice
characteristics of the salesmen; and fourteen re-
spondent classification questions. Attractiveness
was one of the underlying dimensions in the
12-item semantic differential scale.
Salesperson Attractiveness was operationalized
by using a four-item semantic differential scale
(attractive, beautiful, elegant, and sexy). Salesper-
son Accent was operationalized by using three
categories (i.e., American-English accented,
Cuban-English accented, and Nicaraguan-English
accented). A panel of three Cubans and three
Nicaraguans were used to determine the recog-
nizability of the Cuban-English and Nicaraguan-
English accents. Finally, Salesperson Effectiveness
was operationalized by using a three-item seman-
tic differential scale (consider buying the insur-
ance policy, would inquire about the policy, and
would purchase the policy) (Ohanian, 1991).
4.4. Limitations of the study
This study focused on standard English and
Hispanic-English accents of male spokespersons,
presented to a multi-ethnic audience typical for
South Florida communities. While the results are
in concordance with the linguistic and social psy-
chology literature, and similar to those of previ-
ous research findings, it was not possible to ex-
haust all aspects of cross-cultural social percep-
tion. For instance, favorable acceptance of the
mainstream English accent may have been a local
effect mediated by social class, relative lack of
discriminatory climate, and high cost or political
obstacles to travel to the country of origin. De-
spite these potential limitations, the results of the
study already provide good evidence that accul-
turation must be taken into account by advertis-
ers when choosing spokespersons for addressing
Latino customers.
5. Analysis and results
5.1. Sample profile
Table 1 illustrates the demographic and socio-
economic characteristics of the respondents. As
can be seen from Table 1, the composition of the
sample is appropriate for testing the study hy-
potheses. That is, the sample contained 46% fe-
males and 54% males, which approximately rep-
resents the population measures. Also, approxi-
mately half the respondents are bilingual, which
was necessary for testing the study hypotheses.
Since the product/service used was applicable to
the sample, use of a student sample is assumed
not to create any study limitations.
Table 2 illustrates the Pearson correlation co-
efficients and related significance levels for the
variables (elegant, sexy, beautiful, and attractive)
used to operationalize the attractiveness con-
struct. All correlations are significant at the p <
0.0001 level, and correlation coefficients are con-
sidered moderately high. This provides support
for aggregating the four variables to operational-
ize the attractiveness construct.
To provide further support for operationaliza-
tion of the attractiveness construct, four variables
were factor analyzed. The result of factor analysis
is shown in Table 3.
Table 3 shows the factor loading of four attrac-
 O.W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101 95

Table 1 Table 3
Sample profile Factor pattern of attractiveness variables
Characteristics Proportion Variables Factor 1
(n = 963) Attractive/Unattractive 0.8681
Gender Beautiful/Ugly 0.8525
Female 46.5 Sexy/Not sexy 0.8396
Male 53.5 Elegant/Plain 0.6849
Eigenvalue 2.6544
Explained variance 0.6636
Age
18 to 24 66.9
25 to 29 21.2
30 to 35 7.4
35 to 44 3.2 Table 4
Over 45 1.3 Factor pattern of purchase intention variables
Variables Factor 1
Native language
Consider buying a policy/Will not 0.95013
English 55.2
Consider a policy 0.94002
Spanish 35.8
Inquire about a policy/Will not inquire 0.90320
Others 9.0
About a policy
Purchase policy/Will not purchase policy
Ethnicity Eigenvalue 2.60210
Caucasian 26.4 Explained variance 0.86741
Hispanic 54.6
African-American 6.1
Others 12.9

four variables was used to measure attractiveness

Household income
of the spokesperson. After analyzing the distribu-
Less than $10,000 13.1
$10,000-$29,999 27.7 tion of the responses on this aggregate attractive-
$30,000-$49,999 26.5 ness measure (which was close to normal distribu-
$50,000-$74,999 16.6 tion), a median split technique was used to divide
$75,000 and above 5.3 spokespersons into high and low-attractive cate-
gories. Hence, if the average attractiveness value
were higher than 4, it was placed in the high-at-
tractive group, and if it was less than 4 it was
tiveness variables used in the study. All four placed in the low-attractive group.
variables were loaded on one factor with high To operationalize the purchase intention con-
coefficients, and this factor alone explained 66.4% struct, three variables were factor analyzed, and
of the total variance. Hence, the average of these the result of factor analysis is shown in Table 4.

Table 2
Pearson correlation coefficients for attractiveness variables ( N = 963)
Elegant/Plain Sexy/Not sexy Beautiful/Ugly
Sexy/Not sexy 0.45942
(0.0001)
Beautiful/Ugly 0.44479 0.59388
(0.0001) (0.0001)
Attractive/Unattractive 0.42427 0.65450 0.69923
(0.0001) (0.0001) (0.0001)
96 O. W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101

Similar to the attractiveness construct, all three
variables were loaded on the same factor with
high factor loadings (0.95, 0.94, 0.90), and total
variance explained by this factor alone is 86.8%.
The factor scores (purchase intention) are used
as the dependent variable for the rest of the
analysis.
Using three variables (salesperson accent, at-
tractiveness and speaking ability of the audience)
as classification variables, and purchase intention
as the dependent variable, Analysis of Variance
was used to test the relationships. Table 5 illus-
trates the results of A N O V A and the mean pur-
chase intention values for different treatment lev-
els.
Hypothesis H1 assesses the impact of salesman
attractiveness on the purchase intentions of con-
sumers. The results of the A N O V A indicate that
attractiveness has a large and significant effect on
purchase intentions ( F = 62.04, p < .0001). The
mean purchase intention rating for highly attrac-
tive spokesperson was 3.6, while it was only 2.4
for the unattractive spokespersons. There is no
interaction effect between attractiveness and au-
dience, hence it is concluded that for both En-
glish-only and Spanish-English-speaking respon-
dents, purchase intentions are more favorably
influenced by an attractive salesperson's message.
This relationship is illustrated in Fig. 1A more
clearly.
Hypothesis H2 assesses the impact of salesper-
son accent on the purchase intentions of con-
sumers. The A N O V A results shown in Table 5
indicate that salesperson accent was significant
( F = 27.76, p < .0001). Therefore, results indicate
that the accent of the salesperson does in fact
influence respondent purchase intentions toward
the service used in this study. Fig. 1B shows the
mean purchase intentions of the respondents for
different accents (Scheffe's post-hoc test indi-
cates significant differences among means at p <
.05). Fig. 1B illustrates that American-English-

Table 5
Analysis of variance for attractiveness, accent, and audience
Variables df F-value p-value
Accent 2 27.76 0,0001
Attractiveness 1 62.04 0.0001
Audience 1 15.17 0.0001
Accent *attractiveness 2 2.91 0.0549
Accent * audience 2 1.59 0.2051
Attractiveness *audience 1 0.28 0.5994
Accent * attractiveness *audience 2 1.17 0.3123

Treatments Mean purchase intentions

Attractiveness
1 Spokesperson's attractiveness 3.5809
perceived high 2.4181
2 Spokesperson's attractiveness
perceived low 3.1656
Accent 2.4128
1 Spokesperson has an American-English 2.2711
accent
2 Spokesperson has a Cuban-English 2.4504
accent 2.8665
3 Spokesperson'has a Nicaraguan-
English accent
Audience
1 Respondent speaks English only
2 Respondent is bilingual
 O.W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101 97

accented salespersons create more favorable pur- Although Cuban-English-accented salesper-

chase intentions than Cuban or Nicaraguan-En- sons created more favorable purchase intentions
glish-accented salespersons. than Nicaraguan-English-accented salespersons,

3.7 A
3.6

3.5

3.4

3.3

3.2

3.1
E
3

2.9 \

(L 2.8

2.7

2.6

2.5

2.4
~2

2.3 I
2
Attractiveness
E3 High and Low

3.2 B
3.1

3
\ \
2.9
\ \
2.8 \
2.7
\
2.6 \

2.5 \\
\
2.4

2.3

2.2 [ I
2 3

Accent
t3 English, Cuban, Nicaraguan
Fig. 1. M e a n p u r c h a s e i n t e n t i o n l e v e l s for t r e a t m e n t s .
98 O.W. DeShields, Jr. et aL ~Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101

the difference was not statistically significant. there is an interaction effect between attractive-
Hence, we do not have a strong support for ness and accent levels. Fig. 1C illustrates the
Hypothesis H3. A N O V A results indicate that purchase intentions for different levels of attrac-

4.4 C

4.2

3.8

3.6

3.4
E
3.2

I1. 2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

2 I I
1 2

Attractiveness
[] American English + Cuban English o Nicaraguan English

2.9 D
2.85 -

2.8

2.75

E 2.7

2.65

2.6
O..
2.55

2.5

2.45

2.4 I I
1 2
Audience
[] English & Bilingual
Fig. 1 (continued).
 O. IV..DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
tiveness and accent. Fig. 1C shows that an attrac-
tive American-English accented salesperson cre-
ates the most favorable purchase intentions than
any other factor level combination.
Respondent speaking ability (monolingual or
bilingual) also has a statistically significant impact
on purchase intentions. Fig. 1D illustrates the
mean-purchase-intention values for the audience.
Fig. 1D shows that bilingual respondents have
higher purchase intention levels than the mono-
lingual respondents. However, there are no statis-
tically significant interactions between audience
and accent levels. Therefore, Hypothesis H4 is
not supported.
In summary, the mean-purchase-intention rat-
ings for those viewing attractive spokespersons
with an American-English accent are significantly
higher than the purchase intention means of those
viewing attractive or unattractive spokespersons
with a Spanish-English accent for both monolin-
gual and bilingual audiences.
6. Conclusions
Our study was designed to determine the im-
pact of the spokesperson's attractiveness and ac-
cent on the receiver's purchase intentions. Using
Tajfel's (1981) categorization theory, which sug-
gests that an attractive spokesperson will be eval-
uated more favorably than a less attractive
spokesperson, study findings show that there is a
statistically significant relationship between
spokesperson attractiveness and accent and the
purchase intentions. Respondents had higher
purchase intentions toward the product/service
advertised when the spokespersons were per-
ceived as highly attractive than when the
spokespersons were perceived as unattractive.
Further, the results of the study support
Tajfel's theory, which states that salespersons
perceived as a part of mainstream society (i.e.,
Anglo) and possessing a standard accent will have
a more positive impact on the purchase inten-
tions of consumers in that society than salesper-
sons who are not perceived as a part of the
mainstream (i.e., Hispanics) and who possess a
foreign accent. Findings reveal that American-
English-accented salespersons create more favor-
99
able purchase intentions than Cuban or
Nicaraguan-English-accented salespersons. Pur-
chase intentions toward the advertised product/
service reached the highest level when the
spokesperson was both attractive and had a
standard accent (i.e., American-English).
The empirical relationships found in this study
are consistent with the decoding theory and have
significant managerial implications in advertising
and sales management. Decoding theory and this
supporting study offer direction for marketers
designing communications strategies for the
global marketplace. It is very clear that U.S.
markets and consumers have become more di-
verse than ever. Therefore, in their communica-
tion and personal selling efforts, marketers may
use attractive spokespersons with standard accent
to improve the effectiveness of communication.
Similarly, with the formation of the European
Union (EU), which eliminates trade barriers
among member countries new marketing oppor-
tunities are presented for multicountry firms.
Based on the results of this study, such firms
should consider that standard language pronunci-
ations for respective member countries will likely
be rated superior to any accented version of the
host-country language. Thus, a potentially more
effective international marketing communication
program would use host-country personnel as op-
posed to multilingual (accented) salespersons.
Also, advertisers in the respective countries may
want to consider using a host-country national.
Furthermore, although Latin American coun-
tries are, for the most part, Spanish speaking,
Edwards (1982) reported that a standard
country-specific accent or dialect is perceived to
exhibit more traits of' competence, status, and
prestige than a general accent or dialect. As a
result, the standard Spanish-language pronuncia-
tion for a respective Latin American country (i.e.,
a Guatemalan-Spanish accent used in that host
country) may be rated as superior to a general-
accented version of the host country's language.
6.1. Generalizability o f the research and f u t u r e
studies
This study has a relatively large sample size of
963, and the sample contains multi-ethnic groups.
100 O.W. DeShields, Jr. et al. / Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 13 (1996) 89-101
Also, the use of two spokespersons for each ac-
cent, and the inclusion of both Cuban and
Nicaraguan-English accents provide a basis for
generalizing the findings for Spanish-speaking au-
diences and spokespersons.
The experimental design used for the study
insures a degree of internal validity. Also, a vari-
ety of additional procedures tests the internal
validity of the instrument. It should be noted,
though, that generalizing the effects of
spokesperson accents in the Latin American im-
migrant community may require additional stud-
ies in California and Mexico.
There is a need to extend this work to other
media vehicles that differ both in editorial/com-
mercial content and in target audience in order
to deepen our understanding of how appearance
and accent acquire meaning. Also, the attractive-
ness construct needs to be operationalized differ-
ently, perhaps with multidimensional construct
that more extensively reflects the impact of the
variable.
This study should also be replicated using fe-
male spokespersons and featuring different prod-
ucts and services. Also, attractiveness measure of
the spokesperson should incorporate other non-
physical attractiveness factors (i.e., personality,
self-consciousness). Furthermore, the selection of
attractive spokespersons needs to be studied
carefully. Current practice is to intuitively select
exemplars that maximize physical attractiveness
on a global level.
Finally, additional research is needed to better
understand the importance of accent in different
cultures and languages. For example, might the
effects of accent be different if the spokesperson
used a more narrow, country-specific language
such as Japanese, with an American or French
accent, versus English, which is an international
language? Hence, there is also a need for testing
the hypotheses used in this study in different
cultures and using different languages.
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