Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent.

Design/methodology/approach

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low).

Findings

When such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider.

Research limitations/implications

The findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality.

Practical implications

The study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies.

Originality/value

This research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.

中文翻译：

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在服务遭遇中照顾少数民族消费者：细线

目的

This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent.

Design/methodology/approach

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low).

Findings

当提供这种语言和种族住宿时，高度文化化的少数族裔消费者认为服务体验不如文化化程度低的少数族裔消费者。此外，在低参与度服务遭遇期间，与涉及高参与度服务的情况相比，跨文化适应对消费者的服务质量感知产生积极影响。此外，与在服务提供者进行跨文化住宿努力时不存在这种看法时相比，具有过去歧视认知的少数族裔消费者对服务质量的评价较差。

研究限制/影响

研究结果增加了审查跨文化住宿有效性的稀少文献，并侧重于将服务提供者的语言和种族的结合使用作为提高服务质量的手段。

实际影响

该研究为服务公司提供了警告，不要将跨文化适应工作的接受程度一概而论。鉴于少数族裔客户群体越来越大，本研究为服务提供商在制定有效的种族定位策略时制定合适的招聘策略和培训计划提供了见解。

原创性/价值

本研究首次通过将跨文化适应研究扩展到考虑不同少数族裔消费者群体的服务参与水平的新环境来解释为什么目标营销的效果不一致。