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Linguistic racism in inter-culture service encounter

Aaminah Zaman Malik (Department of Marketing, G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA)
Audhesh Paswan (Department of Marketing, G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 31 May 2022

Issue publication date: 27 July 2023

380

Abstract

Purpose

Language plays an important role in a successful service exchange, but it can become a source of discrimination if one party is a non-native speaker in the host country. This study aims to examine the linguistic racism that non-native customers experience in Inter Culture Service Encounters (ICSEs) and delves into factors that contribute to the underlying psychological responses and the behavioral outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A phenomenological approach was used where 16 individuals were interviewed to discover themes through non-native customers' lens using an inductive process. Next, the emerged categories were classified based on extant literature, using a deductive approach.

Findings

The findings highlight the role of language varieties as a strong social identity cue for non-native customers where the associated stigma makes them see ICSE as a stereotype threat. Most importantly, these experiences shape their future behavior by avoiding direct interactions with the servers and adopting other service channels. Several “social others” influence this process.

Originality/value

This study explores the notion of linguistic racism in an ICSE from a non-native consumers’ lens and thus adds to this under-researched literature. Using a phenomenological approach, the authors propose a framework focusing on the perception of language-related stigma and discrimination experienced by non-native consumers’ along with possible behavioral responses.

Keywords

Citation

Malik, A.Z. and Paswan, A. (2023), "Linguistic racism in inter-culture service encounter", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 40 No. 5, pp. 585-596. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-03-2021-4545

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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