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1 – 10 of 507Megumi Hosoda, Lam T. Nguyen and Eugene F. Stone‐Romero
Despite the fact that Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing segment of the population and that 44 percent of Hispanics of 18 years of age and older speak English less than…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the fact that Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing segment of the population and that 44 percent of Hispanics of 18 years of age and older speak English less than very well, research examining the impact of Spanishâaccented English on employmentârelated decisions has been scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effects of the accent (standard American English and Mexican Spanish) of a hypothetical job applicant on employmentârelated judgments and hiring decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants made employmentârelated decisions (i.e. job suitability ratings, likelihood of a promotion, and hiring decision) and judgments of personal attributes (i.e. perceived competence and warmth) of a hypothetical applicant for an entryâlevel software engineering job. The accent of the applicant was manipulated using the matchedâguise technique.
Findings
Results showed that compared to an applicant with a standard AmericanâEnglish accent, one with a MexicanâSpanish accent was at a disadvantage when applying for the software engineering job. The MexicanâSpanishâaccented applicant was rated as less suitable for the job and viewed as less likely to be promoted to a managerial position. In addition, fewer participants decided to hire the MexicanâSpanishâaccented applicant than the standard American Englishâaccented applicant.
Practical implications
Given the negative evaluations of the MexicanâSpanishâaccented applicant, recruiters and interviewers should be selected who do not view foreign accents negatively. Furthermore, organizations should make a conscious effort to regard foreign accents as assets to their businesses.
Originality/value
This research contributes to our understanding of how foreign accents influence decisions that have important economic consequences for individuals.
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Megumi Hosoda and Eugene Stone‐Romero
Although statistical evidence clearly demonstrates discrimination against foreignâaccented individuals in the workplace, surprisingly little research attention has been paid to…
Abstract
Purpose
Although statistical evidence clearly demonstrates discrimination against foreignâaccented individuals in the workplace, surprisingly little research attention has been paid to how such individuals are evaluated when they apply for jobs. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the effects of applicant accent on accessârelated employment decisions across four jobs that differed on job status and communication demands.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a 3 (applicant accent: Standard American English, French, and Japanese) Ă 2 (job status: low vs high)Ă2 (communication demands: low vs high) mixedâfactorial design, and data from 286 college students at two different locations.
Findings
Results show that in comparison with Frenchâaccented applicants, Japaneseâaccented applicants fared worse on employmentârelated decisions, especially for jobs that had high communication demands, even after controlling for applicant understandability and location. Frenchâaccented applicants were viewed as favorably as, or more favorably than, Standard American Englishâaccented applicants.
Research limitations/implications
Applicant accent was confounded with applicant names. Thus, it is not known whether the obtained results are due to applicant accent, names, or both.
Practical implications
It was found that organizations could do one of the following: use structured interviews; train interviewers on potential biases against foreignâaccented applicants; and provide more individuating information to reduce the effects of accentâbased stereotypes on employmentârelated decisions.
Originality/value
The paper considers the communication demands of jobs and job status as influences on the evaluation of foreignâaccented applicants.
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To explore the edges of literature, one must look at contemporary literary reviews and journals. The themes and styles of writing in these reviews and journals reveal new ideas…
Abstract
To explore the edges of literature, one must look at contemporary literary reviews and journals. The themes and styles of writing in these reviews and journals reveal new ideas and trends in the literary community. These edges are often rough and not polished, they may present more extreme points of view or they may introduce new subjects. The latest issue of Ploughshares, a journal of new writing, exemplifies this. The theme of the Winter 1993â94 issue is âBorderlands,â edited by Russell Banks and Chase Twichell. In his introduction, Banks says: âBut as Doris Lessing says âThings change at the edges,â and insofar as I myself want things to change, and I do, for this world as presently constituted is intolerable, then my ongoing affection for work written âon the edgeâ is political. I am still sufficiently optimistic to believe that if enough decent people see how bad things are on the borders, they will begin to change things thereâŚThe stories and narratives (include) white voices, black voices, male and female, with narrators speaking AfricanâAmerican English, HispanicâAmerican English, and AngloâAmerican English, talking high church and low, downtown and upâ: these are the voices that daily surround us; and because they come to us, not from some dreamedâof center where no one in America lives anymore, but from the inescapable borderlands, they speak for us all.â Chase Twichell reflects in her introduction on what she looked for in deciding what literature to select for this issue. âIn terms of the task of editing, this means I now look hard at poems that carry the flags of outrage and grief, even if their surfaces are ârough.â In fact, I've come to value highly some kinds of roughness because I believe they carry their cargos more honestly, in fact more precisely, by refusing to try to smooth unsmoothable edges.â These thoughts fascinated me and seemed to express the new directions and new ways of looking at literature. Many of the contemporary literary reviews and journals attempt to do just this.
Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Stephanie M. Curenton and Kimberly A. Blitch
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of African American childrenâs oral language skills with the intention of building the understanding of how these skills…
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of African American childrenâs oral language skills with the intention of building the understanding of how these skills translate to classroom contexts. The chapter also summarizes the goals of the Common Core that are specifically related to speaking and listening and describes how African American children might meet these goals.
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Istvan Lenart, Zoltan Lakner, Laszlo Kovacs and Gyula Kasza
The research aims at scrutinising food safety as a global concept and problem that has numerous cross-cultural aspects reflecting the diversity of consumption patterns and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The research aims at scrutinising food safety as a global concept and problem that has numerous cross-cultural aspects reflecting the diversity of consumption patterns and the culturally differing role of the consumer as well as mirroring the heterogeneity of socio-economic environment.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the role of consumer in food safety-related academic literature is investigated in seven languages (countries) including American English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and Russian from a multidisciplinary, cross-cultural perspective.
Findings
With the aid of seven linguistic corpora built from the above mentioned languages, the research reveals noteworthy differences in the consumer-focused approach.
Research limitations/implications
The study could have benefited from the inclusion of further languages (i.e. Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi etc.), the authors' lack of reliable language skills outside of the covered domain had to be taken into account. Further to that, the analysis conducted is based on a static observation, while food safety-related consumer science is developing quickly. Therefore, a dynamic analysis of consumer roles would most certainly yield in further salient outcome.
Practical implications
Food safety can be regarded in many waysâthis is reflected in different national legislations, dissimilar country-level risk communication patterns as well as different perception of basic notions of food safety. It has not yet been extensively analysed, however, how different languages use the notion of food safety or consumer, which activities and which characteristics are most connected to these notions, and how food safety-related topics and the focus of scientific discourse in different languages differ from each other.
Social implications
Practical implications of the research results also include preparatory activities for food safety risk communication campaigns. In this field, the cultural aspects of food safety are as important as scientific risk assessment. The tools presented in this paper help a quick and comprehensive analysis of linguistic corpora, which could be used either in academic or general literature resources, even press releases. The results also call attention to the culture-driven perspectives of food safety; these new insights can be applied by researchers to review food safety literature more exhaustively considering the cultural context. Future elaboration of the topic (e.g. by introducing a time factor that would enable a dynamic analysis) can further enhance the utility value of similar studies.
Originality/value
The novelty of the article lies in the unique application of corpus linguistic methods with the aim of investigating the area, the trends and phenomena of food safety-related science. This study combines the achievements of food safety-related consumer science with corpus linguistic methods.
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Jasmina Ilicic, Stacey Baxter and Alicia Kulczynski
The purpose of this study is to introduce the homophone emotional interest superiority effect in phonological, or sound-based, priming, whereby pseudohomophone brand names (i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to introduce the homophone emotional interest superiority effect in phonological, or sound-based, priming, whereby pseudohomophone brand names (i.e. non-words that are pronounced identically to English words, for example, Bie) prime brand meaning associated with the member of the homophone pair that is emotionally interesting (i.e. Bie will be prime brand avoidance (purchase) when consumers are emotionally interested in the homophone bye [buy]).
Design/methodology/approach
Studies 1 and 2 examine the effect of homophone emotional interest on brand judgements and behaviours. Study 3 investigates the role of boredom with the brand name in attenuating the homophone emotional interest superiority effect.
Findings
Findings indicate that pseudohomophone brand names prime brand judgements and behaviours associated with the word from the homophone pair that evokes emotional interest. Study 2 provides further evidence of homophone emotional interest as the process influencing brand judgements and behaviours. Study 3 establishes that the effect of pseudohomophone brand names on brand judgements weaken when boredom with the brand name is induced.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited, as it focuses only on fictitious brands and methodologically creates boredom in a way in which may not be typical of what would be experienced in the real world.
Practical implications
This study has important implications for brand managers in the development of new brand names and in prioritising the intended homophone pair from a pseudohomophone brand name to influence consumer judgements and behaviours.
Originality/value
This study introduces and provides evidence of a homophone emotional interest superiority effect. This study also identifies a condition under which the homophone emotional interest superiority effect is attenuated.
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