B.C. Hendriks

International Advertising in Western Europe: Should Differences in Uncertainty Avoidance Be Considered When Advertising in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain?

There is an ongoing debate as to whether cultural differences necessi tate adaptation of advertisements to local circumstances in interna tional business communication. In particular, value appeals are thought to be culturally sensitive because cultures differ with respect to which values are considered important, and it is thought that appealing to important values is more persuasive than appealing to ones less impor tant. This article reports on an experiment in which the persuasiveness of an appeal to security was compared to that of an appeal to adven ture. The relative persuasiveness of these appeals was studied in coun tries (i.e., Belgium, France and Spain) that are characterized as high uncertainty avoidance cultures, and a country characterized as a low uncertainty avoidance culture: The Netherlands. Results showed that the two value appeals proved equally persuasive for all countries.

Style Congruency and Persuasion: A Cross-cultural Study Into the Influence of Differences in Style Dimensions on the Persuasiveness of Business Newsletters in Great Britain and the Netherlands

Research problem: The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether style congruency on the dimensions succinct-elaborate and instrumental-affective influenced the persuasiveness of business newsletters in the Netherlands and Great Britain. Research question: Is a writing style more persuasive in a country with cultural preferences that are congruent with this writing style? Literature review: The purpose of the literature review was to present two theoretical frameworks for investigating cross-cultural differences in style preferences. Theories about cross-cultural differences in value orientations show that value orientations can be linked to cross-cultural differences in persuasion. Theories about cross-cultural differences in communication styles show that preferences for particular communication styles can be linked to cultural value orientations. Methodology: Two quantitative experimental studies were conducted among 344 business-to-business customers of a company in the Netherlands and Great Britain. Using seven-point scales, participants evaluated different versions of a newsletter on comprehensibility, attractiveness, and intention to order goods. Statistical analyses included general linear model (GLM) repeated measures and two-way ANOVAs. Results and discussion: Findings reveal limited differences between the Dutch and British participants in preferences for communication styles. Consequently, it may not be worthwhile for organizations to adjust the style of their documents to preferences in different cultures. A limitation of the current study was that it only investigated style preferences for one particular business genre (i.e., newsletters). Future research should investigate stylistic preferences in other business genres and in other cultures.

Does a Foreign Accent Sell? The Effect of Foreign Accents in Radio Commercials for Congruent and Non-Congruent Products.

Abstract Commercials regularly feature foreign accents. This paper aims to investigate whether the use of foreign accents in radio commercials is more effective for congruent than incongruent products, and whether foreign-accented commercials are evaluated differently than non-accented commercials. In an experiment, a group of 228 Dutch participants rated non-accented and accented commercials for four different products in a between-subject design. The products were either congruent or incongruent with the foreign accent in the commercial (e.g. a German-accented commercial for sausage vs. olive oil). Foreign-accented commercials for congruent products were assessed more positively on a number of variables than foreign-accented commercials for incongruent products. Foreign-accented commercials were rated more negatively than commercials without a foreign accent.

Your language or mine? or English as a lingua franca? Comparing effectiveness in English as a lingua franca and L1–L2 interactions: implications for corporate language policies

For multinational corporations, the need for efficiency and control has motivated the choice for a corporate language. However, increasing internationalisation has forced corporations to rethink their language policies to cater to the changing demands of the multicultural and multilingual workplace. This paper explores two related issues. First, it addresses the influence of mode of communication (English as a Lingua Franca [ELF] vs. L1–L2 interactions) on task efficiency. Second, it investigates the use of communication strategies in the different types of interactions (ELF vs. L1–L2). In a within-subject experimental design, the present study explores the effectiveness of language use in dyadic, computer-mediated communication between non-native speakers of English (ELF) and native and non-native speakers of German and Dutch (L1–L2). In three consecutive chat sessions, 60 participants performed a problem-solving task in English, German or Dutch. Findings indicate that in L1–L2 interactions, the participants were more effective in realising communicative goals than in ELF interactions, and that participants made use of different communication strategies in L1–L2 interactions than in ELF interactions. Consequently, international organisations which implement a corporate language may benefit from condoning multilingual practices on the work floor.

The effects of cultural adaptation in fundraising letters: The case of help-self and help-others appeals in a feminine culture

Abstract Gender has been shown to affect the persuasiveness of help-self and help-others appeals in fundraising: men prefer help-self appeals, and women help-others appeals. This gender difference has been attributed to world-view differences. Women have a care-oriented world-view and men a justice-oriented world-view – at least in masculine cultures. In feminine cultures, however, both men and women have a care-oriented world-view. The present study investigated whether in the feminine, Dutch culture the culturally adapted help-others appeal was more persuasive than the culturally unadapted help-self appeal for both men and women (N = 166). Results showed that the culturally adapted help-others appeal was the most persuasive appeal for men and women, who were both found to have a relatively care-oriented world-view.

Effective communication modes in multilingual encounters: Comparing alternatives in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)

Abstract This paper reports on an experimental study investigating alternative communication modes to English as a Lingua Franca. The purpose was to examine the effectiveness of different modes of communication and to gain insight in communication strategies used by interlocutors to solve referential conflicts. Findings show that ELF may not necessarily be the most effective mode of communication for speakers who do not share a native language. In the context of multinational corporations, RM may be regarded as a viable alternative to English for negotiating mutual understanding, particularly for speakers with (linguistically) closely related mother tongues.

The language of power. An analysis of a corpus of CEO letters

One of the many competences (among which developing vision and strategy, incorporating ethics and integrity, building alliances, possessing maturity and judgement – to cite only a few) an effective CEO is supposed to display is communicator competence. Madlock (2008) rightfully points out that leadership is a behaviour enacted through communication. Due to globalization, corporate communication executives are increasingly faced with the challenges of effectively addressing their diverse and dispersed internal and external audiences, which has prompted a heightened interest in research investigating (cross-cultural) variability in style conventions in corporate communication genres such as, for example, annual reports (de Groot, 2008; Hooghiemstra, 2003) or CEO letters (Hyland, 1998).

Attitudes to English job titles in the Netherlands and Flanders

The purpose of this study was to investigate if English loanwords are perceived differently in Flanders and the Netherlands, two areas with a shared official language (Dutch) but different sociolinguistic background and history. It has been argued that because of historical French dominance over Flemish, attitudes towards loanwords in Flanders are negative, whereas in the Netherlands attitudes are more positive because Dutch has not been threatened by another language there. In an experiment with a between-subject design, 155 Dutch and Flemish university students evaluated three equivalent Dutch and English job titles (e.g. hoofredacteur/editor-in-chief) with regard to comprehensibility, attractiveness, naturalness, and intention to apply for the job. In addition, general attitudes towards English loanwords were measured. Findings did not reveal differences between the Dutch and Flemish participants in their evaluation of the English versus Dutch job titles, nor in their general attitude towards English loanwords. For both participant groups, there were no differences in attitude towards the English and Dutch versions for two of the job titles, and both groups displayed more positive attitudes towards the Dutch version of one of the job titles than its English equivalent. However, Flemish participants were less likely to apply for jobs with English job titles than for jobs with equivalent Dutch job titles, while for the Dutch participants language of job title did not result in differences in application intention. The general attitude to English loanwords of both Dutch and Flemish participants was positive. It can therefore be concluded that, generally, nationality was not a factor influencing language attitudes.

Consumer Tweets about Brands: A Content Analysis of Sentiment Tweets about Goods and Services

Social media allow consumers to easily share positive or negative information about a brand with other consumers, for instance, through Twitter. Such Twitter use is a source of information that may affect the brand reputation. Therefore, it is important to gain more understanding of how Twitter is employed to evaluate brands and to communicate these evaluations with others. Previous research on Twitter use has shown that tweets about brands are more likely to be positive than negative. The present study integrates an agenda-setting perspective with studies on word of mouth and services marketing, which have suggested that this finding may be different for services than for goods. A quantitative content analysis of 1,920 Dutch tweets for 24 different brands was performed. The analysis showed that services received significantly more negative sentiment tweets than products. Implications of these results for monitoring consumers are discussed.

The persuasiveness of cultural value appeals in international advertising

This article provides an overview of previous research into the persuasiveness of cultural value appeals in international advertising. First of all, the article will point out the significance of cultural value appeals for international marketing through a discussion of the standardisation vs. adaptation debate, which has occupied a prominent place in strategic thinking about international markting for decades.Secondly the role of values as elements of the human knowledge system and the role of values as determinants of cultures will be discussed. Moreover, the article will address the question as to how important values are in consumer psychology and how an appeal to dominant values can increase the persuasiveness of advertising. This article will conclude with a review of previous research into the persuasiveness of value appeals in different cultural settings and suggestions for future research.