Oscar W. DeShields, Jr. ! Gilberto de los Santos
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Thunderbird International Business Review • January–February 2000
a high-involvement product. A number of studies have shown that the
message source has a significant impact on attitude change only in the
low-involvement condition (Wilson & Sherrell, 1993). However,
receiver involvement with a product/service has also been shown to
interact with the credibility, consisting of spokesperson expertise and
trustworthiness, of the spokesperson (Mazursky & Schul, 1992). These
authors reported that under low involvement consumers use the source
of the message as a simple acceptance or rejection parameter indepen-
dent of the message. On the other hand, when involvement is high, an
interactive effect occurs where the source provides the context for the
interpretation of the message. DeShields (1995b) reported that con-
trary to the predictions of Petty and Cacioppo (1979), E.L.M.
spokesman credibility acts like both a peripheral and an informational
cue, thus impacting consumer purchase intentions in not only low-
involvement situations but also high-involvement situations.
Furthermore, the high-involvement situation actually enhanced the
impact of salesman credibility on consumer purchase intentions.
However, a salesman’s accent only had a significant impact on con-
sumer purchase intentions for the high-involvement situation, thus
confirming E.L.M. prediction for the role of an informational cue.
Spokesperson Accent
A number of researchers have posited that speech style, including
accent, appears to have a powerful impact on the ratings of respon-
dents over a broad range of characteristics attributed to the presenter
(Lambert, 1967; Labov, 1972, 1973; Giles, Baker, & Fielding, 1975;
Giles & Sassoon, 1983; Bradac & Wisegarver, 1984). Edwards
(1982) reported that a variety of investigations in English-speaking
countries (e.g., the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia)
found that presenters with a standard accent or dialect were perceived
to exhibit more traits of (a) competence as perceived through
intelligence, confidence, ambition, and industriousness, and (b) sta-
tus/prestige, as perceived through professionalism. However, pre-
senters with a nonstandard accent were perceived as having more
traits of (a) personal integrity: sincerity, reliability, and generosity, and
(b) social attractiveness: friendliness and warmth (Lambert, 1967;
Giles & Powesland, 1975; Powesland & Giles, 1975). Giles (1970,
1971) reported similar results in his comparison of British Received
Pronunciation—a nonregional/standard English—with two regional
dialects. Berechree and Ball (1976) noted in an Australian investiga-
tion that greater competence and social-attractiveness ratings were
displayed for the Cultivated Australian as opposed to the two other
dialect varieties—Broad and General. Also, Carranza and Ryan
. . . speech
style, including
accent,
appears to
have a power-
ful impact
on the ratings
of respondents
over
a broad range
of characteris-
tics attributed
to the
presenter.