The language backfire effect: do customers always prefer to be served in their strongest language?

Current research in service research and sociolinguistics proposes that customers who are served in their native language hold more favorable impressions of the service provider than customers served in their second language. This paper challenges that perspective. Two studies show that consumers served in their first language after initiating contact in a second language feel humiliated. The results show that consumers exhibit a backfire effect to the service provider’s language change, and this backfire effect is due to a perceived identity threat. Consumers who are served in their first language when trying to speak a second language assume the service provider doubts their language skills, causing perceived humiliation. As even minor variations in humiliation might have negative consequences for service providers, the findings carry important implications for both theory and practice

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The language backfire effect: should service providers always serve customers in their strongest language?

In 2008, newly appointed French education minister Xavier Darcos made headlines around the world by encouraging his compatriots to learn better English. One of the reasons behind the minister’s proposal was the perception that speaking English is an essential part of accommodating foreign tourists in France, the world’s largest tourism market. The minister’s recommendation appears to have been met with such a swing to English among Paris waiters that major British tourism guides to Paris, including Lonely Planet and Rough Guide, advice their readers that they are likely to be addressed in English by Paris waiters even if they try to speak French. Extant research in sociolinguistics, marketing, and service research support this decision, as researchers propose that customers who are served in their native language, or in a language they feel more comfortable (L1) hold more favorable impressions of the service provider than customers who are served in their second language (L2). This research project challenges this perspective. Three experiments show that consumers who are served in L1, after they initiated contact in L2, feel more humiliated than if they are served in L2. We call this the language backfire effect. We provide support for the idea that the language backfire effect is due to the identity threatening nature of language switching: Consumers who are served in their L1 believe the service provider doubts their second language skills (L2), causing perceived humiliation. The findings also show that the language backfire effect only holds if the service provider him- or herself has bad knowledge of the customer’s L1, but not when the service provider has good knowledge of the customer’s L1. As even minor variations in humiliation might have negative consequences for service providers, these findings carry important implications for both theory and practice

The language backfire effect: Do customers always prefer service in their first language?

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