The effect of non-native vs. native language and explanations on persuasiveness of requests in corporative settings.
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2022-06-27
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en
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Explanations are speech acts that are persuasive when urging someone to comply with a request. In corporative contexts where requests are part of daily internal communication, it is essential to know how persuasive these requests can be when an explanation is provided. Additionally, testing if the explanations for requests are more persuasive in a non-native language can improve organisational communication tactics. This experimental study aimed to investigate the effects of non-native vs. native language and the presence vs. absence of an explanation on the persuasiveness of a request among colleagues at the same hierarchical level. The experiment was held online with a questionnaire via Qualtrics, and the responses of 159 participants’ were analysed. The participants were asked to imagine participating in a conversation where a colleague requested them to comply with a task. Then they answered questions regarding their intention to comply with this request. The first hypothesis was that participants would rate the request more persuasive after receiving an explanation. The second hypothesis was that participants would rate the request more persuasive after receiving an explanation in a non-native language. Unexpectedly, the results were not significant, rejecting both hypotheses and concluding that regardless of the language or the presence of an explanation, the persuasion of requests is likely to be perceived equally by employees. However, it was suggested that social factors related to politeness should also be considered in the perception of explanations, which can be explored in future research.
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