Narrative persuasion in a foreign language.

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2018-06-08
Language
en
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In the research field of narrative persuasion, how language choice (L1/L2) impacts the persuasiveness of corporate narratives has not been thoroughly investigated. A between-subject experiment design, including 66 German and 151 Dutch native speakers who either read a corporate narrative in their first language (German/Dutch) or in their second language (English), was set up. The results regarding language choice reveal that narratives written in L1 were more comprehensible for both the Dutch and the German respondents, and that the Dutch participants were more willing to buy the product when the narrative introducing the product was written in their L1. Furthermore, the Dutch rated the English language more positive than their L1. The findings on the effect of nationality on narrative persuasiveness reveal that the Dutch participants displayed a higher comprehension and rated the organisation more positive than the German participants. For marketers in the field of international business communication, the results suggest that they should design their marketing content in the target audience’s first language, and bear in mind culture-dependent reactions to persuasive content and the target audience’s language proficiency.
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