IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v55y2020ics0969698919308367.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Brand preference in the face of control loss and service failure: The role of the sound of brands

Author

Listed:
  • Khenfer, Jamel
  • Cuny, Caroline

Abstract

This research shows that consumers compensate for a loss of perceived control inherent to service failure by extracting sensory information from brand names, and specifically from plosive consonants. Across three experimental studies, we show that in contexts of reduced control, which characterizes service failure, consumers prefer brand names containing plosives (versus fricatives) as a way of reasserting personal control because plosive sounds elicit a disposition to act. In doing so, we highlight the use of brand name innovation to anticipate low control state, and thus, the psychological discomfort experienced by customers following service failure.

Suggested Citation

  • Khenfer, Jamel & Cuny, Caroline, 2020. "Brand preference in the face of control loss and service failure: The role of the sound of brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:55:y:2020:i:c:s0969698919308367
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102132
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698919308367
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102132?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sascha Topolinski, 2017. "Articulation Patterns in Names: A Hidden Route to Consumer Preference," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 382-391.
    2. Halbheer, Daniel & Gärtner, Dennis L. & Gerstner, Eitan & Koenigsberg, Oded, 2018. "Optimizing service failure and damage control," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 100-115.
    3. Pacheco, Natália Araújo & Geuens, Maggie & Pizzutti, Cristiane, 2018. "Whom do customers blame for a service failure? Effects of thought speed on causal locus attribution," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 60-65.
    4. Tina M. Lowrey & L. J. Shrum, 2007. "Phonetic Symbolism and Brand Name Preference," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 406-414, June.
    5. Keith S. Coulter & Robin A. Coulter, 2010. "Small Sounds, Big Deals: Phonetic Symbolism Effects in Pricing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 315-328, August.
    6. Choi, Sunmee & Mattila, Anna S., 2008. "Perceived controllability and service expectations: Influences on customer reactions following service failure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 24-30, January.
    7. Carnevale, Marina & Luna, David & Lerman, Dawn, 2017. "Brand linguistics: A theory-driven framework for the study of language in branding," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 572-591.
    8. Jamel Khenfer & Kristin Laurin & Eric Tafani & Elyette Roux & Aaron Kay, 2017. "Interventionist external agents make specific advice less demotivating," Post-Print hal-01794436, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Boadi, Evans Asante & He, Zheng & Antwi, Collins Opoku & Md Altab, Hossin & Bosompem, Josephine & Hinson, Robert Ebo & Atuobuah Boadi, Victoria, 2022. "Value co-creation and employee service behaviours: The moderating role of trust in employee - hotel relationship," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Jafarzadeh, Hamed & Tafti, Mahdi & Intezari, Ali & Sohrabi, Babak, 2021. "All's well that ends well: Effective recovery from failures during the delivery phase of e-retailing process," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Li, Mengyi & Ma, Qin-hai, 2022. "“Do not impose on others what you desire.†Research on the influence of service Personnel's interactive orientation on customer comfort," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Jun, Yesel & Lee, Hyunju, 2022. "A sound brand identity design: The interplay between sound symbolism and typography on brand attitude and memory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "How to project action through the sound of brand names?," Post-Print hal-03189336, HAL.
    2. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "How to project action through the sound of brand names?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-03189336, HAL.
    3. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "Comment communiquer l'action par la sonorité des noms de marques ?," Post-Print hal-03189334, HAL.
    4. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "Comment communiquer l'action par la sonorité des noms de marques ?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-03189334, HAL.
    5. Stacey M. Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski & Tina M. Lowrey, 2017. "Using sublexical priming to enhance brand name phonetic symbolism effects in young children," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 565-577, December.
    6. Ketron, Seth & Spears, Nancy, 2021. "Sound-symbolic signaling of online retailer sizes: The moderating effect of shopping goals," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    7. Richard R. Klink & Lan Wu, 2017. "Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 411-422, September.
    8. Daniel Kaimann & Clarissa Laura Maria Spiess Bru, 2023. "Sounds too Feminine? Brand Gender and The Impact on Professional Critics," Working Papers Dissertations 107, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    9. Alicia Kulczynski & Stacey Brennan & Jasmina Ilicic, 2021. "A spokesperson with any name won’t be as charming: the phonetic effect of spokesperson name and gender on personality evaluations," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 221-239, March.
    10. Abhishek Pathak & Carlos Velasco & Charles Spence, 2020. "The sound of branding: An analysis of the initial phonemes of popular brand names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(3), pages 339-354, May.
    11. Stacey Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski, 2015. "What’s in a name? Examining the effect of phonetic fit between spokesperson name and product attributes on source credibility," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 525-534, December.
    12. Carnevale, Marina & Hadi, Rhonda & Luna, David & Pogacar, Ruth, 2023. "Follow your nose when it sounds right: How brand names influence consumer responses to product scents," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    13. Ruth Pogacar & Emily Plant & Laura Rosulek & Michal Kouril, 2015. "Sounds good: Phonetic sound patterns in top brand names," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 549-563, December.
    14. Richard Klink & Lan Wu, 2014. "The role of position, type, and combination of sound symbolism imbeds in brand names," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 13-24, March.
    15. Leonhardt, James M. & Pechmann, Cornelia, 2021. "Is this product easy to control? Liabilities of using difficult-to-pronounce product names," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 90-102.
    16. Motoki, Kosuke & Pathak, Abhishek, 2022. "Articulatory global branding: Generalizability, modulators, and mechanisms of the in-out effect in non-WEIRD consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 231-239.
    17. Matthew Fisher & Milica Mormann, 2022. "The Off by 100% Bias: The Effects of Percentage Changes Greater than 100% on Magnitude Judgments and Consumer Choice [Numerosity and Consumer Behavior]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 561-573.
    18. George Doorn & Bryan Paton & Charles Spence, 2016. "Is J the new K? Initial letters and brand names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(6), pages 666-678, November.
    19. Wenyan Zhou & Oliver Hinz & Alexander Benlian, 2018. "The impact of the package opening process on product returns," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(2), pages 279-308, September.
    20. Enis Yakut & Ayse Gul Bayraktaroglu, 2021. "Consumer reactions to product recalls: the effects of intentionality, reputation, and public apology on purchase intentions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 527-564, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:55:y:2020:i:c:s0969698919308367. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.