Paralanguage and the charismatic spokesperson: The impact of vocal amplitude on charisma, auditory looming, and customer engagement

Christine Ringler and Nancy J. Sirianni

Journal of Business Research, 2025, vol. 193, issue C

Abstract: What vocal qualities draw customers in and drive them to engage with charismatic spokespeople and the brands/causes they represent? Building on theory in leadership, evolutionary psychology, and sensory marketing, we examine how the paralinguistic quality of vocal amplitude can impact customer engagement intentions as well as objectively measured engagement behavior. Across four experiments set in three marketing contexts, results indicate that when the spokesperson uses a falling vocal amplitude, customer engagement is greater due to perceptions of the spokesperson’s charisma. However, when the spokesperson speaks with a higher vocal pitch, the positive effects of falling amplitude are attenuated. Additionally, when the spokesperson uses a rising vocal amplitude, this induces perceptions of auditory looming, which results in decreased customer engagement. Given the following that charismatic spokespeople can generate, it is imperative that marketers gain a deeper understanding of how to effectively utilize paralinguistic qualities to increase their positive impact with customers.

Keywords: Charisma; Evolutionary Psychology; Sensory Marketing; Amplitude; Customer Engagement; Auditory Looming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296325001687
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:193:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325001687

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115345

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().