Exploring the nonlinear influence of nonverbal dominance in marketing communicators: Instrumental outcomes, social outcomes, and persuasion

Wassili Lasarov (), Ulrich Orth, Jochen Wirtz and Mirjam Holm
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Wassili Lasarov: Audencia Business School
Ulrich Orth: CAU - Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel = Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel = Université Christian-Albrechts de Kiel
Jochen Wirtz: NUS - National University of Singapore
Mirjam Holm: mindline GmbH

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Abstract: Expressions of dominance present potentially powerful nonverbal means for interpersonal marketing communications. Yet, research on the persuasiveness of nonverbal dominance has generated seemingly contradictory results. To reconcile these and establish whether there is a meaningful link between nonverbal dominance and persuasive outcomes, our study integrates nonverbal communication research with the warmth-competence model of social cognition. A field study and five experiments demonstrate that communicators perceived as either low or high in nonverbal dominance will generally be less persuasive than communicators exuding intermediate levels. Underlying this overall bell-shaped influence of dominance on persuasion are two independent pathways: one channeling the effect through instrumental outcomes (competence) and the other through social outcomes (warmth). Consumer focus on instrumental over social outcomes and consumer-communicator homophily represent boundary conditions. These findings suggest that nonlinear relationships may have been overlooked in past research.

Keywords: Dominance; Nonverbal communication; Competence; Warmth; Persuasion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://audencia.hal.science/hal-04184517
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Published in Journal of Business Research, 2023, 168, pp.114201. ⟨10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114201⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04184517

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114201

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