Consumer versus Product Accommodation: A Study Using Regional Dialects

Brands need to find the right way to communicate with their customers and the decision on whether to standardize versus adapt their communication across markets is of fundamental importance. This study examines the effects of adjusting the language to the target audience (consumer accommodation effect) or of highlighting a product’s ethnicity (product accommodation effect) on outcomes. Using communication accomodation theory as theoretical framework, results show that important trade-offs between these two processes exist and that the proclamation of an origin moderates these effects. We apply these principles in a new and important setting, namely regional dialects, as a special form of communication. Our findings contribute to the literature on communication accommodation and product ethnicity, but also to the discussion on the relevance of origin effects. From a managerial perspective, we offer concrete recommendations to companies whether they should address customers using language that reflects their origin or adapt it to target customers.