Accent Speaks Louder than Ability: The Effect of Nonnative Accents on Trust Repair

Abstract

This paper examines whether speaking with a nonnative accent adversely affects individuals’ perceived trustworthiness and level of trust after a trust violation in an English-speaking context. Furthermore, this study also examines how others-focused perspective taking plays a role in helping to overcome the biased judgements. An experimental vignette situated around a hiring process was conducted to examine these research questions. The results suggest that nonnative English speakers do face bias in the form of being judged as less trustworthy in terms of their ability, but not benevolence and integrity, and are hence trusted less in comparison to native English speakers following an identical interaction. In addition, the findings indicate that perspective taking ameliorates that unjustified penalty by having the trustor vicariously walk in the nonnative speaker’s shoes. These study findings hold promising theoretical and practical implications for organizations that unfair judgements on stigmatized individuals, including nonnative English speakers, may be overcome through operationalizing perspective taking. This study contributes to the current literature on diversity management by emphasizing language-based stigmas and a more comprehensive understanding of interpersonal trust repair. Keywords: Nonnative accent, stigma, ability, trust repair, trustworthiness, perspective-taking