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Birds of a Feather Feel Together: Emotional Ability Similarity in Consumer Interactions

Blair Kidwell¹; Virginie Lopez-Kidwell²; Christopher Blocker³; Erick M Mas⁴

¹ Associate professor of marketing at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203 · ² Assistant professor of management at the University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203. ([email protected]) · ³ Associate professor of marketing at the Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. ([email protected]) · ⁴ Postdoctoral fellow at the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203. ([email protected])

Abstract The authors introduce emotional ability similarity to explain consumer satisfaction in interactions with frontline sales and service employees and other consumers beyond the effects of traditional relational variables in the similarity–attraction paradigm. Four studies examine how and why similar abilities for using emotional information between two people promote relational success in marketplace exchanges. We find that, when interacting with others, consumers who exchange nonverbal information with their partners experience (dis)similarity in their emotional ability (EA). Similar dyads who rely on expressive (high–high EA pairs) or inexpressive (low–low EA pairs) emotion norms experience significantly greater satisfaction in their interactions than consumers with dissimilar norms (high–low EA pairs). Together, these findings advance the understanding of consumer relationships and satisfaction by establishing EA similarity as a new avenue for consumer research.

DOI

10.1093/jcr/ucaa011

Volume

47 (2)

Pages

215-236

Language

en

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