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abstract

This paper explores Hispanic immigrants' reactions to linguistic servicescapes in retail banking in Southern California. This fertile area of enquiry combines the sociolinguistic theory of linguistic landscape with research into multilingual service encounters describing what happens in the retail servicescape before the service encounter which sets up expectations for what happens during the service encounter. This new term describes the use of language in and around a service encounter including signage and promotional materials as well as bilingual personnel. In multilingual areas such as Southern California where the use of a minority language is politically charged, effective encoding of symbolic language by the service provider is crucial for the success of a service encounter. The results of this study indicate that management's actual or perceived lack of sensitivity to appropriate linguistic symbols leads to both confusion and an attribution of discrimination towards the targeted ethnic group—even if none were intended. What is written or said in the service encounter is important, but this research illustrates that the context is also significant. The wider symbolic use of language is key in determining the success of service encounters.

4. Discussion

This study explores how the concept of the linguistic servicescape integrates research on both the informational and symbolic effects of ethnic language usage in ethnic-targeted retail services, in this case, retail banking, particularly in an area known for ethnolinguistic tension such as Southern California. In general, the paper supports the notion that the effects are multifaceted and more complex than first hypothesized. The linguistic servicescape in a hypothetical retail bank affects not only the level of confusion that Hispanic immigrants feel, but also their perceptions of discrimination and service provider's sensitivity to culture. In fact, confusion does not affect banking response directly; its effect is entirely mediated by attributions of discrimination and sensitivity. Given the interactions of informational and symbolic language usage on cultural evaluation and consumer response to the banking service, this study demonstrates that neither the informational nor symbolic effects of language can be adequately studied in isolation.