| Abstract |
As the frontline to communicate with customers, sales practitioners have long operated under the assumption that the initial impression of the salesperson is an important cue for customers to evaluate the service or product. The babyfaced salespersons are perceived as more trustful than those with mature face, and thus, have a greater impact on producing agreement with the message. Based on the previous research of the babyface effects, we develop hypotheses of how babyfacedness, message framing and crowding affect product evaluation.
The present study uses experimental design to investigate the effects of the babyfaceness (babyface vs. mature face), message framing (promotion framing vs. prevention framing) and the crowding (crowded vs. uncrowded). A 2x2x2 factorial design is conducted. Eight different scenarios are established and product evaluation is measured.
The results indicate that, a mature-faced salesperson is more effective in using a promotion-framed message than using a prevention-framed message in terms of product evaluation. However, no such difference is found with a babyfaced salesperson. When the shopping environment is uncrowded, a babyfaced salesperson using a prevention-framed message is more effective than that using a promotion-framed message. Opposite results are found with a mature-faced salesperson. When the shopping environment is crowded, a babyfaced salesperson using a promotion-framed message is more effective than that using a prevention-framed message. No such difference is found with a mature-faced salesperson. |
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