Exploring the nonlinear influence of nonverbal dominance in marketing communicators: Instrumental outcomes, social outcomes, and persuasion

Abstract

Expressions of dominance present potentially powerful nonverbal means for interpersonal marketing communications. Yet, research on the persuasiveness of nonverbal dominance has generated seemingly contradictory results. To reconcile these and establish whether there is a meaningful link between nonverbal dominance and persuasive outcomes, our study integrates nonverbal communication research with the warmth-competence model of social cognition. A field study and five experiments demonstrate that communicators perceived as either low or high in nonverbal dominance will generally be less persuasive than communicators exuding intermediate levels. Underlying this overall bell-shaped influence of dominance on persuasion are two independent pathways: one channeling the effect through instrumental outcomes (competence) and the other through social outcomes (warmth). Consumer focus on instrumental over social outcomes and consumer-communicator homophily represent boundary conditions. These findings suggest that nonlinear relationships may have been overlooked in past research.