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When it comes to creating successful business interactions, exchanges between buyers and sellers with similar emotional abilities may lead to more lucrative outcomes than an animated or ambitious employee alone. Erick Mas, a postdoctoral fellow at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, and his research partners studied how differing levels of deep-level interpersonal similarity using emotional skills—such as expressive speech, eye contact, touch and other expressions in communication—impact business relationships and consumption decisions. With regard to establishing successful long-lasting relationships, “We found that two people with low emotional ability interacting with each other are equally as successful as two people with high emotional ability,” said Mas.“Disparate levels of emotional ability can lead a client to feel uncomfortable with what he or she considers too much or too little use of emotion in communication.” The research, “Birds of a Feather Feel Together: Emotional Ability Similarity inConsumer Interactions” is found in the Journal of Consumer Research. Mas’ coauthors are Blair Kidwell and Virginie Lopez-Kidwell from University of North Texas and Christopher from Colorado State University. The prevailing understanding of the use of emotional intelligence in interactions (i.e., emotional ability) from past research is that a person with high emotional ability should be able to fine tune their emotional expression to match the other’s preference. This allows the person with high emotional ability to carry the interaction with their counterpart, to make sure it’s a positive experience for everyone. But this new research shows that is not the case. MIXED SIGNALS The researchers found that a mismatch in emotional ability actually has a detrimental effect on interactions. “The problem is that for somebody who is lower in emotional ability interacting with somebody who's higher in emotional ability, they both end up feeling invalidated because their communication needs are not matching up.” said Mas. This “emotional ability similarity” phenomenon impacts all levels of interactions, from frontline sales and service employees with consumers (e.g., real estate agents and homebuyers), as well as the personal relationships among people who live, purchase and consume together (e.g., romantic partners, families, friends and roommates.) FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTION A critical secondary finding is the importance of face-to-face interactions for the emotional ability similarity to have a positive effect on the relationship. The recommendation that one could glean from the research is that it’s better to interact with people in person, and face-to-face. The COVID pandemic and social distancing has made this more difficult, but it is important to go back to personal interactions, once safe. “When you can’t see someone, such as when talking on the phone or emailing, you can't read a person’s emotions [very well]. So, the gains received from having emotional chemistry or being a match in terms of emotional ability are diminished,” said Mas. EXPERIMENTS The researchers conducted multiple unique studies to examine the effects of emotional ability similarity on consumer relationships and marketing exchange outcomes. A longitudinal field study with salespeople from a top real estate firm and their customers, demonstrated how emotional ability similarity influences consumers’ perceptions of customer–salesperson interactions in real-world interpersonal relationships. In a lab experiment, the researchers paired subjects who were similar and dissimilar in their level of emotional ability. In other experiments, they disrupted participants’ ability to exchange non-verbal communication with their partner by having them sit facing away from each other or speaking via Zoom conferencing software with the video component disabled. The experiments ended with similar results: When both parties could exchange non-verbal communication with their partner, people with matching emotional ability levels had better interactions than those with conflicting emotional abilities. The study titled, “Birds of a Feather Feel Together: Emotional Ability Similarity in Consumer Interactions” can be found here. Read more research from Vanderbilt and the Owen Graduate School of Management here. Follow Vanderbilt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanderbiltu Instagram: http://instagram.com/vanderbiltu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanderbilt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?id=19443 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/vanderbilt See all Vanderbilt social media at http://social.vanderbilt.edu.

This holiday season, you might want to take extra care wrapping those trinkets for acquaintances like neighbors and coworkers, and not worry so much about those gifts for your close friends and family. Follow Vanderbilt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanderbiltu Instagram: http://instagram.com/vanderbiltu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanderbilt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?id=19443 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/vanderbilt See all Vanderbilt social media at http://social.vanderbilt.edu.

In the US, millions of consumers experience various forms of vulnerability, including poverty, homelessness, and substance use disorders. Moderated by Broderick Turner, marketing scholars Erick Mas and Esther Uduehi will share cutting-edge research that focuses on how identity can transform how vulnerable consumers authentically connect with brands. They’ll share how language can motivate others to help these communities. Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) will also participate in this session to discuss how they implement inclusive strategies to change negative perceptions and outcomes for vulnerable communities across the United States.