{
  "title": "Customer reception: does an accent change perceived credibility?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-accent-et-credibilite-a-bale-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-07-06",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "In an international reception setting, understanding someone and believing them are distinct processes. Research invites us to examine whether credibility judgments reflect ease of processing rather than facts.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Basel",
    "region": "Bâle-Ville",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Shiri Lev-Ari and Boaz Keysar (2010, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) studied the credibility of trivia statements spoken in English with different accents."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Ease of processing as a misleading cue",
      "point": "Rolf Reber and Norbert Schwarz (1999, Consciousness and Cognition) showed that ease of reading, manipulated through visual contrast, could alter truth judgments."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that employees should be trained to ignore accents."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the data do not establish",
      "point": "These experiments do not demonstrate that visitors with an accent systematically receive less favourable treatment in Basel businesses."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Basel",
      "point": "Within SHR's « Accueil client » programme, a simulation can use requests recorded with consent by several speakers with different accents, providing identical information for an international R&D visit, a pharmaceutical appointment or a delivery linked to Rhine logistics."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Keysar",
      "year": "2010",
      "source": "Journal of Experimental Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Schwarz",
      "year": "1999",
      "source": "Consciousness and Cognition"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 414,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-07-06-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-accent-et-credibilite-a-bale",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-accent-et-credibilite-a-bale-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-accent-et-credibilite-a-bale-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-accent-et-credibilite-a-bale-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/bale",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/bale",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}