The Effectiveness of Vocalized Hesitations When Discussing International Travel Experiences

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of vocalized hesitations when attempting to persuade people to travel abroad by recounting personal international experiences. Using an experimental design, 171 undergraduate students at California State University, Sacramento were divided into two groups and shown a video of someone attempting to persuade them to travel abroad based on fictional international experiences with or without vocalized hesitations. Participants then completed questionnaires measuring their attitudes about the message. The results suggest that the effectiveness of vocalized hesitations is dependent on the message receiver, the travel experiences, and the type of persuasion. According to the 2008 World Tourism Organization, international tourist arrivals (people traveling outside of their home country) reached 922 million people. Additionally, more people are visiting other countries for study abroad programs and for business purposes. As a consequence, people of varying cultures find themselves in situations where they will have to interact with different people, making intercultural communication effectiveness an increasingly valuable characteristic. To effectively interact with culturally different people, a reduction of ethnocentrism is necessary. A recent study (DeNotaris et al. 2008) reported a strong negative correlation between frequency of travel and a person’s ethnocentric predisposition. This correlation suggests that individuals who travel more frequently and experience more cultures are less inclined to judge other cultures in reference to their own as the standard. Thus, traveling abroad contributes to intercultural communication effectiveness. In a qualitative study (Pennington and Wildermuth 2005), students made comments about their short-term travel/study experiences abroad that fit into a model of intercultural competency, suggesting that even short-term experiences in different cultures contribute to intercultural communication effectiveness.