Perceptions of Hard Sell and Soft Sell Vocal Styles across Countries: Lessons from France and New Zealand

Figures & data

Table 1. Research questions.

Difference within countries	Attitude (liking)	RQ1: Does consumers’ attitude (liking or disliking) toward the hard-sell and soft-sell vocal styles (MHS, FHS, MSS, FSS; HSMF, SSMF) differ within countries?
	Familiarity	RQ2: Does consumers’ familiarity toward the hard-sell and soft-sell vocal styles (MHF, FHS, MSS, FSS; HSMF, SSMF) differ within countries?
Difference across countries	Attitude (liking)	RQ3: Does consumers’ attitude (liking or disliking) toward the hard-sell and soft-sell vocal styles (MHS, FHS, MSS, FSS; HSMF, SSMF) differ across countries?
	Familiarity	RQ4: Does consumers’ familiarity toward the hard-sell and soft-sell vocal styles (MHF, FHS, MSS, FSS; HSMF, SSMF) differ across countries?
RQ5: Is there a relationship between consumers’ familiarity with a vocal style (MHF, FHS, MSS, FSS; HSMF, SSMF) and their attitude (liking or disliking) toward it?

MHS: male hard-sell; FHS: female hard-sell; MSS: male soft-sell; FSS: female soft-sell; HSMF: hard sell male and female combined; SSMF: soft sell male and female combined.

Table 2. Respondents’ rating of each voice’s characteristics.

		Fast vs. slow	Shouting vs. whispering	Excited vs. calm
MHS	Mean	1.97	2.23	1.98
	SD	0.94	1.04	1.09
	t-Test	−38.213***	−30.14***	−32.84***
FHS	Mean	1.43	1.96	1.43
	SD	0.61	0.89	0.64
	t-Test	−74.23***	−40.72***	−71.04***
MSS	Mean	5.77	5.39	5.98
	SD	1.16	1.08	1.12
	t-Test	27.1***	22.83***	31.49***
FSS	Mean	6.28	6.27	6.42
	SD	0.78	0.83	1.01
	t-Test	51.83***	48.85***	42.75***

N = 319. ***p < 0.01.

The t-tests test whether the mean of each variable (i.e., fast vs. slow) is equal to 4 which is the midpoint of our 1–7 Likert scale.

Figure 1. Model illustrating the relationship between variables (vocal styles gender separated).

Figure 2. Model illustrating the relationship between variables (vocal styles gender combined).

Table 3. Results of two-way ANOVA where group variable is attitude (liking) toward the vocal style and category variable is country.

Gender separated	MHS	FHS	MSS	FSS	Mean difference	t-Stat
New Zealand
Mean	3.93	3.34	3.58	3.76
Standard deviation	1.53	1.67	1.53	1.50
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	39.89%	26.60%	30.32%	34.57%
France
Mean	3.11	2.24	4.73	4.81
Standard deviation	1.53	1.38	1.35	1.44
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	22.59%	8.87%	61.30%	66.94%
Mean difference	0.82***	1.1***	−1.15***	−1.05***
F test	21.78	36.68	46.46	38.24
Df	1310	1310	1310	1310
Gender combined	HSMF hard sell		SSMF soft sell
New Zealand
Mean	3.63		3.67		−0.035	−0.30
Standard deviation	1.63		1.52
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	33.24%		32.45%
France
Mean	2.67		4.77		−2.10***	−15.61
Standard deviation	1.52		1.40
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	15.73%		64.11%
Mean difference	0.96***		−1.106***
F test	54.87		84.52
Df	1623		1623

***p < 0.01.

Table 4. Mean difference between each voice within each country: attitude (liking).

			MHS		FHS		MSS
			France	NZ	France	NZ	France	NZ
			Second most disliked	Most liked	Most disliked	Most disliked	Second most liked	Second most disliked
FHS	France	Most disliked	−0.870 −4.702 p = .1471
	NZ	Most disliked		−0.590 −3.572***
MSS	France	Second most liked	1.620 8.841***		2.490 14.363***
	NZ	Second most disliked		−0.350 −2.218**		0.240 1.453 p = .1471
FSS	France	Most liked	1.700 9.010***		2.570 14.349***		0.080 0.451 p = .6522
	NZ	Second most liked		−0.170 −1.088 p = .2774		0.420 2.565**		0.180 1.152 p = .2501

**p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

The top figure in each cell is the mean difference, the second figure is the t-statistic, and the third one is the p-value.

Table 5. Results of two-way ANOVA where group variable is familiarity toward the vocal style and category variable is country.

Gender separated	MHS	FHS	MSS	FSS	Mean difference	t-Stat
New Zealand
Mean	6.15	6.13	3.97	3.78
Standard deviation	0.87	1.03	1.75	1.7
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	96.81%	94.68%	44.68%	39.36%
France
Mean	3.93	3.61	3.77	3.96
Standard deviation	1.89	2.04	1.75	1.74
Percentage of response over 4 (scale of 1–7)	46.77%	40.32%	40.32%	50%
Mean difference	2.22***	2.52***	0.20	−0.18
F test	196.38	205.63	0.96	0.67
Df	1310	1310	1310	1310
Gender combined	HSMF hard sell		SSMF soft sell
New Zealand
Mean	6.14		3.88		2.25***	23.70
Standard deviation	0.96		1.73
Percentage of response over 4 (on a scale of 1–7)	95.75%		42.02%
France
Mean	3.77		3.87		−0.09	−0.54
Standard deviation	1.97		1.75
Percentage of response over 4 (on a scale of 1–7)	43.55%		45.16%
Mean difference	2.37***		0.01
F test	400.82		0.02
Df	1622		1622

***p < 0.01.

Table 6. Mean difference between each voice within each country: familiarity.

			MHS		FHS		MSS
			France	NZ	France	NZ	France	NZ
			Second most familiar	Most familiar	Least familiar	Second most familiar	Second least familiar	Second least familiar
FHS	France	Least familiar	−0.320 −1.281 p = .2013
	NZ	Second most familiar		−0.020 −0.203 p = .8389
MSS	France	Second least familiar	−0.160 −0.692 p = .4898		0.160 0.663 p = .5080
	NZ	Second least familiar		−2.180 −15.295***		−2.160 −14.585***
FSS	France	Most familiar	0.030 0.130 p = .8966		0.350 1.154 p = .1473		0.190 0.857 p = .3921
	NZ	Least familiar		−2.370 −17.016***		−2.350 −16.211***		−0.190 −1.068 p = .2863

The top figure in each cell is the mean difference, the second figure is the t-statistic, and the third one is the p-value.

*p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

Table 7. SEM results where independent variable is familiarity with the vocal style and dependent variable is attitude (liking) toward the vocal style (New Zealand).

Gender separated	MHS	FHS	MSS	FSS
Familiarity—β	0.63***	0.53***	0.80***	0.88***
Z score	34.22	26.15	27.29	29.90
Chi square	12.21	14.77	71.49	77.30
CFI	1	1	1	1
TLI	1	1	1	1
SRMR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
N	188	188	188	188
Gender combined	HSMF hard sell		SSMF soft sell
Familiarity—β	0.58***		0.84***
Z score	41.65		40.16
Chi square	26.74		149.22
CFI	1		1
TLI	1		1
SRMR	0.00		0.00
N	376		376

***p < 0.01.

Table 8. SEM results where independent variable is familiarity with the vocal style and dependent variable is attitude (liking) toward the vocal style (France).

Gender separated	MHS	FHS	MSS	FSS
Familiarity—β	0.69***	0.54***	1.09***	1.05***
Z score	19.61	17.95	27.17	23.35
Chi square	41.52	26.18	110.41	106.94
CFI	1	1	1	1
TLI	1	1	1	1
SRMR	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
N	124	124	124	124
Gender combined	HSMF hard sell		SSMF soft sell
Familiarity—β	0.62***		1.071***
Z score	26.07		35.38
Chi square	61.04		214.04
CFI	1		1
TLI	1		1
SRMR	0.00		0.00
N	248		248

***p < 0.01.