International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326

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International Journal of Hospitality Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhm

Non-verbal communication in hospitality: At the intersection of religion and T

gender
Mohammad Shahidul Islam, Ksenia Kirillova
⁎

School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 17 Science Museum Road, TST East, Kowloon, Hong Kong

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Given the criticality of successful bilateral (guest–employee) interactions in the increasingly internationalised
Non-verbal communication hospitality business environment, the overarching aim of this study is to determine whether religion (Buddhism,
Hospitality Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity) plays a role in how hotel employees’ non-verbal communication is perceived
Lodging management by guests. In addition, we are interested in understanding perceptions of hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour
Service quality
from the perspective of the intersection of religion and gender. This exploratory research is based on cross-
Gender
Religion
sectional data collected from 384 hotel guests in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results showed that Christian guests
perceived proxemics, physical appearance and paralanguage of hotel employees less favourably than Muslim
guests did. Effects of religion on kinesics and proxemics also depended on gender. Implications are discussed
theoretically in terms of cross-religious discourse and practically in terms of workforce training.

1. Introduction In hotel service settings, face-to-face interaction between guests and

With the global nature of the hospitality industry, the number and
intensity of cross-religious interactions in the hospitality context are
growing (Raj & Griffin, 2015). As a result, well-developed inter-re-
ligious competence among hotel employees has been critical to com-
municate effectively with guests from different religious backgrounds
(Cohen, 1998; Rudd & Mills, 2015). This condition is justified as hotel
companies consider intergrading into the global markets. Thus, hospi-
tality practitioners must be aware of factors related to interaction in a
specific region’s religion (Nyaupane et al., 2015; Steiner & Reisinger,
2004). In addition, successful hospitality organisations exert consider-
able efforts to guide their employees in suitable ways to execute quality
interaction with guests from varying cultural and religious backgrounds
(Chung-Herrera et al., 2003; Hannigan, 1990). Therefore, the aware-
ness and analysis of the phenomenon of inter-religious interaction style
are vital in improving guest service experience and subsequent post-
experience evaluations (e.g. word-of-mouth). Moreover, the academic
community in hospitality and tourism believe that exploring religious
differences in interaction preferences can be an important indicator that
can contribute to the global harmony and growth of hospitality and
tourism (e.g. Stausberg, 2012; Furrer et al., 2000). Compared with the
contribution of cross-cultural aspects to the extant literature on hospi-
tality and tourism, few empirical studies on inter-religious issues have
attempted to discuss bilateral interaction to date (Swanson et al., 2014).
employees is conceptualised through their verbal and non-verbal ex-
change of cues (Sundaram & Webster, 2000; Jung & Yoon, 2011). De-
spite the importance of verbal interaction, scholars believe that during
the service encounter, the success of bilateral interaction is mostly in-
fluenced by appropriate exchange of non-verbal cues (Jung & Yoon,
2011; Pugh, 2001). Scholars add that physical appearance (i.e. physical
features, clothes and hairstyle), kinesics (i.e. eye contact, facial ex-
pression and nodding), proxemics (i.e. standing distance and hand-
shaking) and paralanguage (i.e. tone, speed of voice and loudness) of
service employees moderate guests’ service consumption experience
(Jung & Yoon, 2011). Mehrabian (1981) reported the percentage of
human communication to be 55% physical movement, 38% vocal be-
haviour and 7% verbal. For example, the sense of obedience or super-
iority is 4.3 times more effectively communicated through non-verbal
cues rather than verbal ones (Argyle, 1994).
Although extensive research on non-verbal communication is
available in sociology, linguistics, psychology and anthropology (Jung
& Yoon, 2011), studies of non-verbal behaviour in relation to the hos-
pitality discipline remain limited (Sundaram & Webster, 2000; Gabbott
& Hogg, 2001). Previous studies mostly investigated service evaluation
and recovery (e.g. Gabbott & Hogg, 2000), advocating the importance
of non-verbal communication in service encounters. For example, these
researchers found that the non-verbal communication in a service en-
counter dramatically influences the customer’s evaluation of the service

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mohd.sh.islam@connect.polyu.hk (M.S. Islam), ksenia.kirillova@polyu.edu.hk (K. Kirillova).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2019.102326
Received 17 January 2019; Received in revised form 17 June 2019; Accepted 18 June 2019
Available online 25 June 2019
0278-4319/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova
events. However, no empirical data are offered to understand potential
variations on how non-verbal communication is practiced or perceived
in a hospitality encounter across guests that subscribe to different re-
ligions and genders. Contextually, the correlation between religions,
genders and non-verbal cues exchanges between individuals is critical
in terms of their perceptive evaluation (Lutz & White, 1986). This un-
derstanding becomes more important at a time of increased inter-re-
ligious interactions in hospitality. Guests with different religious
backgrounds and genders may understand and perceive non-verbal
behaviour differently, which can obstruct or facilitate cross-religious
interaction and thus influence the quality of guest experiences
(Kirillova et al., 2014). Given the criticality of successful bilateral
(guest–employee) interactions in the increasingly internationalised
hospitality business environment, the overarching aim of this study is
(1) to determine whether religion plays a role in how hotel guests
perceive and evaluate hotel employees’ non-verbal communication.
This study considered four religious groups, namely, Islam, Christianity,
Hinduism and Buddhism, to focus their perceptions of non-verbal be-
haviour because these four are the major, popular and influential re-
ligions across the globe (Bandyopadhyay et al., 2008). Secondly, this
study intends to (2) understand the perceptions of hotel employees’
non-verbal behaviour at the intersection of religion and gender. The
perceptions of men and women over service persons’ interaction pre-
mises in the hospitality industry have also been a concern amongst
managers and academics (Lashley & Morrison, 2000).
The present work hopes to contribute in several ways. Firstly, it
provides detailed insights into the non-verbal behaviour of hotel em-
ployees that guests from cross-religions perceive during service en-
counters to create experiences for themselves. Thus, this paper enriches
the empirical perspectives on the perception of non-verbal behaviour
across religions. Secondly, this study identifies how inter-religious
groups of guests based on genders can perceive various non-verbal cues
differently during service encounters in the hospitality setting. Thus,
the study provides hotel practitioners or hospitality industry players
with knowledge on what and how to identify and map the non-verbal
communication competencies or intelligence required by hotel em-
ployees to enhance guest experience. The present study subsequently
fills the research gap in the perceptions of non-verbal behaviour at the
intersection of religion and gender in the hospitality setting, and thus
contributes to the literature on communication and hospitality.
2. Literature review
2.1. Non-verbal communication
Like in any face-to-face encounter, a communicative instance be-
tween a customer and the front-line staff includes both verbal and non-
verbal components to convey whether and how the meaning are to be
taken, interpreted, and understood (Norton, 1978; Kang & Hyun, 2012).
Scholars further indicated that the success of a hospitality business
depends on the effectiveness of front-line staffs’ verbal skills and know-
how in managing their interpersonal relations with guests (Sparks &
Callan, 1992; Zaharna, 2000). Specifically, effectively conveying mes-
sages in words, termed as verbal communication, is expected during not
only face-to-face interactions but also when responding to guests’ in-
quiries via phone calls, emails, instant messaging (Lei et al., 2018).
Interestingly, the so-called soft skills, of which communication skills,
both verbal and non-verbal, are a critical component, are considered
key competencies of hospitality employees at all levels (Sisson &
Adams, 2013). In fact, in Weber et al.'s (2009) list of soft skills com-
petencies, most skills (e.g. “shows enthusiasm,” “adjusts message to
audience”) necessitate the mastery of both verbal and non-verbal
components of communication.
Scholars tend to agree that verbal and non-verbal types of com-
munication are complementary (Ekman & Friesen, 1972). Furthermore,
some believe that non-verbal cues are more influential than verbal cues
2
International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326
in communicating a message. For example, Birdwhistell (1952) re-
ported that 65% of human communication is non-verbal and the rest is
verbal. Verbal communication becomes less effective if non-verbal
communication does not act in accordance with both conscious and
unconscious states of mind (Knapp et al., 2013). The emotional input,
attitudinal cues and ways of thinking of individuals are displayed
through non-verbal communication (Burgoon et al., 2016). Non-verbal
communication can even occur through breathing, emotion and feeling
between interactants, as well as what they intend to exchange
(Ehrenwald, 1996). Thus, communication needs a process to be ele-
vated into human interaction with the goal of making it meaningful.
Non-verbal cues (i.e. eye contact, smiles and gestures) help commu-
nication become meaningful and successful. Without the transmission
of meaning, communication cannot fulfil what communicators intend
to imply (Knapp & Hall, 2007).
Hickson and Stacks (1992) considered non-verbal communication as
a behaviour which occurs intentionally or unintentionally under pre-
scriptive actions and expectations other than words. As a means of
expression, face-to-face communication through body movements,
clothes, personal grooming and body signs are classified as non-verbal
communication (Harrison, 1989). Jung and Yoon (2011) also divide
non-verbal communication in the hospitality context into four groups:
kinesics, physical appearance, paralanguage and proxemics. Kinesics
entails a person’s facial expressions and body movements (Mehrabian &
Williams, 1969). Physical appearance represents specific information
regarding a person’s grooming and dress codes (Breytenbach, 2001).
Paralanguage consists of vocal tone, pitch or manner of voice and sound
that can deliver the intended message. Proxemics corresponds to the
spatial relationship expressed in the distance behaviour (Yuksel, 2008).
2.2. Non-verbal communication in service context
The aspects of non-verbal behaviour have received increasing yet
still limited attention in the hospitality management literature, with
much of the scholarly interest centred on the effect of non-verbal be-
haviour on service encounter. Previous research informs that interac-
tion during service encounters should be able to resolve bilateral con-
flicts (if any) and can incorporate the manner of information aimed at
influencing communication satisfaction (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Yet,
to improve guests’ service experience, scholars suggested that the fol-
lowing inputs can be embedded in a successful service encounter: 1) the
benefits guests have as a consequence of the encounter; 2) the practices
and methods, with which the encounter is guided in the organisation;
and 3) effective interpersonal behaviour (Ladhari et al., 2017). In a
similar vein, Migacz et al. (2018) showed that the orientations of out-
come, procedure and interpersonal treatment during the service en-
counter help guests evaluate the quality of exchange relationships.
Theoretically, service providers’ attitude of friendliness, responsiveness
and enthusiasm can exert a positive influence on guests’ perceptions of
service quality and loyalty as a result or as benefits (Baker & Kim, 2018;
Pugh, 2001). This argument concludes that memorable experience,
benefits or advantages of an interaction can be purported and trans-
mitted during the exchange of service employees’ non-verbal cues with
guests during the service encounter.
Extant literature demonstrates that the quality of exchange re-
lationships is determined by the quality of impression management
between two interactants (Hargie, 2018). Theoretically, impression
management is either a conscious or a subconscious process in which
individuals attempt to influence the perceptions of other individuals
about a behaviour or event. Non-verbal expressions as a conscious or
subconscious medium of communication may help individuals’ per-
ception be articulated during face-to-face interaction (Sillars &
Vangelisti, 2006). In service encounters, a reasonable impression of
non-verbal behaviour makes the human attitude more pleasing and
reduces uncertainty about future relationships (Zeithaml et al., 1996).
For example, to balance impression management in face-to-face dyadic
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova
interaction or ‘service encounters’ in the hospitality industry, the dis-
play of similar non-verbal cues between the guest and the employee
may foretell whether they see each other in a favourable reciprocal
relationship or not (Oliver, 2014).
The academic community conceptualises this non-verbal moment of
‘truth’ in affecting the following benefits to an organisation: 1) building
an emotional episode between the guest and the employee; 2) leading
the interactants to mutually make judgments, perceive and create each
other’s attitudes; and 3) provides the opportunity, particularly for
customers, to experience either the ‘building’ or ‘breaking’ of their ex-
pectations, which in turn contributes to their level of satisfaction and
rapport (Kang & Hyun, 2012). Likewise, Hennig-Thurau et al. (2006)
recognised that appropriate rapport can promote interaction, compli-
ments and social ties, which in turn promote the service appreciation,
satisfaction, loyalty and positive word-of-mouth of direct customers,
and thus rapport building (Gremler & Gwinner; 2008; Vicaria, 2017).
For instance, appropriate display of eye contact, smiling, nodding or
facial expressions conveyed or associated with bodily actions or atti-
tudes is decoded as messages of impressions and influences the custo-
mers’ perception of service quality (Babin, 2013).
2.3. Non-verbal communication and religion
Researchers investigated whether perceptions of non-verbal cues
exchanged between individuals can be understood as a close connection
with various religious standards because an individual’s religious belief
may have a significant effect on face-to-face non-verbal or emotional
expressions (Sharpley, 2009). Mattila (1999) established that pro-re-
ligious service attitudes help increase consumption motivation of
guests. The effective service engagement of guests in service delivery
implies that religious differences and customs come into play when
guests evaluate service encounters. Furthermore, scholars argued that
human desires are linked with and reflect the nature of emotional ex-
pressions (i.e. non-verbal cues) during interaction (Vukonic, 2002).
Therefore, the human world desires to receive emotional expressions
(i.e. facial cues and body orientation) from the counterparts delivered
from their respective religious practices. Otherwise, communication
causes complexity and confusion to their perception. Thus, the way
individuals approach non-verbal expression signals the mode in which
they make sense of the world and for which religion provides a platform
for development (Bandyopadhyay et al., 2008). If unexplored, non-
verbal misperceptions and perceptions that exist in different religious
backgrounds may cause confused judgments and uncertainty between
communicators (Segerstrale & Molnár, 2018)
It is suggested that service persons’ emotional expressions need to
be displayed by religious and social backgrounds to avoid the mis-
interpretation of expressions. The Japanese trust that a smiling face can
disguise negative inclination. They trust a smiling outward appearance
that may avoid bilateral discomfiture (Matsumoto & Hwang, 2017). The
smile is universally important for service persons, but a smile can be
interpreted differently depending on one’s cultural background and the
context. For example, Russians tend not to smile at strangers and are
hesitant when receiving a smile from a stranger because a smile is a
non-verbal signal reserved for friends and family (Neuliep, 2017). Ex-
tant literature demonstrates that non-verbal cues which are com-
mendable in one religion and may be unwelcome or unsuitable in other
religions. For example, gesturing ‘come here’ with an upward palm or
pointing at a person or question with an index finger or hand is un-
favourable in the Muslim world (Jiang et al., 2015). In some Muslim
communities (e.g. Malaysia), the head should not be touched by other
people as this gesture is thought to be embarrassing, but no particular
significance exists for the Muslims in Arab countries. Some even con-
sider head rubbing as an expression of worship and respect (Eaves &
Leathers, 2017).
Extant literature refers to the non-verbal greeting of Buddhists as
novel compared with other religions, although similar to that of Hindus.
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International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326
They greet each other with a slight bow while hands are crushed to-
gether and the palms and fingers reach upwards with thumbs close to
the chest. They practice a slight bow as a sign of respect (Andersen
et al., 2003). A younger Hindu can also greet an elder by touching the
latter’s feet as a sign of admiration and respect (Agarwal, 2018). Re-
ligious Buddhists may be sensitive to gender-based contact or touching
behaviour (i.e. male and female touching conduct, such as hand
shaking, sitting hand in hand) (Burnard & Naiyapatana, 2004), while
the displays of interpersonal relationships or non-verbal greetings, such
as kissing and hugging, are common practices among Christians
(Samovar et al., 2015). Overall, existing research observes the differ-
ences in how non-verbal cues are expressed and received across cultures
and religions. How these differences play out in the hospitality service
encounter is yet unknown.
2.4. Non-verbal communication and gender
Previous studies showed that differences in non-verbal expressions
between men and women appear to be related to gender stereotypes
and thus much of the existing knowledge on the differences are based
on real-life observations (Ellemers, 2018; Ting-Toomey & Dorjee,
2018). Scholars reflect that women tend to display more expressive and
complex non-verbal behaviour and are better at decoding non-verbal
cues of others than men (Briton & Hall, 1995). Furthermore, women are
socialised to be more perceptive to the needs of others. Consequently,
they also tend to expect similar behaviour from their interlocutors
(Antill, 1987). For example, women establish eye contact more fre-
quently and for longer periods of time than men do, whereas men can
listen and be fully engaged in the discussion with less eye contact (Hall
et al., 2000). This difference is especially noticeable when contextual
settings are considered (Geertz & Banton, 1966; Mehrabian, 2008). For
example, men are twice more likely to initiate touch with women than
women are with men in business and social interactions (Fuller et al.,
2017). However, when women initiate touch, it is often decoded as a
form of sensual invitation (Sen & Östlin, 2008). A comprehensive study
on gender and religious differences in the way non-verbal behaviour is
perceived may help identify skills and behaviours that are most ap-
propriate for hospitality personnel when serving guests from a variety
of backgrounds.
3. Method
3.1. Data collection
This research is conceived as exploratory, since there is no prior
empirical evidence on gender and religious differences in non-verbal
behaviour in service encounters. The cross-sectional survey design was
chosen for data collection purposes. The top 10 (as rated on
TripAdvisor) full-service hotels in Dhaka, Bangladesh constituted the
survey setting. The tourism and hospitality industry in Bangladesh has
shown consistent growth (Chowdhury & Shahriar, 2012). However, to
compete in the global marketplace, evaluating guest experience and
assessing existing service quality in hotels are necessary. This study was
partly motivated by the above mentioned need, and thus research on
tourists in Dhaka is of both practical and theoretical significance. Data
were collected from June to September 2015. With permission from
hotel management teams, the questionnaire was administered to guests
who were waiting for further services in hotel lobbies (e.g. waiting for
an airport shuttle). A total of 490 questionnaires (180 Bengali and 310
English) were distributed to the guests of these hotels. After eliminating
unusable responses (71 Bengali and 35 English) amongst the completed
questionnaires due to the lack of substantial data, 384 responses were
coded for data analysis.
The questionnaire was originally developed in English and then
translated to Bengali by the bilingual first author. To ensure language
equivalency, the Bengali translated version was further validated with a
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326

group of native Bengalis who were asked to spot any awkward wording Table 1
or unclear sentences. Their feedback was later reconciled with the Sociodemographic characteristics of sample (n = 384).
English version. Characteristics Category n %

3.2. Research instrument Gender Male 251 65.4

Female 133 34.6
Nationality Domestic guest 119 31.0
Sixteen items of perceptions of non-verbal communication were International guest 265 69.0
adapted from Jung and Yoon's (2011) scale and modified to fit the study Age 20–30 years old 71 18.4
setting (i.e., hotel, as opposed to a restaurant) and to be more consistent 31–40 years old 164 42.7
with respondents’ understanding (see Table 2). For example, “The 41–50 years old 93 24.2
51–60 years old 34 8.8
employee converses articulately” was changed to “The employee speaks
Above 60 years old 22 5.7
clearly.” Three additional items were included based on Jung and Education level Below Bachelor 78 20.3
Yoon's (2011) literature review because the research team felt that they Bachelor 162 42.1
could help with statistical reliability and theoretical validity (Table 2, Master and above 144 37.5
Religion Muslim 115 29.9
Items 1, 7, and 10).
Buddhist 64 16.6
These items were appropriate for surveying guests in hotel em- Hindu 53 13.8
ployees’ non-verbal communication research as they had the estab- Christian 152 39.5
lished validity and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha was .92 in this study). Duration of stay Less than 3 nights 161 41.9
Consistent with the theoretical background, the items on perceptions of 3–7 nights 163 42.4
More than 7 nights 60 15.6
non-verbal communication were classified into four dimensions: phy-
Purpose of visit Vacation 52 13.5
sical appearance (four items: Cronbach’s alpha = .86), kinesics (six Conference and education 109 28.4
items: Cronbach’s alpha = .84), proxemics (four items: Cronbach’s Business 135 35.2
alpha = .81) and paralanguage (5 items: Cronbach’s alpha = .83) on a Entertainment and event 34 8.8
5-point Likert scale. Perception of hotel employees’ non-verbal beha- Visiting friends and family 37 9.6
Others 17 4.4
viour was explored from the perspective of guests through answers
ranging from ‘How much do you agree or disagree with these state-
ments?’, with 1 representing strongly disagree and 5 representing
Table 2
strongly agree. Measurements were provided for each of the afore- Descriptive statistics of variables.
mentioned dimensions. In addition, sociodemographic characteristics,
Variablesa Mean SD
such as religion (Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim), gender, age,
education, duration of stay, purpose of visit, and nationality, were ad- Physical Appearance
dressed. Respondents were asked to self-identify their religious back- 1. The employee made a good first impression on me. 3.63 .922
ground. 2. The employee is dressed in a professional way. 3.74 .918
3. The employee has a professional look. 3.59 .943
4. The employee has well-combed hair. 3.65 .905
3.3. Data analysis Kinesics
5. The employee has a good and friendly attitude in serving 3.80 .865
Descriptive statistics was utilised to examine the sociodemographic guests.
characteristics and guests’ perception of hotel employees’ non-verbal 6. The employee uses proper eye contact. 3.54 .900
7. The employee is attentive when I speak. 3.68 .837
communication. A two-way MANOVA model test was further con-
8. The employee nods his/her head when responding. 3.34 1.002
ducted to investigate the differences in perception of non-verbal com- 9.The employee serves with polite smiles. 3.58 .960
munication between guests of various religions and genders along with 10. The employee uses facial expressions when 3.51 .926
the interaction effect between religion and gender. The analysis then communicating.
proceeded with a series of 4 (religion: Muslim vs. Buddhist vs. Hindu vs. Proxemics
11. The employee serves me from a proper distance. 3.48 .904
Christian) x 2 (gender: male vs. female) between-subject ANOVAs with 12. The employee keeps an appropriate distance while 3.35 .929
Bonferroni multiple comparison tests. serving me
Before proceeding with the multivariate analyses, we verified the 13. The employee shakes his/her hand properly 2.78 1.145
necessary assumptions. The Breusch–Pagan test for heteroscedasticity 14. The employee has appropriate physical touch with me 3.17 1.047
when providing services
was insignificant for all four dependent variables (physical appearance
Paralanguage
χ2 = 2.15, p = 0.14; kinesics χ2 = 1.70, p = 0.19; proxemics 15. The employee speaks in a proper tone 3.57 .746
χ2 = 0.10, p = 0.76; paralanguage χ2 = 0.19, p = 0.67). The ex- 16. The employee speaks clearly. 3.39 .860
amination of residuals in the form of P-P and Q-Q plots and Kernel 17. The employee speaks in proper speed. 3.33 .795
density estimate plot did not detect serious violations of the normality 18. The employee speaks in a gentle tone. 3.56 .885
19. The employee’s voice is not noisy. 3.55 .919
assumption. No data were missing in the dataset.
Note: SD is standard deviation.
4. Results a
All items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly dis-
agree) to 5 (strongly agree).
4.1. Descriptive information
international guests.
The sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are presented in Table 2 presents the mean and standard deviations for each item in
Table 1. More participants self-identified as Christian (39.5%), and relation to the non-verbal communication of hotel employees as per-
Muslim (29.9%), and the sample consisted of more men (65.4%). The ceived by hotel guests. The mean value of each item ranged from 2.78
majority of the subjects surveyed were in their 30 s and 40 s (66.9%) to 3.80 on the 5-point scale. The survey participants ranked item 5 ‘The
and reported to have bachelor’s degrees (42.1%). With regard to employee has a good and friendly attitude in serving guests
duration of stay, 3–7 nights was the most common (42.4%). In sum- (3.80 ± .865)’ as the highest non-verbal communication attribute,
mary, more than 63.6% of the respondents travelled to Dhaka for followed by item 2 ‘The employee is dressed in a professional way
business, conference or education workshops, and 69% were

4
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326

Table 3 Table 6
Descriptive statistics by religion. Bonferroni multiple comparisons: differences in proxemics as evaluated by each
religion.
Religion N Appearance Kinesics Proxemics Paralanguage
Dependent (I) Religion (J) Religion Mean Std. Error Sig.
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Variable Difference
(I-J)
Muslim 115 3.78 0.70 3.65 0.64 3.35 0.80 3.60 0.65
Buddhist 64 3.73 0.80 3.68 0.71 3.17 0.75 3.67 0.59 Proxemics Muslim Buddhist .1764 .12027 .860
Hindu 37 3.63 0.77 3.53 0.76 3.33 0.99 3.46 0.79 Hindu .0211 .14576 1.000
Christian 168 3.51 0.80 3.48 0.68 3.05 0.73 3.31 0.58 Christian .2971 .09334 .009
Total 384 3.64 0.77 3.57 0.68 3.19 0.79 3.47 0.64 Buddhist Muslim -.1764 .12027 .860
Hindu -.1553 .15928 1.000
Note: All dependent variables were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Christian .1207 .11329 1.000
Hindu Muslim -.0211 .14576 1.000
Buddhist .1553 .15928 1.000
Table 4
Christian .2760 .14006 .297
Descriptive statistics by gender.
Christian Muslim -.2971 .09334 .009
Gender N Appearance Kinesics Proxemics Paralanguage Buddhist -.1207 .11329 1.000
Hindu -.2760 .14006 .297
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Male 255 3.62 0.79 3.54 0.69 3.21 0.75 3.44 0.65
Table 7
Female 129 3.67 0.75 3.61 0.66 3.15 0.87 3.53 0.63
Bonferroni multiple comparisons: differences in paralanguage as evaluated by
Total 384 3.63 0.77 3.57 0.68 3.19 0.79 3.47 0.64
each religion.
Note: All dependent variables were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Dependent (I) Religion (J) Religion Mean Std. Error Sig.
Variable Difference
(3.74 ± .918)’. The survey participants ranked item 13 ‘The employee (I-J)
shakes hands properly (2.78 ± 1.145)’ as the least well-performed
Paralanguage Muslim Buddhist -.0736 .09779 1.000
non-verbal communication attribute of hotel employees. Regarding the Hindu .1388 .11852 1.000
individual dimension of non-verbal communication attributes, proxe- Christian .2852 .07590 .001
mics was rated the lowest (M=3.19), whereas physical appearance was Buddhist Muslim .0736 .09779 1.000
Hindu .2124 .12951 .611
rated the highest (M = 3.65). The mean and standard deviations of non-
Christian .3588 .09211 .001
verbal communication dimensions, such as appearance, kinesics, Hindu Muslim -.1388 .11852 1.000
proxemics and paralanguage by religions and gender are also exhibited Buddhist -.2124 .12951 .611
in Tables 3 and 4. Christian .1464 .11388 1.000
Christian Muslim -.2852 .07590 .001
Buddhist -.3588 .09211 .001
4.2. Two-way MANOVA model test Hindu -.1464 .11388 1.000

The two-way MANOVA test showed a significant main effect for the
factor of religion (Wilk’s ƛ = .915, p = .001) but not for gender (Wilk’s
ƛ=.991, p = .473). However, the interaction effect of religion ×
gender was present (Wilk’s ƛ=.940, p = .025). The subsequent
ANOVAs indicated no main effect of religion on kinesics (F=1.945,
p = .122) but main effects on physical appearance (F=3.098, p=.027),
proxemics (F=6.097, p < .001), and paralanguage (F=6.733,
p < .001). Bonferroni multiple comparison tests indicated that
Christians perceived physical appearance (μd=0.27, p=0.024) (see
Table 5) and proxemics (μd=0.30, p=0.009) of hotel employees less
favourably than Muslim guests did (see Table 6). Furthermore, sig-
nificant differences between Muslim and Christian guests (μd=0.28,
p=.001) and between Buddhist and Christian guests (μd=0.36, p=.001)
exist in terms of paralanguage, as shown in Table 7. Buddhists rated
paralanguage the highest, whereas Christians rated it the lowest.
Although the main effect for gender was not statistically significant,
the interaction term between religion and gender was significant for
kinesics (F = 3.644, p = .013) and proxemics (F=5.343, p = .001). To
help interpretation further, we ran simple effects ANOVA for the effect
of gender on kinesics separately for each of the four religions. As shown
in Fig. 1, Muslim women (M = 3.844) perceived hotel employees’ ki-
nesics more favourably than Muslim men (M = 3.507) did (F = 8.228,
p = .005).There was a marginally significant difference between

Table 5
Bonferroni multiple comparisons: differences in appearance as evaluated by
each religion.
Dependent (I) Religion (J) Religion Mean Std. Error Sig.
Variable Difference
(I-J)

Appearance Muslim Buddhist .0417 .11977 1.000

Hindu .1410 .14516 1.000
Christian .2686 .09295 .024
Buddhist Muslim -.0417 .11977 1.000
Hindu .0992 .15861 1.000
Christian .2269 .11282 .270
Hindu Muslim -.1410 .14516 1.000
Buddhist -.0992 .15861 1.000
Christian .1277 .13947 1.000
Christian Muslim -.2686 .09295 .024
Buddhist -.2269 .11282 .270
Hindu -.1277 .13947 1.000
Fig. 1. Interaction between religious groups and gender on kinesics.

5
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova
Fig. 2. Interaction between religious groups and gender on proxemics.
Buddhist women (M=3.317) and men (M=3.744; F=3.117, p=.082).
By contrast, there was no statistically significant difference between
Hindu and Christian men and women in perception of hotel employees’
kinesics. For proxemics, Muslim women had a significantly higher
perceptions (M=3.557) than Muslim men (M=3.205; F=5.574,
p = .020), while, oppositely, Christian women tended to have a lower
score (M=2.789) than Christian men (M=3.195; F=12.576, p = .001).
There were no significant differences in perception of proxemics for
Buddhist and Hindu men and women (see Fig. 2).
5. Discussion
The results have uncovered guests’ perception of hospitality em-
ployees’ non-verbal cues from cross-religion and cross-gender perspec-
tives. In addition, the results support previous research that docu-
mented the differences in non-verbal communication cross-culturally
(Hall & Matsumoto, 2004). This investigation demonstrated that in both
physical appearance (i.e. dress, hair) and proxemics (i.e. shaking hands,
distance), the judgement of hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour
differs between Muslim and Christian guests. Muslim guests tend to
appreciate personal grooming and dress codes guided by the religion
but have a strong religious instruction to avoid unnecessary orna-
mentation of the body with jewellery, shorts and slim-fitted dresses
(Stillman, 2003). Hotel employees in Dhaka are predominantly Muslim.
According to Cultural Atlas (2019), 89.1% of Bangladeshis are Muslim,
and, out of 106.1 million of working population, 3.8% are employed in
hospitality and tourism (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2018).
Moreover, Shomoy TV (2013) documented that the majority of front-
line hospitality employees in Bangladesh are recruited locally, while
key positions such as hotel general manager or a chef still tend to be
occupied by foreign recruits (Daily Dhaka Tribune, 2017). Commisceo
Global (2019) reports that most Bangladeshis follow Islamic traditions
in nonverbal components, such as physical appearance and proxemics.
The practice of wearing a dress is quite conservative for both men and
women. Even women tend to avoid tight or short fitting and revealing
clothing. For individuals of the same sex, holding hands, touching the
arm, or putting hands around shoulders is conventional and acceptable.
When speaking with an individual of different gender, however, space
is often extended.
Thus, in our study, hotel employees are likely to have maintained
the proper dress or grooming standards reflected in their Muslim re-
ligion. It seems that such a gesture is appreciated by Muslim guests who
are also sensitive regarding experiences of proxemics. Hotel employees
in Dhaka possibly understand Muslim preferences in distance beha-
viour, such as keeping distance, avoiding contact with the body and
prohibition of hand shaking with the opposite gender (Stephenson,
2014). Owing to rapidly growing worldwide halal hospitality and
tourism in non-Muslim destinations (Jafari & Scott, 2014), this finding
may help hotel practitioners groom their service staff through
6
International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326
periodical training and instructions before assigning them to serve
Muslim customers, thereby affecting word-of-mouth and Muslim guest
loyalty (Samori et al., 2016). Notably, extant literature states that the
aesthetic appearance of service persons influences customers’ im-
pressions (McIntosh & Harris, 2018). A customer expects his/her ser-
vice person to look smart, well-dressed, neat and tidy. Upon en-
countering service persons with these attributes, customers tend to
perceive better service quality and service consumption experience
(Söderlund & Julander, 2009).
By contrast, Christian guests’ perceptions of hotel employees’ phy-
sical appearance and proxemics was lower than that of Muslim guests.
According to the literature, perceptive differences exist in dress codes
and colours across religions. For example, white and deep grey coloured
clothing are connected to Islam and Christianity, respectively (Hansen,
2004). Scholars argued that dress codes at the intersection of religion
and culture are critical to elevate human experience during face-to-face
interaction (Morlock, 2018). Christians religiously consider that a
clothing and its colour are symbols of identification. Christianity sug-
gests individuals buy or put on a clothing while looking at what it re-
presents (Arthur, 1997; Rubinstein, 2018). This idea tends to indicate
that hotel employees’ uniforms should represent their self-identity in
appearance when encountering others (Sundaram & Webster, 2000).
Physical appearance as a vital non-verbal component can be improved
by religious insights such as the exhibition of professional image in the
context of this study. Perhaps Dhaka hotel employees were unable to
meet the expectations or preferences (e.g. in terms of colour of uni-
forms) of Christian guests. Furthermore, in both Islam and Christianity,
distance behaviour (proxemics) is a sensitive issue. Compared with
Muslim guests, Christian guests had a lower perception of proxemics of
hotel employees. In terms of relating to space (proxemics), the need for
and convenience of distance are highlighted by Christians to accom-
plish interactional aspects (Silences, 2014). Christian guests did not
observe religious inference in the spatial consciousness of Dhaka hotel
employees. Although the current study revealed that the issue of
proxemics is religiously sensitive, existing literature demonstrates that
service persons’ maintenance of favourable space in approaching a
customer must be evaluated favourably by customers. A customer ex-
pects balanced distance between himself/herself and the service person
(e.g. neither too far nor too close) (Islam & Kirillova, 2017; Jung &
Yoon, 2011).
Significant differences were observed between Muslim and
Christian and between Buddhist and Christian guests’ perceptions of
hotel employees’ paralanguage, potentially due to their preference for
certain voice sounds. Such a reasoning is possible given that Muslims
and Buddhists practice self-cultured sounds embedded in their religious
practices (Kurdi, 2018; Sarabela, 2017). For example, both these re-
ligious groups practice recitation from religious verses in a vocal fre-
quency with zigzag volume and rhythm perceived as pleasant and ap-
pealing (Rosmarin & Koenig, 1998). Given hotel employees in Dhaka
are mostly Muslim, their vocal behaviour could be more familiar and
routine to Muslim and Buddhist guests, as opposed to Christian guests.
In the religious context, Christians prefer voices that infer joy in dia-
loguing (Treat, 2012). Hotel employees need to practice or produce pro-
active voice behaviour (paralanguage), such as initiating communica-
tion with a pleasant tone of voice, which may convert to cheerfulness as
a tone of pro-active beginning (Sundaram & Webster, 2000).
In addition, Christian guests in the sample were likely tourists from
developed countries (WTTC, 2018) with possibly higher expectations
regarding service encounters, on which Dhaka employees may not have
delivered. In addition, communication in the English language requires
an accent Christian guests are familiar with (e.g. their feeling or ex-
pectation about hospitable intonation). The literature shows that the
meaning of hospitality in terms of a guest–host relationship is different
across religions (Kirillova et al., 2014). The lack of animated voice tone,
such as the absence of hospitable intonation and a joyful accent, po-
tentially affected Christian guests’ low perception of Dhaka hotel
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova
employees’ paralanguage. Guests judge how well employees are trained
based on their paralanguage, including speech clarity and pleasing
voice tone. Therefore, concrete training programs should be conducted
to help employees understand and develop paralanguage methods to
win positive appraisal from guests, including Christians (Jung & Yoon,
2011). Paralanguage emphasises a modulated sound rather than the
inherent sound of an individual’s voice. The artificial, meaningful,
gentle, rude, angry, honest, sincere and caring intonation of human
action can be detected or moderated by the pitch, speed and upper-
lower volume of vocal sounds. Such a usage of service persons’ para-
language or vocal behaviour affects customers’ better understanding of
service people’s intentions and service actions, whether ongoing or
upcoming (Segerstrale & Molnár, 2018). The literature demonstrates
that voice intonation plays a vital role in increasing service sales and
promoting rapport with guests (Kleyn & Lesser, 2013).
Interestingly, a guest’s gender alone does not influence the per-
ception of hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour but gender moderates
the main effect of religion. Moreover, some studies demonstrated that
women excel as judges of expressive cues (i.e. cues from body), re-
gardless their religious backgrounds (Brown et al., 1998). These find-
ings are corroborated in the present study as women are socialised to be
more attentive and potentially more critical in evaluating the non-
verbal behaviour of others. The study found that Muslim women had a
better opinion regarding bodily movements of employees than Muslim
men did, which is greatly contrasted with the opinion of Buddhist men
and women. These results tend to generate a religious insight that these
Muslim women guests were possibly served by Muslim women em-
ployees, which is appreciated in Islam (Eickelman & Piscatori, 2013).
With regard to proxemics, Muslim and Christian male guests showed a
similar trend in perception rates. Bangladesh is a conservative Muslim
country in which avoidance of hand shaking and maintenance of a
cordial distance between people of different genders are respectful and
appropriate in business situations of which a hotel is one context
(Friesen, 2012). Alternatively, such a behaviour could have come across
as a sign of disrespect for Christian women possibly from Western
countries, which could explain their very low ratings.
6. Conclusions and implications
As a fairly new topic, this study sought to explore whether religion
plays a role in how hotel guests perceive and evaluate hotel employees’
non-verbal communication during service encounters. To achieve this
goal, this study considered four religious groups, namely, Islam,
Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, to focus on their perceptions of
hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour. In addition, we aimed to un-
derstand the perceptions of hotel employees’ non-verbal behaviour at
the intersection of religion and gender. Firstly, the results showed that
hotel employees’ non-verbal communication skills affect guests’ per-
ception during the service encounter, and this perception is measured in
relation to specific non-verbal components. Secondly, differences exist
in how the four religious guest groups react to non-verbal behaviour,
and the guest’s gender moderates these differences. Both physical ap-
pearance and proxemics in the evaluation of hotel employees’ non-
verbal behaviour differed between Muslim and Christian guests.
Muslim and Buddhist guests perceived hotel employees’ proxemics
differently than Christian guests did. However, no significant difference
exists in the perception of kinesics among the four religious groups, as
well as that between men and women. Our findings corroborate existing
research on the perception of non-verbal communication across cul-
tures (i.e., Hall & Matsumoto, 2004) and gender (i.e. Brown et al.
1998). Thus, our findings contribute significantly to this subject matter.
We have summarized main findings and corresponding practical im-
plications in Table 8.
7
International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326
6.1. Theoretical implications
This study conceptually contributes to the literature in three ways.
Firstly, it extends the understanding of non-verbal communication in
hotels from religious and gender standpoints. Such an understanding
has not been previously assessed in a systematic way either in or out-
side the hospitality sector. We argue that the cross-cultural perspective
currently dominating non-verbal communication research outside of
hospitality is insufficient to address hospitality-specific interactions that
involve complex social phenomena beyond a guest’s national or cultural
background. In the global hospitality and tourism industry, providing
superior service means not only fulfilling guest expectations but also
understanding where these expectations originate. We show that re-
ligion and partly gender can be grounds for expectation formation.
Although the focus on religion in hospitality is somewhat reflected in
the recent proliferation of publications and conferences on halal
tourism or Christian pilgrimages, it does not embrace the religious di-
versity of the travelling world. This study hopes to draw attention to
inter-religious, intra-religious and cross-religious nexuses of hospitality
and tourism.
Secondly, the literature has shown a tendency to highlight verbal
communication competencies or ‘soft skills’ of the hospitality workforce
as essential (Hertzman et al., 2015). However, the theoretical im-
portance of non-verbal communication know-how has not been suffi-
ciently highlighted in extant literature. For example, this study has
demonstrated that certain aspects (e.g. kinesics) tend to be universal
even though the way guests perceive the behaviour of trained hotel staff
is not uniform. We show the value of deconstructing the concept of non-
verbal behaviour in hospitality into specific dimensions and looking
closely into hotel staff’s non-verbal competencies that are critical for
different service encounters. Thirdly, the study extends the literature on
non-verbal behaviour outside hospitality in which non-verbal cues are
studied in non-commercial sectors (e.g. student–teacher interaction).
The present study, set in the people-driven hotel sector, brings out
complexities of non-verbal behaviour that are inexistent in other set-
tings (e.g. customer evaluation, service attitude). In such settings, un-
satisfactory non-verbal performance could result in negative con-
sequences for business viability and reputation. Finally, this research
provides an important opportunity to further our understanding of
communication skills of hotel employees, specifically those of front-line
staffs, and how they can impact guests’ evaluation of service events
(i.e., Gabbott & Hogg, 2000). The study context basically serves as a
reminder that the importance of verbal and non-verbal interaction ex-
pertise of front-line hotel staffs should not be overlooked. Due to having
expertise in both mediums of communication, front-line hotel em-
ployees may moderate the guests’ overall perception of service quality
and may impact guest satisfaction and intentions to revisit.
6.2. Practical implications
Beyond the theoretical implications, the findings of this study pos-
sess critical practical implications for hoteliers, which are summarized
in Table 8. Firstly, the results offer valuable insights for human resource
development managers of hotels into the ways in which hotel em-
ployees can be well-trained in various components of non-verbal
communication, such as body movements, gestures (kinesics), proper
distance (proxemics) and language expressions to deliver clear mes-
sages to hotel guests. Managers are recommended to employ profes-
sional trainers or experts in guest–employee interaction in the hotel
environment who can understand the value of non-verbal cues during
service encounters to enhance guest experience. Such professionals
should arrange training in meditating videos on non-verbal commu-
nication in different situations and conduct roleplays for different sce-
narios. They can also criticise and evaluate staff’s communication per-
formance based on video files recorded by the hotel CCTV cameras for
further improvement.
M.S. Islam and K. Kirillova International Journal of Hospitality Management 84 (2020) 102326

Table 8
Main findings and practical recommendations.
Research objectives Findings Practical implications
(significant differences at p < .05)

1) To determine whether religion (Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, -No main effect on kinesics - Increase awareness of non-verbal cues importance
and Christianity) plays a role in how hotel guests’ evaluation -Physical appearance: among hotel staff
of hotel employees’ non-verbal communication skills Muslim guests > Christian guests - Develop a practical manual on how to cater to
-Proxemics: various religious groups
Muslim guests > Christian guests - Video-aided training on non-verbal cue
-Paralanguage: enactment, role-play training
Muslim guests > Christian guests - Include employee non
Buddhist guests > Christian guests verbal skills as attribute in guest satisfaction
surveys

2) To understand perceptions of hotel employees’ non-verbal -No main effect - Employ diverse workforce
behavior from the perspective of religion and gender -No interaction on physical appearance and paralanguage - Hold sharing sessions among employees on
-Kinesics: practices most appreciated guests of different
Muslim women > Muslim men religions and genders
Buddhist women < Buddhist men*
- Proxemics:
Muslim women > Muslim men
Christian women < Christian men

* Marginal significance at p < .1.

Secondly, our findings show that differences remain in how non-
verbal cues are perceived by Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians,
men and women. Therefore, the trainers are advised to develop a
practical manual with clear guidelines on how to cater to re-
presentatives of religious groups who are frequent hotel guests. In ad-
dition, an implication for workforce diversity exists. Although the need
for diversity has been a key issue in the hospitality industry for many
reasons (e.g. business and ethical cases), we add that employees of
various religious groups and genders can share valuable information on
how non-verbal cues are displayed and which cues are most appreciated
by guests from various religious backgrounds. Finally, we suggest reg-
ular monitoring and evaluation of service staff’s non-verbal commu-
nication, in addition to the conventional guest satisfaction surveys.
These surveys should be conducted with a diverse group of guests from
different religious backgrounds. Such a monitoring exercise can help in
identifying areas that require further improvement.
7. Limitations and future research
This study has several limitations. Firstly, this study was conducted
in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where the majority of the hotel employees stu-
died in the survey are local Muslims and represent the mixed culture
concentrated in Bengal and Indo-Asia. Thus, the results of this study
may only be accounted for by the current and specific group of em-
ployees in a specific destination. In this vein, we recommend that the
study can be replicated to confirm the generalisability of its results. The
replication can be attempted in hospitality settings with a more diverse
workforce. Secondly, the questionnaire scale contents adopted from
Jung and Yoon (2011) in South Korea were used to measure non-verbal
communication. In the current study, respondents may not have found
the experienced cues in the list of statements. Thus, designing and va-
lidating a setting-specific scale to assess non-verbal communication
skills are valuable tasks. Thirdly, by focusing on guests’ religious
backgrounds, we have largely ignored their national culture that could
further differentiate their perceptions. For example, Buddhist guests
from Thailand and Japan could have perceived non-verbal cues in a
distinct way. Thus, we invite researchers to focus on the intersections of
culture and religion. In addition, we focused on the non-verbal com-
munication perceptions of Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, and Christian
guests. Other religions as well as atheist groups were not included yet
should be investigated in future research. Finally, guest–employee
communication in hotels involves both verbal and non-verbal compo-
nents. Further research is encouraged to study both communicative
modes to clarify the significance of each in guest experience co-creation
and by taking into consideration religious backgrounds of both guests
and employees.
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