More Than Just Words: How Personal Pronouns Influence Social Closeness and Engagement

Abstract

People tend to support social initiatives when they feel a psychological connection to the beneficiaries. This tendency often leads hospitality firms to prioritize social initiatives that appeal to customers over those that address the most urgent needs. While previous research has explored situations where people have pre-existing connections to beneficiaries, few studies have examined whether intentionally creating perceived closeness can achieve similar effects. This study explores whether linguistic framing using personal pronouns (“they” vs. “we”) can increase perceived closeness toward beneficiaries and, in turn, boost customers’ willingness to engage in social initiatives. Across two experiments, Study 1 found that using inclusive pronouns (“we”) enhanced perceived closeness to beneficiaries, which subsequently increased engagement intentions. Furthermore, Study 2 demonstrated that this pronoun framing effect was moderated by an individual’s power distance beliefs, the extent to which they perceive hierarchy when services are framed as exclusive. The pronoun framing effect was significant only among those with low power distance beliefs. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of how psychological distance can be strategically reduced through language used in campaign messages. They also offer practical guidance for hospitality managers seeking to design communication strategies that foster more meaningful and sustained customer engagement in social initiatives.