Nonverbal behavior of vendors in customer-vendor interaction

Two research questions were posed on the homophily theory of customer-vendor interactions: (a) do vendors show any nonverbal preference for Euro-American or African-American customers?; (b) do vendors demonstrate any nonverbal preference for customers with which they share racial homophily? The results supported the homophily theory for Euro-American customers in that there were significant interaction effects by race in facial expression (F=5.33, p<.05), amount of speaking (F=6.76, p<.01), tone of voice (F=7.62, P<.01), and touching (F=4.57, p<.05). Vendor behavior varied when the customer was Euro-American, with Euro-American vendors smiling more frequently (M=4.05) than African-American vendors (M=3.69), speaking more frequently (M=3.57) than African-American vendors (M=3.09), using a more friendly tone of voice (M=3.59, and engaging in more touching behaviors (M = 1.81) than African-American vendors (M = 1.48). There was no significant difference in the behavior of Euro-American and African-American vendors when the customer was African-American.