Art and science talk different. The effect of language abstractness-concreteness on liking of artistic and scientific products

Bridging the research streams on the promotion of artistic and scientific products and on language dimensions, we propose that language abstractness vs. concreteness has differential effects on consumer liking of products depending on the product domain – artistic vs. scientific. Using different research designs and data, we found that more abstract language leads to more favorable consumer evaluations of artistic products, while more concrete language enhances consumer liking of scientific products. The perceived fit between the communication style and the product domain drives this effect. Our research contributes to the two fields by investigating the effect of a relevant and actionable language dimension – abstractness vs. concreteness – and clarifying the mechanism explaining this effect. We discuss implications of our findings for theory and practice, demonstrating that carefully chosen words can enhance consumer appreciation of artistic and scientific products.