Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain understanding of how young consumers with varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds experience and perceive humorous Business English lingua franca (BELF) mediated communication used in transit contexts.

Design/methodology/approach: For the collection of qualitative data, the present study relies on focus group discussions in three European countries. The data were analyzed by the authors by applying the phenomenographic approach as a method.

Findings: Young European consumers expressed a preference for humor and playfulness in BELF-mediated communication, yet they can be a challenging group to be informed and entertained with humorous BELF communication, as they differ in their taste of humor due to varying language- and culture-based identities. However, BELF as a communication tool was seen as functional and unproblematic by the informants. These informants perceive the role of resonant — wit type of humor in BELF — messages with noncultural references as fulfilling some of the aims of the messages. Yet, the role of comic — wit humor in BELF — messages with cultural references is more challenging to interpret.

Originality/value: The present results bring original viewpoints on the use of humor in cross-cultural corporate communication via a unique perspective of how young consumers’ perceive and value humor in BELF-mediated communication.