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More than half the countries in the world are multilingual, and more than half the world’s consumers speak more than one language. Thus, bilingual consumers often receive services provided in a second or nonnative language. This article examines these consumers’ word-of-mouth intentions after a service provision in a second language. Two studies show that consumers served in a second language are less likely to spread positive word of mouth. The results also reveal that consumers served in a second language perceive the service provider as less responsive in general. Furthermore, the service provider’s perceived responsiveness appears far more important for determining positive word-of-mouth intentions than other factors, such as service reliability. This study therefore contributes to the fields of service and sociolinguistics, with important implications for managers as well.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions journaltitle: Journal of Business Research articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.09.008 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.status: publishe