The effect of creative job titles on perceived value in business services
(A2023-114021)

AUTHORS

Dorian Florea, CENTRUM Graduate Business School, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru; María Elena Raquel Nieto-Saucedo, Anáhuac University Mexico; Claudiu-Cătălin Munteanu, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies

ABSTRACT

Creative job titles have been increasingly used in the last decade, but little is known about how they act as signals in business services. A scenario-based experiment with 537 professionals revealed that innovative service providers can increase perceived value by using creative job titles. Conversely, creative job titles severely damage perceived value when used by non-innovative service providers. While in the case of non-innovative service providers, this negative relationship is mediated by expertise and trustworthiness, no mediation effect could be found for the positive effect in the case of innovative service providers. Practical implications for the adoption of creative job titles by service providers are discussed.