Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have emerged as transformative This study examines how language and emotional framing influence developers’ understanding of task instructions in a multilingual crowdsourcing environment. Although previous research has shown that native languages offer advantages in emotional processing, little is currently known about how this effect extends to the interpretation of professional tasks. This study conducted two experiments with Chinese-English bilingual participants. Two experiments were conducted with Mandarin–English bilingual participants. Experiment 1 investigated language effects (Mandarin vs. English) on perceived responsibility and risk. Results showed a non-significant overall effect, but a tendency for stronger perceived intensity in the first language. Experiment 2 examined emotional framing (negative vs. positive wording), revealing that negatively framed task descriptions significantly increased perceived responsibility and risk, while positive framing reduced perceived intensity. This effect was consistent across language groups. These findings suggest that emotional framing has a stronger and more robust influence than language on task interpretation. The study highlights the importance of linguistic design in crowdsourced software platforms, where subtle wording differences may affect developers’ understanding of responsibility and risk.

Keywords: Emotional framing; Language effects; Task interpretation; Bilingual processing; Crowdsourced software development

Abbreviations: ANOVA: Analysis of Variance; HCI: Human-Computer Interaction