...Arezoo Fakhimi; Tony Garry; Sergio Biggemann; Andrew M. Farrell Purpose As virtual conversational assistants (VCAs) become more advanced and prevalent, the nature of interactions is evolving. Drawing on social exchange, anthropomorphism and gratification theories, this paper aims to offer...

...Abhisek Kuanr; Tapas Ranjan Moharana; Min Yan; Debasis Pradhan; Dahlia El-Manstrly Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate consumer response to service failure involving different types of service agents – specifically human agents, anthropomorphic chatbots and non-anthropomorphic...

... is anthropomorphized. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 preliminarily explores the relationship between experiencing an AISA (vs HSA ) service failure and preference for textual (vs visual) compensation. Study 2 examines the effectiveness of textual (vs visual) compensation for remedying the AISA (vs HSA...

...Jing Wan; Pankaj Aggarwal Purpose Trade-offs that involve secular values of money and sacred human values are often seen as taboo. This paper aims to examine how consumers avoid making taboo trade-offs with anthropomorphized products, by choosing options that ensure the well-being of the humanized...

...Kevin Kam Fung So; Hyunsu Kim; Stephanie Q Liu; Xiang Fang; Jochen Wirtz Purpose Although humanoid robots are increasingly adopted in many business settings, the dynamic effects of anthropomorphism and the functional perceptions of service robots on consumers’ responses remain unclear. This paper...

... related to human-to-human relationships based on their interactions with conversational AI agents. Practical implications This study enables practitioners to identify specific anthropomorphic cues that can support the development of different types of consumer–AI relationships and to consider...

... makes three contributions. First, it conceptualizes virtual influencer marketing by defining and critically evaluating the key characteristics attributed to virtual influencers. Second, it offers a 2 × 2 taxonomy of virtual influencers, grounded in research on anthropomorphism and reality–virtuality...

...Reema Singh Purpose Given the growing prominence of voice-activated artificial intelligent devices (VAIs) as the strategic market-facing technology for grocery purchases, this article aims to bring together theories on anthropomorphism, trust, emotional attachment, self-connection and self...

...Kuan-Ju Chen; Jhih-Syuan Lin Purpose Given the thriving attention paid to brand personification in marketing, this paper aims to delve into consumers’ psychological traits that may moderate the positive anthropomorphic effects on brand outcomes specific to relationship marketing. Design...

...Kate Letheren; Kerri-Ann L. Kuhn; Ian Lings; Nigel K. Ll. Pope Purpose This paper aims to addresses an important gap in anthropomorphism research by examining the individual-level factors that correlate with anthropomorphic tendency. Design/methodology/approach The extant psychology, marketing...

...Alexandros Triantos; Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki; Evaggelia Outra; Nikolaos Petridis Purpose – Anthropomorphism is the innate human tendency to attribute human or human-like characteristics to non-human entities or objects. Even though it is widely used by marketing practitioners...