"I Like Your Suggestion!" the role of humanlikeness and parasocial relationship on the website versus voice shopper's perception of recommendations

Abstract

Voice assistants are changing the way consumers shop. Guided by the anthropomorphism literature and parasocial interaction theory, this study investigated how the new unique relationship between consumers and artificial intelligence‐powered voice assistants may affect the way consumers evaluate the recommended products through two experiments. Study 1 (n = 85, students) employed a 2 (shopping medium type: voice assistant vs. website) × 2 (interaction style: task‐oriented vs. socially‐oriented) between‐subjects design lab experiment. Study 2 (n = 418, Mechanical Turk) employed a 2 (shopping medium type: voice assistant vs. website) × 2 (product type: search vs. experience) between‐subjects online experiment. The results suggested that consumers may perceive voice assistants as pseudohuman agents detached from the service provider while perceiving websites as a tool or interface used by the provider, resulting in a more positive perception and evaluation of websites. As one of the few studies investigating voice assistants from the consumer perspective, this study contributes to the growing body of research in voice assistants. The study also contributes to anthropomorphism literature and parasocial interaction theory by confirming the causal relationship between humanlikeness and parasocial relationships.

“Alexa, order me a pizza!”: The mediating role of psychological power in the consumer–voice assistant interaction

“…This paper's objective was to better understand how the intervention of VA technology influences the consumer decision‐making process and to explore the role of psychological power. While this study cannot ultimately answer the question of whether these effects are exclusive to the VA channel (see Whang & Im, 2021) for a comparison of voice and online shopping), they are, undoubtedly, characteristic of VA‐interactions. The results of the three studies offer clear support for the two hypotheses and indicate that in the context of a consumer–VA purchase interaction, both involvement and psychological power impact the consumer‐decision making process.…”

“…Unlike previous research emphasizing control, we argue that power is the more appropriate variable in the context of the consumer-VA relationship, given it is a social interaction (Pitardi & Marriott, 2021;Putoni et al, 2021;Schweitzer et al, 2019;Whang & Im, 2021). This is meaningful as Schweitzer et al (2019) demonstrate that increased and more enjoyable interactions are more likely when consumers feel superior to their devices.…”

“…This is supported by the fact that VAs, in their current form, engender experiences that require less cognitive effort on behalf of the consumer (Laran & Buechel, 2017), who rely on algorithms and vocal guidance when making a purchase. This suggests an opportunity for managers to offer consumers low involvement products that may be purchased less out of necessity, but rather impulsively (Verplanken & Herabadi, 2001) or as add‐ons (Whang & Im, 2021) using a series of verbal commands that may easily direct the conversation and related purchase(s).…”

“…Second, and in contrast to the first stream, research exploring consumer–VA interactions has focused predominantly on the social and experiential dimension(s) that influence technology acceptance or rejection (Guzman, 2019; Pitardi & Marriott, 2021; Puntoni et al, 2021; Schweitzer et al, 2019; Whang & Im, 2021). In conceptualizing the consumer–VA relationship as a social interaction, socio‐psychological variables, such as trust (Foehr & Germelmann, 2020; Pitardi & Marriott, 2021), attitude (Lee & Cho, 2020), and agency (Schweitzer et al, 2019) are foregrounded as important antecedents that shape the parasocial relationships consumers form with their VAs.…”

“…First, the findings of this study emphasize the functional elements of VAs that drive usage, particularly in the realm of voice‐commerce. While many recent studies document the social and relational roles of VAs in consumer experiences (Pitardi & Marriott, 2021; Ramadan et al, 2021; Whang & Im, 2021), the psychological mechanisms underpinning the functional usage of VAs remain under‐explored (Mari, 2019; Moriuchi, 2019). This is surprising given the impact such findings warrant for marketers aiming to increase sales through voice‐commerce.…”