The effects of appearance personification of service robots on customer decision-making in the product recommendation context

Abstract

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has made contactless services such as those provided by robots increasingly pervasive. Some stores are gradually adopting service robots to sell products, which has not been explored in previous research. This study aims to explore how appearance personification of service robots affects customer decision-making in the product recommendation context.Design/methodology/approachBased on authentic in-store product recommendation service interactions, an experiment for three simulated scenarios was conducted and data was collected from 338 valid samples.FindingsThe results show appearance personification has a positive impact on customer purchase behavior while it has negative impacts on customer decision time and degree of hesitation.Originality/valueThis study not only enriches the literature on application scenarios of service robots but also supplements the literature on various customer decision-making variables in the field of service robots. It provides important practical guidance for designing robots to optimize their impact on customer decision-making.

Modeling and Quantifying the Impact of Personified Communication on Purchase Behavior in Social Commerce

“…The results show that personified communication significantly impacts consumers’ attitudes through perceived usefulness between enterprises and consumers. Such results are consistent with previous studies based on TAM [ 5 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Also, we find that personified communication positively impacts users’ purchase attitudes through perceived interaction, which is a new finding of this study.…”

“…In addition, the influence of attitude on purchase intention is also substantial, consistent with previous studies reporting that attitude positively affects behavioral intention [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 24 ]. In addition, consumers’ cognitive need for knowledge can adjust the path of perceived usefulness, indirectly influencing consumers’ purchase intention.…”

“…For example, “Haier”, a famous appliance supplier in China, has promoted constructing a “brand-consumer” relationship through personification communication in the WeChat platform. A recent empirical study conducted on 338 valid samples showed that personified communication positively impacted customer purchase behavior [ 5 ].…”

Anthropomorphic or Not? Uncovering the Effectiveness of Anthropomorphic Communication on Country-of-Origin Stereotypes: Insights from Evoked Psychological Elements

“…Previous studies and real life examples have shown the advantage of anthropomorphism, when we use closeness implying language in communication, it may excite consumers' positive attitudes toward the brand 7 , that may lead a favorable effect on brand evaluation. Song 8 found the effect of anthropomorphism on trustworthiness, the latest research ndings reveals effects of anthropomorphism on customers' satisfaction 9 , customers' decisions in the context of product recommendations 10 , and the in uence on COO effects 11 . We expect to further the research on the COO stereotypes and explore factors in uencing the effectiveness of anthropomorphism on COO stereotypes, to deepen the research eld of anthropomorphism and stereotype.…”

Uncovering the effectiveness of anthropomorphic communication on the country-of-origin stereotypes from the perspective of psychological elements

“…Recently, studies have found that brand image also has an impact on the country's image 9 , and the interaction of the brand image and the country's image may lead to the formation of deeper stereotypes, so how to reduce COO stereotypes becomes more and more important for developing countries in international competition. Previous studies and real-world examples have shown the advantages of anthropomorphism, when a brand adopts human-like language in communication, it may excite individuals' positive attitudes toward the producrt 10 , the latest research findings reveal the effects of anthropomorphism on customers' satisfaction 11 and product recommendations 12 . Psychological factors such as individuals' mindset could also influence their preference for products.…”