{"title":"A meta-analysis of the effect of chatbot anthropomorphism on the customer journey","authors":"Cheng Yanxia, Zhu Shijia, Xiao Yuyang","doi":"10.1108/mip-03-2023-0103","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Purpose Chatbots are increasingly engaged in service marketing. Some academics and managers think using anthropomorphism chatbots will improve positive attitudes and behaviors in the customer journey, but at a high degree of anthropomorphism, consumers may experience negative emotions such as fear and disgust due to the feeling that the robots resemble humans too much, which is known as the uncanny valley effect. Therefore, the authors aim to explore whether chatbot anthropomorphism will promote or limit the development of the customer journey and explore the moderating factors and the antecedent factors affecting consumers' perceptions of chatbot anthropomorphism. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 72,782 unique data points from 42 articles and 82 samples using a meta-analysis. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (SOR) model, the impact of anthropomorphic chatbots on the consumer journey was discussed. Findings The authors’ findings show that chatbot anthropomorphism positively impacts the customer journey but not their negative attitudes. Further moderator analysis reveals that the impact depends on service result, chatbot gender and sample source. The chatbot anthropomorphism is significantly influenced by social presence cues, emotional message cues and mixed cues. Originality/value This research contributes to the chatbot anthropomorphism literature and offers guidance for managers on whether and how to enhance chatbot anthropomorphism to facilitate the customer journey and improve service sustainability.","PeriodicalId":48048,"journal":{"name":"Marketing Intelligence & Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marketing Intelligence & Planning","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/mip-03-2023-0103","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose Chatbots are increasingly engaged in service marketing. Some academics and managers think using anthropomorphism chatbots will improve positive attitudes and behaviors in the customer journey, but at a high degree of anthropomorphism, consumers may experience negative emotions such as fear and disgust due to the feeling that the robots resemble humans too much, which is known as the uncanny valley effect. Therefore, the authors aim to explore whether chatbot anthropomorphism will promote or limit the development of the customer journey and explore the moderating factors and the antecedent factors affecting consumers' perceptions of chatbot anthropomorphism. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 72,782 unique data points from 42 articles and 82 samples using a meta-analysis. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (SOR) model, the impact of anthropomorphic chatbots on the consumer journey was discussed. Findings The authors’ findings show that chatbot anthropomorphism positively impacts the customer journey but not their negative attitudes. Further moderator analysis reveals that the impact depends on service result, chatbot gender and sample source. The chatbot anthropomorphism is significantly influenced by social presence cues, emotional message cues and mixed cues. Originality/value This research contributes to the chatbot anthropomorphism literature and offers guidance for managers on whether and how to enhance chatbot anthropomorphism to facilitate the customer journey and improve service sustainability.
期刊介绍:
Marketing Intelligence & Planning (MIP) facilitates communication between researchers and practitioners, providing the users of research with a wealth of robust and relevant information. At a time when some journals are losing their relevance to industry and practical requirements, MIP successfully offers a bridge between academic and practitioner thinking, while retaining a high level of scientific rigour.