Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services最新文献_第3页

When access creates threat: Core customers’ responses to in-house rental services 当访问产生威胁时：核心客户对内部租赁服务的反应

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-29 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104751

Eunji Kim, Eunsoo Baek

Access-based consumption is rapidly expanding as firms adopt circular business models, with many brands now offering in-house rental services. Yet research on brand-managed access remains limited, with most work emphasizing the functional case for access such as economic and sustainability benefits. Shifting the lens to the core customer, the present research investigates how in-house rental services reshape identity-relevant emotions and brand evaluations. Drawing on identity signaling and brand community perspectives, we examine the symbolic and affective consequences of brand-managed access for core customers.

Across three experiments spanning fashion and technology, offering an in-house rental option lowered core customers’ brand image evaluation. This effect was driven by stronger perceived symbolic threat from non-core customers and reduced brand-related pride. Moreover, the mechanism varied across non-core customer types—brand immigrants (who claim in-group membership) versus brand tourists (who use the brand without asserting membership). While prior work suggests immigrants are more threatening in ownership-based contexts, we find a departure from under brand-managed access: in rental settings, tourists elicited stronger symbolic threat among core customers than immigrants.

Overall, this research extends access-based consumption research to brand-managed access and clarifies how access modality shapes identity-based brand evaluations. The findings also offer actionable guidance for brands considering in-house rental programs by identifying conditions under which core-customer backlash is likely to emerge.

随着企业采用循环商业模式，基于访问的消费正在迅速扩大，许多品牌现在都提供内部租赁服务。然而，关于品牌管理通路的研究仍然有限，大多数工作强调通路的功能案例，如经济和可持续性效益。本研究将镜头转向核心客户，探讨内部租赁服务如何重塑身份相关情感和品牌评估。利用身份信号和品牌社区的观点，我们研究了品牌管理对核心客户的象征性和情感影响。在时尚和科技领域的三项实验中，提供内部租赁选项降低了核心客户对品牌形象的评价。这种效应是由来自非核心客户的更强的象征性威胁和与品牌相关的自豪感降低所驱动的。此外，这种机制在非核心客户类型中也有所不同——品牌移民（声称是集团内成员）和品牌游客（使用品牌但不主张是成员）。虽然先前的研究表明，在以所有权为基础的背景下，移民更具威胁性，但我们发现与品牌管理下的访问不同：在租赁环境中，游客在核心客户中引起的象征性威胁比移民更强。总体而言，本研究将基于访问的消费研究扩展到品牌管理访问，并阐明访问方式如何影响基于身份的品牌评估。研究结果还通过确定可能出现核心客户反弹的条件，为考虑内部租赁计划的品牌提供了可操作的指导。

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引用次数: 0

From consolidation to fragmentation: How removing shipping thresholds reshapes purchase behaviour 从整合到分裂：移除运输门槛如何重塑购买行为

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104742

Weilu Sun , Yimeng Zhang , Yongyue Bie , Qiang Guo

Premium membership programmes such as Amazon Prime and JD Plus aim to deepen customer loyalty by removing shipping frictions. While prior research has documented their positive effects on long-term retention and net revenue, much less is known about how they reshape the micro-level structure of transactions and the associated cost-to-serve. We examine a “purchase fragmentation dilemma,” in which eliminating a free-shipping threshold increases purchase frequency but reduces average order value (AOV), thereby undermining transactional efficiency. Using large-scale transaction data from a leading e-commerce platform, we employ propensity score matching with regression adjustment and a quasi-experimental comparison based on institutional variation as supportive triangulation. Our estimates indicate that membership is associated with higher engagement but a statistically significant 2.5 % reduction in AOV, driven primarily by a downward shift in price mix rather than item count. Model-free evidence from bunching around the shipping cut-off shows that non-members strategically consolidate orders to clear the threshold, whereas members purchase on demand. These results reveal a fundamental trade-off in membership programme design: smaller, more frequent orders can erode efficiency gains from higher engagement, complementing prior revenue-focused findings with a micro-mechanism and operational perspective. We formalize this trade-off with a Membership True Net Value (MTNV) framework and discuss implications for platform strategy, including tiered memberships and consolidation incentives.

亚马逊Prime和京东Plus等高级会员计划旨在通过消除运输摩擦来加深客户忠诚度。虽然之前的研究已经证明了它们对长期留存率和净收入的积极影响，但对于它们如何重塑微观层面的交易结构和相关的服务成本，我们所知甚少。我们研究了“购买碎片困境”，其中取消免运费门槛增加了购买频率，但降低了平均订单价值（AOV），从而破坏了交易效率。利用某领先电子商务平台的大规模交易数据，我们采用倾向得分匹配与回归调整和基于制度差异的准实验比较作为支持三角测量。我们的估计表明，会员资格与更高的粘性有关，但统计上显着减少了2.5%的AOV，主要是由于价格组合的下降而不是商品数量。没有模型的证据表明，在发货截止日期附近聚集的非会员战略性地整合订单以清除阈值，而会员则按需购买。这些结果揭示了会员计划设计中的一个基本权衡：更小、更频繁的订单可能会削弱高参与度带来的效率收益，从而用微观机制和运营角度补充了之前以收入为重点的研究结果。我们将这种权衡与会员真实净值（MTNV）框架形式化，并讨论了平台战略的影响，包括分层会员和整合激励。

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引用次数: 0

The impact of collaboration unexpectedness on consumer curiosity through schema incongruity 合作意外透过图式不一致性对消费者好奇心的影响

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104748

Peixuan Wu, Shuo Pang, Yushi Jiang

The increasing prevalence and commercial success of unexpected brand collaborations, such as luxury brands partnering with mass-market entities, highlight a significant gap in understanding the psychological mechanisms that drive consumer engagement. This research draws on Schema Congruity Theory to examine how such surprising partnerships stimulate consumers’ information-seeking behavior. Across four experimental studies, the findings consistently demonstrate that unexpected brand collaborations elicit stronger intentions to seek information than expected, conventional partnerships. This primary effect is significantly mediated by perceived schema incongruity, particularly the need discrepancy consumers experience when encountering novel pairings. Moreover, this study reveals that the positive impact of unexpectedness on information seeking is heightened among consumers with a high tolerance for ambiguity and those possessing low category knowledge about the brands involved. These results extend the theoretical understanding of schema incongruity by identifying specific cognitive pathways and key individual-difference moderators in the context of inter-brand alliances. Furthermore, this study offers actionable insights for marketers to design strategic collaborations that foster consumer curiosity and information-seeking behaviors.

意想不到的品牌合作（如奢侈品牌与大众市场实体的合作）越来越普遍，并取得了商业上的成功，这突显出在理解推动消费者参与的心理机制方面存在重大差距。本研究利用图式一致性理论来研究这种令人惊讶的伙伴关系如何刺激消费者的信息寻求行为。在四项实验研究中，研究结果一致表明，与预期的传统合作伙伴关系相比，意想不到的品牌合作会引发更强烈的信息寻求意愿。知觉图式不一致性，特别是消费者遇到新配对时所经历的需求差异，显著调节了这一主要效应。此外，本研究还发现，对于歧义容忍度较高的消费者和对所涉品牌品类知识较低的消费者，意外性对信息寻求的积极影响更为显著。这些结果通过识别品牌间联盟背景下特定的认知途径和关键的个体差异调节因子，扩展了对图式不一致性的理论理解。此外，本研究还为营销人员设计战略合作提供了可操作的见解，以促进消费者的好奇心和信息寻求行为。

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引用次数: 0

Innovation perceptions and retailer trust: Bridging brand management and channel management 创新认知与零售商信任：连接品牌管理与渠道管理

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104731

Harikumar B. Varrier , Joffi Thomas , Keyoor Purani , Deepak S. Kumar

This research investigates the impact of retailers ‘perceived firm innovativeness (PFI) on the supplier firm's trustworthiness and retailer relationship outcomes. Manufacturers invest in innovation to differentiate their offerings and enhance consumer value, which can also shape stakeholders' perceptions of the firm's innovativeness. Although prior research has linked PFI to consumer trust and loyalty, its effect on retailer relationships has received limited attention. Using field experiments, this research demonstrates that PFI enhances retailer commitment and brand recommendations through trustworthiness, with product technological complexity and retailer size moderating these relationships. The findings bridge research gaps in innovation, branding, and channel management, providing practical insights for improving cross-functional collaboration, innovation communication to retailers, and retailer relationships, eventually enhancing firm performance. Thus, the research makes contributions for leveraging retailer’ PFI bridging channel and brand management literature.

本研究探讨了零售商感知企业创新（PFI）对供应商可信度和零售商关系结果的影响。制造商投资于创新，以区分他们的产品和提高消费者价值，这也可以塑造利益相关者对公司创新的看法。虽然先前的研究将PFI与消费者信任和忠诚度联系起来，但它对零售商关系的影响却受到了有限的关注。通过实地实验，本研究表明PFI通过可信度增强零售商承诺和品牌推荐，产品技术复杂性和零售商规模调节了这些关系。这些发现弥补了创新、品牌和渠道管理方面的研究差距，为改善跨职能协作、与零售商的创新沟通和零售商关系提供了实用的见解，最终提高了企业绩效。因此，本研究为利用零售商的PFI桥梁渠道和品牌管理文献做出了贡献。

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引用次数: 0

Unveiling the augmented human agent: How communication style mitigates the heuristic barriers of human-AI collaboration in online customer service encounters 揭示增强的人类代理：沟通方式如何减轻在线客户服务遭遇中人类与人工智能协作的启发式障碍

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104744

Atish Kissoon, Shixuan Fu, Xiangbin Yan

Augmented Human Agents (AHAs)—hybrid systems that combine AI with human agents—are increasingly utilized in online customer service. In response to regulatory demands for AI transparency, this paper examines how disclosing an agent as an Augmented Human Agent (AHA), compared to a Human , influences customer engagement in online customer service encounters. Despite its practical relevance, little is known about the psychological effects of such disclosure. To address this gap, we comprehensively explore the fundamental psychological mechanisms underlying AHA disclosure and customer engagement, as well as the boundary conditions influencing this relationship. Grounded in the Human-AI Interaction Theory of Interactive Media Effects (HAII-TIME) Framework, we conducted a 3 (identity disclosure of the agent: AHA vs. AI vs. Human) × 2 (communication style: social-oriented vs. task-oriented) online experiment on Prolific and developed a moderated mediation model. Our findings reveal a paradox: although the net effect of AHA disclosure on engagement is positive, the disclosure itself also acts as a cue that activates substantial negative cognitive heuristics. Specifically, disclosure of AHA reduces social presence heuristics and heightens negative machine heuristics. However, a social-oriented communication style completely neutralizes these negative heuristics, acting as a protective buffer that enables the full positive effect of the AHA to be realized. In contrast, a task-oriented style exacerbates the negative mediating pathways, suppressing engagement. These findings shift the theoretical narrative from a simple “best of both worlds” model to a more nuanced compensatory model. Theoretical and practical implications for AHA disclosure and implementation are discussed in the context of online customer service encounters.

增强型人工智能（AHAs）——将人工智能与人工智能相结合的混合系统——越来越多地用于在线客户服务。为了响应对人工智能透明度的监管要求，本文研究了与人类相比，将代理人披露为增强人类代理人（AHA）如何影响在线客户服务遭遇中的客户参与度。尽管它具有实际意义，但人们对这种披露的心理影响知之甚少。为了解决这一差距，我们全面探讨了AHA披露和客户参与的基本心理机制，以及影响这种关系的边界条件。基于交互媒体效应的人类-人工智能交互理论（hai - time）框架，我们对多产进行了3（主体身份披露：AHA vs. AI vs. Human） x2（沟通方式：社交导向型vs.任务导向型）在线实验，并建立了一个有调节的中介模型。我们的研究结果揭示了一个悖论：尽管AHA披露对敬业度的净影响是积极的，但披露本身也充当了激活大量消极认知启发式的线索。具体而言，AHA的披露降低了社会在场启发式，提高了消极机器启发式。然而，以社交为导向的沟通方式完全中和了这些消极的启发，作为一种保护性缓冲，使AHA的全部积极效果得以实现。相反，以任务为导向的风格加剧了消极的中介途径，抑制了参与度。这些发现将理论叙述从简单的“两全其美”模型转变为更细致入微的补偿模型。在在线客户服务遭遇的背景下，讨论了AHA披露和实施的理论和实践意义。

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引用次数: 0

Effect of servicescape on employee loyalty and customer satisfaction in a public sector bank 公共部门银行服务逃逸对员工忠诚度和客户满意度的影响

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104743

Debajani Sahoo , Ome Naraian Shrivastava , Abhishek Mishra

This paper examines the potential influence of physical and social servicescapes on employee and customer behaviour for a public sector bank (PSB). The stimulus-organism response (S-O-R) framework is leveraged to formulate a model in which the servicescape serves as an antecedent (stimulus) of employee emotions/satisfaction/loyalty (organism), which in turn influences customer satisfaction (response). A total of 505 bank employees and 505 customers (in a dual-respondent format) from 102 PSB branches in metro, semi-urban, and rural regions, identified through stratified random sampling, participated in the data collection. The data analysis revealed that the physical (signs, symbols and artefacts) and social servicescape (except customer characteristics) strongly predict employee emotions, and that employee job satisfaction mediates the relationship between employee emotions and loyalty, which, in turn, shapes customer satisfaction. This work highlights the importance of employees' experiences at the PSB as an intervening variable between servicescape and customer satisfaction.

本文研究了公共部门银行（PSB）的物理和社会服务逃避对员工和客户行为的潜在影响。利用刺激-机体反应（S-O-R）框架，建立了一个模型，其中服务逃避作为员工情绪/满意度/忠诚度（机体）的前件（刺激），进而影响顾客满意度（反应）。通过分层随机抽样，从地铁、半城市和农村地区的102家邮政储蓄银行分行中抽取505名银行员工和505名客户（采用双受访者形式）参与了数据收集。数据分析表明，物理（标志、符号和人工制品）和社会服务逃避（顾客特征除外）对员工情绪有较强的预测作用，员工工作满意度中介员工情绪与忠诚之间的关系，而忠诚又影响员工满意度。这项工作强调了员工在PSB的经历作为服务逃避和客户满意度之间的中介变量的重要性。

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引用次数: 0

Indulgent or self-controlled? How streamer characteristics and health-threat message framing drive purchase intentions 放纵还是自我控制？流光特征和健康威胁信息框架如何驱动购买意向

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104722

Yanzhe Yuan, Jiraporn Surachartkumtonkun, Wei Shao, Haroon Iqbal Maseeh, Yaning Zhang

Health-related live-streaming commerce increasingly relies on streamers to shape consumers' understanding of product claims, yet little is known about how lifestyle-oriented streamer characteristics interact with message framing to influence persuasion. This research aims to examine when and why streamer characteristics enhance or undermine the effectiveness of health-threat communication in live-streaming contexts. Drawing on Schema Congruity Theory and Regulatory Focus Theory, we conduct five pretests and four scenario-based experiments involving 3676 participants across multiple health-related product categories. The studies manipulate streamer characteristics (indulgent vs. self-controlled), health-threat message framing (high vs. low), and consumers' regulatory focus. The results reveal a robust matching effect: self-controlled streamers are more persuasive when delivering high-threat messages, whereas indulgent streamers are more effective when presenting low health-threat information. This congruence increases purchase intentions by enhancing perceived diagnosticity and reducing psychological reactance. Moreover, these effects are contingent on consumers’ motivational orientation—promotion-focused consumers respond more favourably to indulgent streamers paired with low health-threat messages, while prevention-focused consumers show the strongest responses to self-controlled streamers delivering high-threat information. The findings advance research on interactive commerce and health communication by identifying lifestyle-based streamer cues as a key driver of persuasion and by clarifying the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying these effects. From a managerial perspective, the results highlight the importance of aligning streamer characteristics, message framing, and audience segmentation in health-related live-streaming campaigns.

与健康相关的直播商业越来越依赖于流媒体来塑造消费者对产品声明的理解，但人们对以生活方式为导向的流媒体特征如何与信息框架相互作用以影响说服力知之甚少。本研究旨在研究流媒体特征何时以及为何会增强或破坏直播环境中健康威胁传播的有效性。利用图式一致性理论和调节焦点理论，我们进行了5个预测试和4个基于场景的实验，涉及3676名参与者，涉及多个健康相关产品类别。这些研究操纵了流媒体特征（放纵与自我控制）、健康威胁信息框架（高与低）和消费者的监管焦点。结果显示了一个强大的匹配效应：自我控制的流媒体在传递高威胁信息时更有说服力，而放纵的流媒体在传递低健康威胁信息时更有效。这种一致性通过增强感知诊断性和减少心理抗拒来增加购买意图。此外，这些影响取决于消费者的动机取向——以促销为重点的消费者对播放低健康威胁信息的放纵主播反应更积极，而以预防为重点的消费者对播放高威胁信息的自我控制主播反应最强烈。这些发现通过确定基于生活方式的流线线索是说服的关键驱动因素，并通过阐明这些影响背后的心理机制和边界条件，推进了互动商业和健康传播的研究。从管理的角度来看，研究结果强调了在与健康相关的直播活动中调整流媒体特征、信息框架和受众细分的重要性。

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引用次数: 0

The role of streetscapes quality in coffee shop location shifts: A case study of the Hongdae retail district in Seoul 街景质量在咖啡店选址变化中的作用：以首尔弘大零售区为例

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104730

Gyuna Hwang, Jina Park

As the experience economy and omnichannel retail expand, retailers increasingly prioritize residential-adjacent streets beyond traditional centers. Specifically, coffee shops—low-barrier, pedestrian-oriented third places—are spreading along alleyways and mixed residential streets. This study examined how visual (e.g., enclosure and openness) and perceptual (e.g., liveliness and beauty) streetscape qualities are associated with coffee shop location patterns. Using deep learning and semantic segmentation on street view images in the Hongdae retail district in Seoul, we quantified physical and perceived streetscape characteristics. The results reveal phase-dependent locational shifts. In the establishment phase, new coffee shops were concentrated along boulevards with vehicular exposure. In the growth phase, new openings were associated with higher subway accessibility and aesthetic quality. In the spillover phase, openings were increasingly observed in visually vibrant alleyways—characterized by higher enclosure, openness, and perceived liveliness—despite limited transit access. These findings suggest that coffee shop locations become progressively aligned with street-level experiential qualities, which can be interpreted as an outdoor servicescape operating alongside traditional location mechanisms. By extending servicescape from store interiors to surrounding streetscapes, this study highlights offers an exploratory framework for linking the spatial configuration of retail environments with customers’ experiences of everyday consumption spaces.

随着体验经济和全渠道零售的发展，零售商越来越多地在传统中心之外优先考虑与住宅相邻的街道。具体来说，咖啡馆——低门槛、以行人为导向的第三场所——正沿着小巷和混合住宅街道蔓延。这项研究考察了视觉（例如，封闭和开放）和感知（例如，活泼和美丽）街景质量与咖啡店选址模式之间的关系。使用深度学习和语义分割对首尔洪大零售区的街景图像，我们量化了物理和感知街景特征。结果揭示了相位相关的位置位移。在建立阶段，新的咖啡店集中在有车辆暴露的林荫大道上。在发展阶段，新的开口与更高的地铁可达性和美学质量有关。在溢出阶段，尽管交通通道有限，但在视觉上充满活力的小巷中，越来越多地观察到开口——其特点是更高的封闭性、开放性和感知上的活力。这些发现表明，咖啡店的位置逐渐与街道体验质量保持一致，这可以被解释为与传统位置机制一起运作的户外服务。通过将服务从商店内部扩展到周围的街景，本研究重点提供了一个探索性框架，将零售环境的空间配置与顾客的日常消费空间体验联系起来。

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引用次数: 0

Human familiarity meets machine intelligence: Evidence from experimental studies of generative AI and Financial Performance in U.K. retail 人类熟悉度与机器智能：来自英国零售业生成人工智能和财务绩效实验研究的证据

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-21 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104726

Abdelmoneim Bahyeldin Mohamed Metwally , Abdullah Al-Maghzom , Mohamed Ali Shabeeb Ali , Sherif El-Halaby

This multi-method research investigates how Generative AI (GenAI) creates financial value in retail by shaping customer satisfaction and trust. A qualitative exploration with 39 U.K. managers, employees, and consumers identified satisfaction and trust as primary value mechanisms, moderated by GenAI familiarity and product category risk. Two complementary experiments then tested these relationships causally. Study 1 (N = 418 consumers) examined GenAI-enabled customer interfaces; GenAI-generated product copy, personalised recommendations, and a conversational assistant; and found that GenAI significantly increased session-level financial performance (expected gross margin per visitor) through heightened satisfaction and trust. Study 2 (N = 304 managers) demonstrated parallel mechanisms on the operations side: GenAI decision aids for pricing, assortment, and service triage improved a Financial Performance Index (FPI; gross margin, revenue lift, and cost-to-serve) via satisfaction and trust in GenAI-assisted outputs. Across studies, effects strengthened with greater GenAI familiarity and higher category risk. Robustness checks confirmed invariance and stability across analytical specifications. The findings extend Resource-Based and Dynamic Capabilities perspectives by revealing satisfaction and trust as micro-foundations of AI-enabled value creation, offering evidence that GenAI enhances financial performance when deployed in contexts combining technological competence, user familiarity, and meaningful decision stakes.

本多方法研究探讨了生成人工智能（GenAI）如何通过塑造客户满意度和信任来创造零售金融价值。一项针对39名英国管理者、员工和消费者的定性研究发现，满意度和信任是主要的价值机制，受GenAI熟悉度和产品类别风险的调节。然后，两个互补的实验检验了这些因果关系。研究1 （N = 418名消费者）检查了启用genai的客户界面；genai生成的产品副本、个性化推荐和会话助手；并发现GenAI通过提高满意度和信任度显著提高了会议级别的财务绩效（每位访客的预期毛利率）。研究2 （N = 304名管理人员）展示了运营方面的平行机制：通过对GenAI辅助产出的满意度和信任，GenAI对定价、分类和服务分类的决策辅助提高了财务绩效指数（FPI；毛利率、收入提升和服务成本）。在所有研究中，随着GenAI熟悉度的提高和类别风险的增加，效果也会增强。鲁棒性检查确认了分析规范之间的不变性和稳定性。研究结果扩展了基于资源和动态能力的观点，揭示了满意度和信任是人工智能实现价值创造的微观基础，并提供证据表明，在结合技术能力、用户熟悉度和有意义的决策风险的环境中部署GenAI可以提高财务绩效。

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引用次数: 0

When algorithms meet ethics: Mapping consumer moral responses to AI versus human marketing practices 当算法遇到伦理：绘制消费者对人工智能与人类营销实践的道德反应

IF 13.1 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

Pub Date : 2026-01-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.104729

Tana Gegen , Junwu Chai , Wenlin Chen , Gladys Wauk

In the contemporary digital marketing environment, companies generally conceal a key paradox through grand narratives of consumer empowerment: technological empowerment may lead to a loosening of consumers' ethical frameworks. This contradiction has given rise to an urgent theoretical dilemma: how to understand and reconcile consumer ethical behavior in the context of AI marketing? Drawing on the Hunt-Vitell moral framework, this study provides initial evidence through three experiments: AI customer service is more likely to induce unethical consumer behavior than human customer service, and this result remains robust after controlling for demographic variables. In-depth exploration of the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon, our findings are consistent with a dual-path psychological model: the systematic nature of AI activates consumers' teleological assessment tendencies, making it easier to rationalize unethical behavior through a result-oriented approach, while the emotional interaction of human customer service evokes deontological judgments, guiding consumers to weigh the moral dimensions of their behavior. Notably, the subtle yet critical moderating role played by service recovery strategies in this process is evident: insufficient recovery can exacerbate the adverse effects of teleological evaluation, while effective recovery can effectively inhibit unethical behavior by enhancing deontological judgments. By analyzing typical scenarios, such as self-service bargaining, this study not only provides a cognitive assessment-based perspective on understanding how the algorithmic nature of AI systems can be exploited but also offers novel insights into the governance of marketing ethics in the digital age.

在当代数字营销环境中，企业通常通过消费者赋权的宏大叙事来掩盖一个关键的悖论：技术赋权可能导致消费者道德框架的松动。这种矛盾引发了一个迫切的理论困境：如何理解和调和人工智能营销背景下的消费者道德行为？利用Hunt-Vitell道德框架，本研究通过三个实验提供了初步证据：人工智能客户服务比人类客户服务更有可能诱发不道德的消费者行为，并且在控制人口变量后，这一结果仍然是稳健的。深入探索这一现象的潜在机制，我们的发现与双路径心理学模型一致：人工智能的系统性激活了消费者的目的论评估倾向，使其更容易通过结果导向的方法合理化不道德的行为，而人类客户服务的情感互动唤起了道义判断，引导消费者权衡其行为的道德维度。值得注意的是，服务恢复策略在这一过程中发挥的微妙而关键的调节作用是显而易见的：不充分的恢复会加剧目的论评价的不利影响，而有效的恢复可以通过增强道义判断而有效地抑制不道德行为。通过分析自助议价等典型场景，本研究不仅为理解如何利用人工智能系统的算法本质提供了基于认知评估的视角，而且还为数字时代的营销伦理治理提供了新颖的见解。

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引用次数: 0