Building a human brand: Brand anthropomorphism unravelled

Brand anthropomorphism has been found to enhance the ability of consumers to recognize the inherent value of brands. However, there is limited knowledge among practitioners on how to build a brand with humanlike characteristics. After a literature review of brand anthropomorphism in general and the theory of warmth and competence in particular, we present the Human Brand Model of how to build a brand that is perceived to be human. There are four steps in this process; the first three indicate the brand inputs and the last indicates the results of those inputs. This model guides brand managers on how to make their brand more human. The use of this model should result in the organization having an excellent brand reputation; stronger, more meaningful relationships with its customers; and improved brand loyalty.     

人工智能机器拟人化对顾客接受意愿的影响——思维感知的中介作用与性别角色的调节作用

人工智能（artificial intelligence,AI）技术的发展将改变服务接触过程、提高服务生产率。类人机器比服务员工更稳定,比自助服务技术更灵活、更具有适应性。研究首先通过在线评论数据挖掘获得顾客对智能机器人酒店偏好的现场证据（研究一）,随后从真实酒店服务互动情景出发,通过2个预研究开发了服务互动情景模拟实验材料,通过调查实验方法依次验证了机器拟人化对顾客接受意愿的主效应（研究二）,从思维感知理论角度探索了能动性、感受性的中介效应（研究三）,最后扩大样本的多样性,从顾客性别角色角度详细讨论服务机器拟人化适用的边界条件（研究四）。研究结果表明：酒店服务互动中,拟人化人工智能机器更容易被顾客接受;能动性、感受性平行中介了拟人化对顾客接受意愿的影响过程;男性化角色并不会影响“能动性”的中介机制,而对于女性化较强的个体,机器的“感受性”反而会起到负面中介效用。研究丰富了拟人化在人工智能机器、服务管理领域的应用研究,拓宽了思维感知理论的应用,补充了拟人化的负面效应研究,为服务机器拟人化设计、合理利用机器的拟人化特征提供实践参考。     

Do customers exhibit engagement behaviors in AI environments? The role of psychological benefits and technology readiness

Although service environments have become increasingly smart due to the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, little research has examined AI environments and their influence on customer behaviors. This research investigated this issue in the context of services. We explored the direct effects of AI environments (compared with the traditional environment) on customer engagement, the role of customer technology readiness (TR) as a moderator, and ideal self-congruity and trust as mediators. Three studies were designed, and data from situational experiments were analyzed. The moderated mediation analysis suggested that customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) occur when customers with higher TR-optimism perceive ideal self-congruity in a conspicuous AI environment (vs. a conspicuous traditional environment). Additionally, customers with higher TR-optimism are more likely to have trust and perform CEBs for lower anthropomorphism in a conspicuous AI environment. The research findings make theoretical and practical contributions to technology applications, service environments, and customer relationship management.     

An empirical study on anthropomorphism and engagement with disembodied AIs and consumers' re‐use behavior

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the human race has gradually become a norm. AI entails technology assemblages such as machine learning, natural language processing, and reasoning. The influence of AI systems has intensified in consumers' daily lives. Many consumers have interacted with the notions of AI through advertisements or having personal experiences. Many consumers are curious about the use of AI. This paper reports three studies conducted to determine whether anthropomorphism (ANTH) and engagement play a role in consumers' intention to re‐use a voice assistant (VA; a machine‐learning AI). The second study will determine if ANTH and engagement play a role when consumers are using the VAs for different activities (task completion vs. information gathering). In addition, in Study 2, actual re‐use behavior was also tested in the model, which encouraged a stronger overall model fit. The results show that in general effort expectation (EE) has a strong positive impact on consumers' usage experience of the VA. However, between the two types of activities, EE has a stronger impact on consumers' usage experience for information‐gathering activities, whereas performance expectation has a stronger impact on usage experience when consumers use the VA for task‐completion purposes. The third study used internet usage experience as a moderating variable to determine the boundaries of the mediating effects in the study. The results show that the mediators yield results similar to prior studies.