Automated social presence in AI: Avoiding consumer psychological tensions to improve service value

Carlos Flavián, Russell W. Belk, Daniel Belanche and Luis V. Casaló

Journal of Business Research, 2024, vol. 175, issue C

Abstract: Consumers are increasingly embracing robots and AI. This has led them to suffer psychological tensions in their AI experiences (e.g., data capture, classification, delegation and social experiences). This exploratory research proposes that AI with higher perceived automated presence (sense of being with another being) alleviates psychological tensions. This in turn leads to consumer perceptions of higher functional and social value and higher future use intention. A study into service robots (n = 331) supported the proposal that consumers’ perceptions of greater automated social presence in service robots makes them feel understood rather than misunderstood, empowered rather than replaced and connected rather than alienated, which increases their functional and social value perceptions and intention to use robots in the future. The impact of automated social presence on social experience is higher for consumers with a higher need for social interaction. This research lends weight to some theoretical proposals made in previous literature that were, at that point, empirically unexplored.

Keywords: Automated social presence; Service robots; AI experiences; Intention to use; Functional value; Social value; Need for social interaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:175:y:2024:i:c:s0148296324000493

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114545

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