Healing or hesitation? The impact of anthropomorphism on consumers' repair intentions for products

Huanyu Qin, Zhipeng Xie, Chen Ding, Jingyuan Wang and Yi Xu

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2024, vol. 79, issue C

Abstract: Anthropomorphism has been recognized as a powerful marketing tool that imbues products with life, enhancing the feeling of aliveness for consumers. Despite the popularity of research on this topic, little attention has been given to its impact on consumers' repair behaviors after purchase. Based on cognitive metaphor theory, this study seeks to understand the influence, mechanism, and boundary of anthropomorphism on consumers' intentions to repair products. Results show that anthropomorphism leads consumers to overestimate a product's self-healing capability, consequently affecting their repair intentions. Specifically, (a) anthropomorphism reduces consumers' repair intentions; (b) the perception of self-healing ability mediates this effect; and (c) the gender features of products moderate the relationship. Consumers exhibit lower repair intentions towards products with more masculine characteristics compared to those with more feminine attributes. This research offers an insightful look into how consumers interact with anthropomorphic products and provides businesses with valuable guidelines on how to develop product renewal strategies.

Keywords: Anthropomorphism; Product gender; Self-healing ability; Repair intention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:79:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924001012

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103805

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