A Neutralization Perspective on Consumer Adoption of Voice Assistant Recommender Systems in E-Commerce

Adoption des Systèmes de Recommandation via Assistants vocaux en E-commerce: Une Perspective de Neutralisation

Ransome Bawack (), Sabrine Mallek () and Emilie Bonhoure ()
Additional contact information
Ransome Bawack: Audencia Business School
Sabrine Mallek: ICN Business School
Emilie Bonhoure: Audencia Business School

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: AI-powered voice assistants (VAs) increasingly support voice commerce by offering purchase recommendations. However, consumers may remain concerned about privacy, persuasion, transparency, autonomy, and risk. This study examines how consumers may come to accept such recommendations despite these concerns. Drawing on neutralization theory, we conceptualize neutralization not as a motivation or evidence of deviance, but as a cognitive mechanism through which consumers may rationalize risk- and norm-sensitive behavior. Survey data from 510 US consumers with prior experience of VA recommendations are analyzed using PLS-SEM. The findings suggest that neutralization is positively associated with the intention to accept recommendations. Perceived risk, prior experience, and peer-following behavior appear to be associated with neutralization, while persuasion knowledge seems more directly associated with acceptance intention. This study contributes to research on voice assistants, recommender systems, and conversational commerce by highlighting rationalization as an overlooked mechanism in AI-mediated consumer decision-making.

Date: 2026-05-20
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05789284v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in AIM 2026 : 31e conférence de l'Association Information et Management, Haute École spécialisée de Suisse occidentale = HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland = Fachhochschule Westschweiz [Schweiz] [HES-SO], May 2026, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05789284v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05789284

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().