The research presented in this paper revolves around the development of an interactive light installation called NEO-David. The focus is on the development of kinetic light within the boundaries of ...real-time generated anthropomorphic form. The case study seeks to address the issues related to democratic aspects of art and participatory artistic development. The paper presents the setup of such a system and explores different technical development challenges of the design.
Brand Anthropomorphism (BA) is gaining prominence in both marketing research and practice. Researchers have often used different perspectives for studying humanized brands, but this has led to ...theoretical and conceptual confusion creating challenges in the theoretical development of this field. This paper aims to critically review the existing literature on brand anthropomorphism and propose an integrated framework for identifying future research opportunities. A systematic review of 101 articles spanning more than two decades (1997–2021) was conducted to investigate the concept of brand anthropomorphism and human-like brands. This review identifies and synthesizes two diverse research traditions- designed brand anthropomorphism and perceived brand anthropomorphism- on the basis of complementary yet unique features of both traditions. We outline the fundamental issues and the key limitations in the existing literature and provide recommendations for future research.
Conversational agents (CAs) have attracted the interest from organizations due to their potential to provide automated services and the feeling of humanlike interaction. Emerging studies on CAs have ...found that humanness has a positive impact on customer perception and explored approaches for their anthropomorphic design, which comprises both their appearance and behavior. While these studies provide valuable knowledge on how to design humanlike CAs, we still do not sufficiently understand this technology’s limited conversational capabilities and their potentially detrimental impact on user perception. These limitations often lead to frustrated users and discontinued CAs in practice. We address this gap by investigating the impact of response failure, which we understand a CA’s inability to provide a meaningful reply, in a service context. To do so, we draw on the computers are social actors paradigm and the theory of the uncanny valley. Via an experiment with 169 participants, we found that 1) response failure harmed the extent to which people perceived CAs as human and increased their feelings of uncanniness, 2) humanness (uncanniness) positively (negatively) influenced familiarity and service satisfaction, and 3) the response failure had a significant negative impact on user perception yet did not lead to a sharp drop as the uncanny valley theory posits. Thus, our study contributes to better explaining the impact that text-based CAs’ failure to respond has on customer perception and satisfaction in a service context in relation to the agents’ design.
Purpose
Although marketer-generated brand anthropomorphism impacts on positive company returns is studied broadly, consumer-generated brand anthropomorphisms that focus on demonizing and hitlerizing ...brands is not extensively studied. This study aims to examine these consumer interpretations of the evil, its symbols and personifications of brands as evil, with a new concept: “reverse brand anthropomorphism.”
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a literature review of brand anthropomorphism and the application of the concept of evil. This paper also uses a qualitative analysis with consumer interviews to explore the proposed reverse brand anthropomorphism concept.
Findings
This study’s findings reveal that consumers see corporations as consciously evil, loosely as an embodiment of Adolf Hitler. Consumer interviews points out that corporate brand power aimed at controlling consumer value systems is associated with “evil,” an evil that secretly aims at possessing consumers and controlling their consumption practices. The findings of this study indicate that consumers also develop their own alternative moral market value systems, ones parallel to religious morality. Although “evil” imagery is often found distractive and disrespectful by consumers, the younger generation accept it as a new and alternative form of market speech.
Originality/value
This is the first study to introduces and conceptualize a “reverse brand anthropomorphism” concept with examples of consumer brand hitlerization semiotics. Further, this study is also the first study to discuss evil in a consumption context.
Chatbots have become common in digital customer service contexts across many industries. While many companies choose to humanize their customer service chatbots (e.g., giving them names and avatars), ...little is known about how anthropomorphism influences customer responses to chatbots in service settings. Across five studies, including an analysis of a large real-world data set from an international telecommunications company and four experiments, the authors find that when customers enter a chatbot-led service interaction in an angry emotional state, chatbot anthropomorphism has a negative effect on customer satisfaction, overall firm evaluation, and subsequent purchase intentions. However, this is not the case for customers in nonangry emotional states. The authors uncover the underlying mechanism driving this negative effect (expectancy violations caused by inflated pre-encounter expectations of chatbot efficacy) and offer practical implications for managers. These findings suggest that it is important to both carefully design chatbots and consider the emotional context in which they are used, particularly in customer service interactions that involve resolving problems or handling complaints.
•Increasing perceived humanness for chat agents led to more effective conversations.•Present (future) oriented subjects preferred warm (competent) vs. competent (warm) chatbot conversations.•Matching ...time orientation with conversation type led to favourable attitudes and purchase intentions.•Brand perceptions further mediated the above effects.
Chatbots are increasingly engaged in retail settings, although research shows that consumers typically prefer engaging with humans over chatbots. Past literature has argued that anthropomorphising chatbots can lead to more effective consumer interactions. The current work further enhances this literature by showing that chatbots can be given human qualities like warmth and competence to enhance positive consumer experiences. However, we find that these exchanges are contingent on consumers’ time orientation. We conduct one pre-test (N = 103), two laboratory experiments (N = 213 and 233) and a third study engaging live chatbot conversations (N = 77) to test the premises of our study. The findings show that present-oriented subjects prefer a warm versus competent chatbot conversation, leading to favourable product decisions. Their counterparts, future-oriented subjects, prefer a competent vs. warm conversation. Brand perceptions further mediate these effects. The findings contribute to the literature on chatbot anthropomorphism and inform managerial decisions.
•Chatbot miscommunication reduces adoption intent via anthropomorphism (Anthro).•No differences between an error-free chatbot and one seeking clarification.•Anthro –> adoption relationship mediated ...by perceived ease of use.•Anthro chatbots may partially satisfy a consumer’s need for human interaction.
Firms are deploying chatbots to automate customer service. However, miscommunication is a frequent occurrence in human-chatbot interaction. This study investigates the relationship between miscommunication and adoption for customer service chatbots. Anthropomorphism is tested as an account for the relationship. Two experiments compare the perceived humanness and adoption scores for (a) an error-free chatbot, (b) a chatbot seeking clarification regarding a consumer input and (c) a chatbot which fails to discern context. The results suggest that unresolved errors are sufficient to reduce anthropomorphism and adoption intent. However, there is no perceptual difference between an error-free chatbot and one which seeks clarification. The ability to resolve miscommunication (clarification) appears as effective as avoiding it (error-free). Furthermore, the higher a consumer’s need for human interaction, the stronger the anthropomorphism - adoption relationship. Thus, anthropomorphic chatbots may satisfy the social desires of consumers high in need for human interaction.
Individuals high in autistic traits can have difficulties with social interactions which may stem from difficulties with mentalizing abilities, yet findings from research investigating ...anthropomorphism of non-human objects in high trait individuals are inconsistent. Measuring emotions and attributes of front-facing vehicles, individuals scoring high versus low on the AQ-10 were compared for ratings of angry-happy, hostile-friendly, masculine-feminine, and submissive-dominant, as a function of vehicle size (large versus small). Our results showed that participants perceived large vehicles as more angry, hostile, masculine, and dominant than small vehicles, with no significant difference in ratings between high and low AQ-10 scorers. The current findings support previous research reporting high autistic trait individuals' intact object processing. Our novel findings also suggest high autistic trait individuals' anthropomorphizing abilities are comparable to those found in low autistic trait individuals.
Warfare is a poor vehicle of expression in the circumstances. Once the enemy is made present, we hardly notice the anthropomorphism; so let’s first take anthropomorphism to a certain limit. Second, ...warlike calls to action conceal inaction; I speak, at the beginning of April 2020, of the UK’s lamentable failure to test widely.
Anthropomorphism is the tendency to treat non-human items as if they were human. Children 3–5 years (N = 139) were tested on their anthropomorphism of two favorite toys from home, with both explicit ...judgments (e.g., think, feel happy) and behavioral interactions (e.g., resource distributions). Parents reported on their child’s object attachments and anthropomorphizing behaviors at home. Children anthropomorphized objects with faces more than those without. Parents also reported that children attached to a toy with a face engaged in more anthropomorphism in their behaviors at home than those without. On the lab-based task battery, attachment status did not predict overall levels of anthropomorphism, although differences did emerge in the predicted direction on a small number of tasks, for both face and no-face attachment objects. The results of this exploratory study are discussed with regard to the diverse nature of anthropomorphism in childhood, and the role of context in eliciting this perspective.
•Examined preschoolers’ anthropomorphism of owned objects, with diverse measures.•Children anthropomorphized objects with faces more than those without.•Somewhat more anthropomorphism for attachment objects, specially in parent reports.•Anthropomorphism in childhood varies substantially across tasks and contexts.
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