Marketing with Anthropomorphised AI: Insights from Consumers

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Introduction

The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is poised for remarkable growth, with an anticipated revenue of $1811.8 billion (Grand View Research, 2022) and a substantial contribution of $15.7 trillion to the global economy projected by 2030 (PwC, 2017). In response to this notable trend, marketing has been prompted to leverage AI technologies, particularly predictive intelligence (Karimova & Goby, 2021). As AI becomes increasingly integrated into diverse sectors, such as marketing, tourism, entertainment, and retail, it has emerged as a transformative force, offering capabilities ranging from speech recognition to personalised recommendations, problem-solving, and data processing (Davenport & Ronanki, 2018). One significant driver behind this widespread adoption is the relentless advancement of AI’s anthropomorphic qualities, that is, its ability to resemble and imitate human traits and behaviours (Alabed et al., 2022). In this dynamic landscape, problem-centric thinking becomes vital (Charles et al., 2022) as organisations harness anthropomorphised AI to address various challenges and opportunities. 
In this context, anthropomorphism refers to imbuing AI entities with humanlike characteristics, appearance, or behaviour. Studies show that AI agents are becoming increasingly humanlike in their physical appearance and ability to mimic emotions and exhibit personality traits (Epley, 2018; Zhou et al., 2019). This phenomenon raises critical questions regarding its influence on consumer decision-making and behaviour. For example, prior research has delved into various aspects, including consumer acceptance of anthropomorphic agents (Xiao & Kumar, 2021), user engagement levels with such agents (Hollebeek et al., 2021), and the impact of AI on brand-related responses such as customer loyalty (Lu et al., 2019). Additionally, studies have explored the role of anthropomorphised AI in service quality (Yoganathan et al., 2021) and the overall service experience (McLeay et al., 2021). 
The existing body of literature on consumer decision-making and behaviour indicates that there is a growing interest in how AI influences the cognitive processes surrounding product or service purchases (Kietzmann et al., 2018; Kumar et al., 2019; Luo et al., 2019; Martinez-Lopez et al., 2009). Prior research (e.g., Zhang & Wang, 2023) has revealed that the anthropomorphic appearance of AI products is an important factor influencing consumer behaviour. However, much research remains to be done to gain comprehensive insights into anthropomorphised AI that goes beyond mere visual aesthetics and explores its impact on user trust, emotional attachment, decision-making processes, and ethical considerations. 
We aim to address this gap in academic understanding through this Special Issue. We intend to advance this field by focusing on anthropomorphised AI’s theoretical development and empirical research in the business-to-consumer (B2C) context. Specifically, we aim to unravel the intricate dynamics that underlie consumer decision-making and behaviour when purchasing and/or consuming products or services in the presence of AI entities exhibiting humanlike traits.

List of Topic Areas

• Implications of anthropomorphic AI in consumer attitude and behaviour 
• AI-enabled digital marketing to foster B2C sales and its effect on consumers 
• Optimisation of customer journey through AI 
• Humanised AI in delivering consumer services 
• Anthropomorphic AI in creating recommendation-effective systems for consumers 
• Use of anthropomorphic AI to harness B2C e-commerce 
• Anthropomorphic AI use for consumer communication 
• Anthropomorphism and AI with online communities 
• Management of intelligence augmentation (IA) in B2C marketing 
• Impact of AI-enabled chatbots on customer purchase decision-making 
• Design of AI/(service) robot solutions to improve customer experience and customer relationship management 
• Impact of AI-automated tools on consumer behaviour 
• Ethics of AI in consumer behaviour

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key Deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 01/01/2024 
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/05/2024