Bad News? Send an AI. Good News? Send a Human.

Garvey, A; Kim, T; Duhachek, A

Bad News? Send an AI. Good News? Send a Human.

Garvey, A Kim, T

Duhachek, A

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Publisher:: SAGE Publications
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Marketing, 2023, 87, (1), pp. 10-25
Issue Date:: 2023-12-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Garvey, A
dc.contributor.author	Kim, T https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3040-4092
dc.contributor.author	Duhachek, A
dc.date.accessioned	2024-02-24T03:13:01Z
dc.date.available	2024-02-24T03:13:01Z
dc.date.issued	2023-12-01
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Marketing, 2023, 87, (1), pp. 10-25
dc.identifier.issn	0022-2429
dc.identifier.issn	1547-7185
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175862
dc.description.abstract	The present research demonstrates how consumer responses to negative and positive offers are influenced by whether the administering marketing agent is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or a human. In the case of a product or service offer that is worse than expected, consumers respond better when dealing with an AI agent in the form of increased purchase likelihood and satisfaction. In contrast, for a better than expected offer, consumers respond more positively to a human agent. We demonstrate that AI agents, in comparison to human agents, are perceived to have weaker intentions when administering offers, which accounts for this effect. That is, consumers infer that AI agents lack selfish intentions in the case of an offer that favors the agent and lack benevolent intentions in the case of an offer that favors the customer, thereby dampening the extremity of consumer responses. Moreover, we demonstrate a moderating effect such that marketers may anthropomorphize AI agents to strengthen perceived intentions, providing an avenue to receive due credit from consumers when providing a better offer and mitigate blame when providing a worse offer. Potential ethical concerns with the use of AI to bypass consumer resistance to negative offers are discussed.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	SAGE Publications
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Marketing
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/00222429211066972
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1505 Marketing, 1506 Tourism
dc.subject.classification	Marketing
dc.subject.classification	3506 Marketing
dc.subject.classification	3507 Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
dc.title	Bad News? Send an AI. Good News? Send a Human.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	87
utslib.for	1505 Marketing
utslib.for	1506 Tourism
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Marketing Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2024-02-24T03:13:00Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	87
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

The present research demonstrates how consumer responses to negative and positive offers are influenced by whether the administering marketing agent is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or a human. In the case of a product or service offer that is worse than expected, consumers respond better when dealing with an AI agent in the form of increased purchase likelihood and satisfaction. In contrast, for a better than expected offer, consumers respond more positively to a human agent. We demonstrate that AI agents, in comparison to human agents, are perceived to have weaker intentions when administering offers, which accounts for this effect. That is, consumers infer that AI agents lack selfish intentions in the case of an offer that favors the agent and lack benevolent intentions in the case of an offer that favors the customer, thereby dampening the extremity of consumer responses. Moreover, we demonstrate a moderating effect such that marketers may anthropomorphize AI agents to strengthen perceived intentions, providing an avenue to receive due credit from consumers when providing a better offer and mitigate blame when providing a worse offer. Potential ethical concerns with the use of AI to bypass consumer resistance to negative offers are discussed.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175862