IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v51y2023i4d10.1007_s11747-021-00832-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

AI increases unethical consumer behavior due to reduced anticipatory guilt

Author

Listed:
  • TaeWoo Kim

    (University of Technology Sydney)

  • Hyejin Lee

    (Sungkyunkwan University)

  • Michelle Yoosun Kim

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • SunAh Kim

    (Concordia University)

  • Adam Duhachek

    (University of Illinois at Chicago
    University of Sydney)

Abstract

The current research focuses on examining how the use of artificial intelligence and robotic technology, emerging non-human agent innovations in service industries, influences consumers’ likelihood of engaging in unethical behavior. Previous research has shown that non-human (vs. human) agents are perceived differently along many dimensions by consumers (e.g., that they lack emotional capability), leading to various behavioral changes when interacting with them. We hypothesize and show across four studies that interacting with non-human (vs. human) agents, such as AI and robots, increases the tendency to engage in unethical consumer behaviors due to reduced anticipatory feelings of guilt. We also demonstrate the moderating role of anthropomorphism such that endowing humanlike features on non-human agents reduces unethical behavior. We also rule out alternative explanations for the effect, including differential perceptions about the agents (e.g., “warmth,” “competence,” or “detection capacity”) and other measures associated with the company capabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • TaeWoo Kim & Hyejin Lee & Michelle Yoosun Kim & SunAh Kim & Adam Duhachek, 2023. "AI increases unethical consumer behavior due to reduced anticipatory guilt," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 785-801, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:51:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-021-00832-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-021-00832-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-021-00832-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-021-00832-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sara Kim & Ann L. McGill, 2011. "Gaming with Mr. Slot or Gaming the Slot Machine? Power, Anthropomorphism, and Risk Perception," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 38(1), pages 94-107.
    2. Pankaj Aggarwal & Ann L. Mcgill, 2012. "When Brands Seem Human, Do Humans Act Like Brands? Automatic Behavioral Priming Effects of Brand Anthropomorphism," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(2), pages 307-323.
    3. Urs Fischbacher & Franziska Föllmi-Heusi, 2013. "Lies In Disguise—An Experimental Study On Cheating," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 525-547, June.
    4. DaHee Han & Adam Duhachek & Nidhi Agrawal, 2014. "Emotions Shape Decisions through Construal Level: The Case of Guilt and Shame," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 1047-1064.
    5. DaHee Han & Adam Duhachek & Nidhi Agrawal, 2014. "Emotions Shape Decisions through Construal Level: The Case of Guilt and Shame," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(4), pages 1047-1064.
    6. Vince Mitchell & George Balabanis & Bodo Schlegelmilch & T. Cornwell, 2009. "Measuring Unethical Consumer Behavior Across Four Countries," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 395-412, August.
    7. BaoChun Zhao & ShanShan Xu, 2013. "Does Consumer Unethical Behavior Relate to Birthplace? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 475-488, March.
    8. Kai Chi Yam & Scott J. Reynolds, 2016. "The Effects of Victim Anonymity on Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 13-22, June.
    9. Chiara Longoni & Andrea Bonezzi & Carey K Morewedge, 2019. "Resistance to Medical Artificial Intelligence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 629-650.
    10. Ethan LaMothe & Donna Bobek, 2020. "Are Individuals More Willing to Lie to a Computer or a Human? Evidence from a Tax Compliance Setting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 157-180, November.
    11. Claire I. Tsai & Ann L. McGill, 2011. "No Pain, No Gain? How Fluency and Construal Level Affect Consumer Confidence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(5), pages 807-821.
    12. Xueming Luo & Siliang Tong & Zheng Fang & Zhe Qu, 2019. "Frontiers: Machines vs. Humans: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Disclosure on Customer Purchases," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 937-947, November.
    13. Moon, Youngme, 2000. "Intimate Exchanges: Using Computers to Elicit Self-Disclosure from Consumers," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(4), pages 323-339, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Tian-Ge & Zhang, Chu-Bing & Chang, Ying & Zheng, Wei, 2024. "The impact of AI identity disclosure on consumer unethical behavior: A social judgment perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuanyuan Zhou & Zhuoying Fei & Yuanqiong He & Zhilin Yang, 2022. "How Human–Chatbot Interaction Impairs Charitable Giving: The Role of Moral Judgment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 849-865, July.
    2. Li, Tian-Ge & Zhang, Chu-Bing & Chang, Ying & Zheng, Wei, 2024. "The impact of AI identity disclosure on consumer unethical behavior: A social judgment perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Justina Sidlauskiene & Yannick Joye & Vilte Auruskeviciene, 2023. "AI-based chatbots in conversational commerce and their effects on product and price perceptions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Zhang, Yaqiong & Wang, Shifu, 2023. "The influence of anthropomorphic appearance of artificial intelligence products on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different product types," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Yuanqiong He & Junfang Zhang & Yuanyuan Zhou & Zhilin Yang, 2019. "“Monkey See, Monkey Do?”: The Effect of Construal Level on Consumers’ Reactions to Others’ Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 455-472, May.
    6. Barney, Christian & Hancock, Tyler & Esmark Jones, Carol L. & Kazandjian, Brett & Collier, Joel E., 2022. "Ideally human-ish: How anthropomorphized do you have to be in shopper-facing retail technology?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 685-705.
    7. Alabed, Amani & Javornik, Ana & Gregory-Smith, Diana, 2022. "AI anthropomorphism and its effect on users' self-congruence and self–AI integration: A theoretical framework and research agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    8. Tinglong Dai & Sridhar Tayur, 2022. "Designing AI‐augmented healthcare delivery systems for physician buy‐in and patient acceptance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(12), pages 4443-4451, December.
    9. Leah Warfield Smith & Randall Lee Rose & Alex R. Zablah & Heath McCullough & Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, 2023. "Examining post-purchase consumer responses to product automation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 530-550, May.
    10. Siliang Tong & Nan Jia & Xueming Luo & Zheng Fang, 2021. "The Janus face of artificial intelligence feedback: Deployment versus disclosure effects on employee performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1600-1631, September.
    11. Noor Hasmini Binti Abd Ghani & Mohammad Kashedul Wahab Tuhin, 2016. "Consumer Brand Relationships," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 950-957.
    12. Jana Holthöwer & Jenny Doorn, 2023. "Robots do not judge: service robots can alleviate embarrassment in service encounters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 767-784, July.
    13. Golossenko, Artyom & Pillai, Kishore Gopalakrishna & Aroean, Lukman, 2020. "Seeing brands as humans: Development and validation of a brand anthropomorphism scale," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 737-755.
    14. Felix Septianto & Billy Sung & Yuri Seo & Nursafwah Tugiman, 2018. "Proud volunteers: the role of self- and vicarious-pride in promoting volunteering," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 501-519, December.
    15. Mariani, Marcello M. & Hashemi, Novin & Wirtz, Jochen, 2023. "Artificial intelligence empowered conversational agents: A systematic literature review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    16. Yang, Yikai & Zheng, Jiehui & Yu, Yining & Qiu, Yiling & Wang, Lei, 2024. "The role of recommendation sources and attribute framing in online product recommendations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    17. Thuy Duong Oesterreich & Eduard Anton & Julian Schuir & Alexander Brehm & Frank Teuteberg, 2023. "How can I help you? Design principles for task-oriented speech dialog systems in customer service," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-79, March.
    18. Chen Yang & Jing Hu, 2022. "When do consumers prefer AI-enabled customer service? The interaction effect of brand personality and service provision type on brand attitudes and purchase intentions," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(2), pages 167-189, March.
    19. Ji Wu & Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng & J. Leon Zhao, 2021. "FairPlay: Detecting and Deterring Online Customer Misbehavior," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1323-1346, December.
    20. Cesare Amatulli & Matteo Angelis & Alessandro M. Peluso & Isabella Soscia & Gianluigi Guido, 2019. "The Effect of Negative Message Framing on Green Consumption: An Investigation of the Role of Shame," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(4), pages 1111-1132, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:51:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11747-021-00832-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.