Man Versus Machine: Resisting Automation in Identity-Based Consumer Behavior

By Eugina Leung, Gabriele Paolacci, Stefano Puntoni. Journal of Marketing Research, 2018

232 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Automation is transforming many consumption domains, including everyday activities such as cooking or driving, as well as recreational activities like fishing or cycling. Yet little research in marketing examines consumer preferences for automated products. Automation often provides obvious consumption benefits, but six studies spanning a variety of product categories show that automation may not be desirable when identity motives are important drivers of consumption. Using both correlational and experimental designs, these studies demonstrate that people who strongly identify with a particular social category resist automated features that hinder the attribution of identity-relevant consumption outcomes to themselves. The findings have substantial theoretical implications for research on identity and technology, as well as managerial implications for targeting, product innovation, and communication.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/54b4e16906e46d75b243dd6cd8b34f791df6d4c9

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Citations in the corpus

Artificial Intelligence in Utilitarian vs. Hedonic Contexts: The “Word-of-Machine” Effect (2020, background): “…AI-driven recommendations has led to a burgeoning body of research examining whether consumers are receptive to the advice of algorithms, statistical models, and artificial intelligence (Dietvorst, Simmons, and Massey 2014; Leung, Paolacci, and Puntoni 2019; Longoni, Bonezzi, and Morewedge 2019).”
Access-Based Services as Substitutes for Material Possessions: The Role of Psychological Ownership (2020, background): “…(2 items for the Intimacy Scale from Aaker, Fournier, and Brasel 2004; 2 items for the Identity Scale from Sivadas and Machleit 1994 [see also Chugani, Irwin, and Redden 2015; Leung, Paolacci, and Puntoni 2018]; 2-item Communal Identification Scale from Hennig-Thurau, Henning, and Sattler 2007).”
Consumers and Artificial Intelligence: An Experiential Perspective (2020, unknown): “The learning achieved in the previous phase should serve as the bedrock on which AI designers decide how to model delegation experiences to protect self-efficacy and self-identity (Leung, Paolacci, and Puntoni 2018).”
“Alexa, order me a pizza!”: The mediating role of psychological power in the consumer–voice assistant interaction (2021, background): “More complex purchase decisions that are associated with high involvement products prove to be more problematic, in part, because some consumers resist automated features that reduce the psychological efforts enjoyed by high‐involvement products and purchases (Leung et al., 2018).”
Preference for Human (vs. Robotic) Labor is Stronger in Symbolic Consumption Contexts (2020, background): “Even consumption of the same product can be differentially symbolic depending on the situation (e.g., biking to work to avoid traf ﬁ c versus for leisure; Leung et al., 2018).”
Robotics for Customer Service: A Useful Complement or an Ultimate Substitute? (2019, background): “Leung, Paolacci, and Puntoni (2018) also found that consumers favor autonomy when the consumption benefits are obvious but resist autonomy when identity motives are important drivers of consumption.”
Frontiers: Machines vs. Humans: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Disclosure on Customer Purchases (2019, background): “Leung et al. (2018) ﬁ nd that AI automation may be undesirable to consumers when the identity motives are important drivers of consumption.”
A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in marketing (2020, background): “While enjoying the standardization benefit of mechanical AI, one existing study is cautious about automating product decisions, when those products are related to consumers ’ identity (Leung et al. 2018).”