Artificial Intelligence and Declined Guilt: Retailing Morality Comparison Between Human and AI

Abstract

Several technological developments, such as self-service technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), are disrupting the retailing industry by changing consumption and purchase habits and the overall retail experience. Although AI represents extraordinary opportunities for businesses, companies must avoid the dangers and risks associated with the adoption of such systems. Integrating perspectives from emerging research on AI, morality of machines, and norm activation, we examine how individuals morally behave toward AI agents and self-service machines. Across three studies, we demonstrate that consumers’ moral concerns and behaviors differ when interacting with technologies versus humans. We show that moral intention (intention to report an error) is less likely to emerge for AI checkout and self-checkout machines compared with human checkout. In addition, moral intention decreases as people consider the machine less humanlike. We further document that the decline in morality is caused by less guilt displayed toward new technologies. The non-human nature of the interaction evokes a decreased feeling of guilt and ultimately reduces moral behavior. These findings offer insights into how technological developments influence consumer behaviors and provide guidance for businesses and retailers in understanding moral intentions related to the different types of interactions in a shopping environment.

Artificial intelligence consumer behavior: A hybrid review and research agenda

“…However, the literature lacks market‐related, meso‐level, or macro‐level social or cultural effects that might function in popular consumer culture and have societal implications. At the market level, consumers may form service evaluations and preferences toward AI based on their interactions (Beeler et al, 2022; Yu et al, 2022), but their responses to AI compared to human agents are divergent and may lead them to engage in unethical behavior with AI (Giroux et al, 2022; Kim et al, 2022). Such outcomes need timely investigation to prevent the pitfalls and dark sides of the technology.…”

“…While they would be more sympathetic when dealing with humans in front‐end service, they may be more offended by their negative behavior, such as request rejection, compared to AI agents (Lou et al, 2022; Yu et al, 2022). Such divergent behavior may also have more profound implications on the moral conduct of consumers and lead to reduced guilt and increased unethical behavior while dealing with AI agents in the future, with potentially severe societal implications (Giroux et al, 2022).…”

“…Researchers have also raised concerns over emergent immoral intentions among consumers while interacting with AI (Giroux et al, 2022). These concerns need further investigation to identify the root cause of this intent and whether it leads to immoral or unethical behavior.…”

Business-Size Bias in Consumer Dishonesty: People are More Dishonest Against Big than Small Organizations

“…In a between-participants design, participants in Experiment 3 were asked to imagine a hypothetical scenario where they spotted an underbilling error at a self-service checkout of a store (for a similar method, see Giroux et al, 2022). We manipulated store size experimentally between two conditions, describing it either as big (Colossal Mart-a big chain retailer) or small (Lil Mart-an independent small retailer).…”

From experience to expectation: The reverse effect of power on purchasing impulsiveness

“…However, the impact of the expectations of power on consumers’ negative emotions, such as guilt, has not yet been studied. Guilt is a self-conscious emotion with negative valence, which can influence consumers’ self-control ( Giroux et al, 2022 ). In future research, it is valuable to continue exploring the impact of the expectations of power on purchase impulsiveness with guilt as a mediator.…”