How anthropomorphic cues affect reactions to service delays

Abstract

Purpose Service delays are of significant concern to both consumers and companies – delays cost both groups billions of dollars and lead to consumer frustration and switching activity. Therefore, determining means of overcoming negative consumer reactions to delays is important, and the authors propose that anthropomorphic facial expressions could be one of those means. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to test the effects of anthropomorphic cues (namely, happy and sad faces) on consumer responses to service delays, depending on whether service providers are at fault for those delays. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies test the proposed effects. Findings Happy faces alongside messages about delays appear to provide no significant benefit to repatronage intentions compared to a non-anthropomorphic (control) condition, whether the service provider is or is not to blame. Meanwhile, sad faces are harmful when the provider is not to blame but can somewhat bolster repatronage intentions when the provider is at fault. Further, perceived sincerity of the facial expression and patience with the provider mediate these effects. Research limitations/implications The findings offer important insights into how anthropomorphic cues, including emojis, can influence consumer responses to service delays. The work, thus, offers clarity around instances in which anthropomorphism might lead to negative consumer responses. Practical implications Managers can use the findings to increase patience and mitigate potentially negative consumer responses when service delays occur. Originality/value This work adds clarity to the literature on anthropomorphism by showing how blame attributions for service delays can lead to different consumer responses to anthropomorphic cues. The findings also show how anthropomorphism can help to mitigate negative consumer responses to service delays.

Imperfect produce: retailer actions and service outcomes

“…Existing studies do allude to the positive effect of anthropomorphism on purchase decisions in the context of produce freshness perceptions (Koo et al, 2019) and focus on the positive/lighthearted messaging. Interestingly, sad-faced anthropomorphic images have been previously used in service settings to improve repatronage intentions (Ketron and Naletelich, 2020). Building on this finding and in view of reducing embarrassment, we use sad anthropomorphized signage to communicate a more serious and realistic implication of not choosing imperfect produce.…”

“…These human-like features invoke emotion, desire, empathy and can influence consumer decision-making (Aggarwal and McGill, 2007). Undeniably, anthropomorphized signages are ubiquitous in various service contexts such as service delays (Ketron and Naletelich, 2020), self-service technology (Fan et al, 2016) and service humanoids (van Pinxteren et al, 2019). Anthropomorphized messages depending on the consumption context can invoke different psychological reactions.…”

“…For example, in the case of a self-service technology failure, anthropomorphism induces a sense of control and confidence (Fan et al, 2016). On the other hand, in the case of sustainable behavior, anthropomorphism invokes a sense of guilt (Ahn et al, 2014) or sympathy (Ketron and Naletelich, 2020). Harrison and Hall (2010) showed that individuals do feel empathy for anthropomorphized messages.…”

“…As produce is kept in the open and is relatively conspicuous, the sense of embarrassment while selecting imperfect produce can be pronounced (Krishna et al, 2019). Therefore, this study focuses on purchase embarrassment as one of the primary factors that inhibit the purchase of the imperfect product and examines the moderating role of promotional tools such as anthropomorphized signage (Aggarwal and McGill, 2007;Epley et al, 2007;Ketron and Naletelich, 2020) and product packaging (Ampuero and Vila, 2006;Nancarrow et al, 1998). Purchase embarrassment is particularly salient in the current context where customers may feel that they are being appraised by others as not conforming to the social norms when purchasing imperfect produce.…”

“…Toward this end, this study uses anthropomorphized signage and product packaging as tools to address the issue of purchase embarrassment in the context of imperfect produce. Both anthropomorphized signage and product packaging have been shown to positively impact consumer behavior in a retail/service context (Ketron and Naletelich, 2020;Nancarrow et al, 1998).…”