How anthropomorphism affects trust in intelligent personal assistants

Abstract

PurposeWith the continuous improvement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) based on AI have seen unprecedented growth. The present study investigates the effect of anthropomorphism on cognitive and emotional trust and the role of interpersonal attraction in the relationship between anthropomorphism and trust.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation modeling technique with a sample of 263 consumers was used to analyze the data and test the conceptual model.FindingsThe findings illustrate that the anthropomorphism of IPAs did not directly induce trust. Anthropomorphism led users to assign greater social attraction and task attraction to IPAs, which in turn reinforced cognitive or emotional trust in these assistants. Compared with task attraction, social attraction was more powerful in strengthening both cognitive trust and emotional trust. The present study broadens the current knowledge about interpersonal attraction and its role in AI usage by examining two types of interpersonal attraction of IPAs.Originality/valueAs trust plays an important role in the rapid development of human–computer interaction, it is imperative to understand how consumers perceive these intelligent agents and build or improve trust. Prior studies focused on the impact of anthropomorphism on overall trust in AI, and its underlying mechanism was underexplored. The findings can help marketers and designers better understand how to enhance users' trust in their anthropomorphic products, especially by increasing social interactive elements or promoting communication.

A Mind in Intelligent Personal Assistants: An Empirical Study of Mind-Based Anthropomorphism, Fulfilled Motivations, and Exploratory Usage of Intelligent Personal Assistants

“…For example, lonely people anthropomorphize their pets to obtain the social connection they need (Epley et al, 2007). Similarly, anthropomorphism of IPAs can satisfy users' sociality motivation as well (Cao et al, 2019;Chen and Park, 2021;Li and Sung, 2021;Noor et al, 2021), which is manifested by social connection with IPAs in the current study. Social connection refers to users' feeling of closeness with the IPAs (Lee et al, 2001) and has been validated by previous studies to strengthen usage behaviors (Tseng et al, 2018).…”

“…Users who attribute emotional capacities to IPAs will feel more comfortable communicating with the IPAs and less uncertain about the IPAs because they understand and express emotions as humans do. It has also been validated by prior studies that IPA anthropomorphism decreases the sense of unfamiliarity and brings about a stronger sense of efficacy toward IPAs (Cao et al, 2019;Chen and Park, 2021;Li and Sung, 2021). Thus, we hypothesize:…”

“…For instance, yelling at a malfunctioned computer may help people ease their burden (Luczak et al, 2003). Similarly, anthropomorphism of IPAs can also satisfy users' effectance motivation (Cao et al, 2019;Chen and Park, 2021;Li and Sung, 2021), which is manifested as IPA selfefficacy in the current study. IPA Self-efficacy refers to users' evaluation of their competence to use IPAs (Compeau and Higgins, 1995) and has been validated as a strong predictor of usage behaviors, especially those that extend beyond the defined usage (Wang et al, 2008;Peng et al, 2018;Tams et al, 2018).…”

“…Intelligent agents like IPAs become prevalent in our daily life, and they are more and more like friends that we can communicate with without worrying about awkwardness and disturbance. For example, many users anthropomorphize IPAs and create certain social connections with them (Cao et al, 2019;Chen and Park, 2021;Li and Sung, 2021;Noor et al, 2021). As we mentioned in the arguments for hypotheses 1a and 1b, as the cognitive and emotional intelligence of IPAs is gradually improved, users are more likely to attribute humanlike cognitive and emotional ability to IPAs and regard it as a source of social connection.…”

Neural Processing Differences of Facial Emotions Between Human and Vehicles: Evidence From an Event-Related Potential Study

“…In recent years, anthropomorphism has become a popular technique in product development, with which products are given “facial” expressions. Many studies have shown that products can convey positive, neutral, and aggressive emotions, and that these influence consumers’ perceptions ( Lin et al, 2019 ; Chen and Park, 2021 ). In addition, the degree to which the anthropomorphic characteristics of a product are consistent with a human feature will affect consumers’ evaluation of the product ( Aggarwal and Mcgill, 2007 ).…”