artificial intelligence, consumer morality, moral agency, verbal abuse, guilt
Abstract:
Voice assistants based on artificial intelligence (AI) are frequently confronted with verbally abusive consumers. How these assistants respond to such moral misbehavior can evoke negative associations with the company. Current AI-based voice assistants predominantly disregard abusive comments or evade confrontations with consumers. Our study explores moral alternatives to these tactics and investigates consumer reactions to AI appealing to consumers’ morality in response to verbal abuse. Four experiments reveal that AI ignoring verbal abuse results in poorer consumer reactions than AI advocating morality and speaking up against verbal abuse because consumers attribute higher moral agency to AI appealing to their morals and experience significantly more guilt. This study provides the first evidence of AI’s ability to shape consumer morality. We thereby contribute to an enhanced understanding of morality in human–AI interactions and offer guidance for managing verbally abusive consumer behavior toward AI.
Additional information:
2024 AMA Winter Academic Conference, Febraury 20, Virtual; February 23-25, St. Pete Beach, FL
Search Authors in
