Understanding the impacts pf product anthropomorphism on consumer information processing and consumer-brand relationship

Abstract

Anthropomorphism is broadly defined as seeing humans in non-human agents (Epley, Waytz, and Cacioppo 2007). The concept goes beyond attribution of physical features, and involves attributing mental capacities that are unique to humans such as conscious awareness, intentions, and emotions (Epley, Waytz, Akalis, and Cacioppo 2008). Although the concept of anthropomorphism has been used in marketing for centuries and anthropomorphism is prevalent in marketing communications, scholarly research on the consequence of anthropomorphism and its underlying mechanisms is still in its early stage. This thesis aims to advance our understanding of the consequence of using anthropomorphism in marketing communications from both a cognitive perspective and a motivational perspective. The first essay takes a cognitive perspective to examine the effect of anthropomorphism on consumer information processing. Essay 1 goes beyond prior research which focuses on the effect of specific appearance on evaluation of anthropomorphized products, and instead documents a general elevated effect of anthropomorphism on consumers’ preference for products with superior physical attributes (e.g., products with a more attractive appearance design or packaging design). This effect occurs because consumers perceive anthropomorphized products similarly to person perception which often relies on physical features such as facial and body cues. Consequently, anthropomorphism enhances the importance of physical attributes in consumer judgment and choice. We tested our propositions across six experiments. The results showed that compared with non-anthropomorphism, product anthropomorphism leads consumers to allocate more time and money to search for information about the physical attributes of products (experiments 1 and 2), to express greater preference for products with superior physical attributes (experiments 5 and 6), and to choose product options with superior physical attributes in both hypothetical (experiment 4) and real choices (experiment 3). Mediation and moderation analyses reveal the underlying mechanism. The effect of anthropomorphism on consumer preference is mediated by consumers’ perceived importance of physical attributes (experiment 5) and is eliminated when consumers believe that physical appearance is an unreliable criterion for judging a person (experiment 6). The results are robust across a wide range of product categories and consumers. The second essay takes a motivational perspective to test the effect of anthropomorphism on consumer-brand relationship building. Essay 2 proposes that consumers who have experienced social exclusion exhibit an increased preference for anthropomorphized products, and that this effect is driven by consumers’ perception that anthropomorphized products allow them the opportunity to socially affiliate with the product. Four experiments demonstrate that socially excluded consumers, compared with non-excluded consumers, showed greater preferences for anthropomorphized product, and that this effect is mediated by their perception of the product as a new partner for social bond. Moreover, results of the experiments reveal that brand personality moderates the effect such that this effect occurs (is diminished) when the product exhibits a personality that is high (low) in warmth.