Abstract
The current work examines how consumers respond to luxury products designed with significant utilization of technology. It delineates two inherent values of luxury products—emotional and functional—and argues that utilizing technology in the luxury product design process negatively impacts the emotional value but enhances the associated functional value. Such paradoxical impact of AI-led design on emotional and functional values leads to a differential effect on consumer response patterns. For luxury products that particularly draw on their superior emotional value (e.g., luxury fashion brands), using AI as a design source significantly reduces the perceived brand essence, leading to negative consumer response. However, when a luxury brand draws its essence from the associated functional value (in addition to the emotional value), either because of the product characteristics (e.g., luxury automobiles) or when such value is made externally salient (e.g., through marketing message appeals), the negative response is attenuated.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, N. (2009). Brand authentication: Creating and maintaining brand auras. European Journal of Marketing, 43(3), 551–562.
Anantrasirichai, N., & Bull, D. (2021). Artificial intelligence in the creative industries: A review. Artificial Intelligence Review, 1–68.
Ardelet, C., Slavich, B., & de Kerviler, G. (2015). Self-referencing narratives to predict consumers’ preferences in the luxury industry: A longitudinal study. Journal of Business Research, 68(9), 20137–22044.
Avery, J. (2012). Defending the markers of masculinity: Consumer resistance to brand gender-bending. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), 322–336.
Beauloye, F. (2019). 4 AI Trends To Grow Your Luxury Ecommerce In 2019. Luxe Digital, Retrieved December 29, 2020 from https://luxe.digital/business/digital-luxury-trends/how-personalisation-and-artificial-intelligence-are-transforming-luxury-retail-online/.
Bialek, B. (2019). Artificial Intelligence Disrupts UX and Product Design Like No Other Industry. Net Guru. Retrieved January 1, 2021, from https://www.netguru.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-disrupts-ux-and-product-design-like-no-other-industry.
BMW. (2018). Computer-Assisted Art – the Fascination of AI Design. Retrieved January 22, 2022. www.bmw.com/en/design/ai-design-and-digital-art.html.
Breakstone, M. (2019). Three Ways Artificial Intelligence Can Drive Human Innovation. Forbes. Retrieved January 22, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/03/06/three-ways-artificial-intelligence-can-drive-human-innovation/#475ddb4c7940.
Burton, J. W., Stein, M. K., & Jensen, T. B. (2020). A systematic review of algorithm aversion in augmented decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 33(2), 220–239.
Castelo, N., Bos, M. W., & Lehmann, D. R. (2019). Task-dependent algorithm aversion. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(5), 809–825.
Chandler, J., & Owen, M. (2002). Developing brands with qualitative market research. In G. Ereaut, M. Imms, & M. Callingham (Eds.), Qualitative market research. Sage Publications.
Chen, A., & Peng, N. (2014). Examining Chinese consumers’ luxury hotel staying behavior. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 39, 53–56.
Chitturi, R., Raghunathan, R., & Mahajan, V. (2008). Delight by design: The role of hedonic versus utilitarian benefits. Journal of Marketing, 72(3), 48–63.
Choo, H. J., Moon, H., Kim, H., & Yoon, N. (2012). Luxury customer value. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 16(1), 81–101.
Cooper, H., Miller, D., & Merrilees, B. (2015). Restoring luxury corporate heritage brands: From crisis to ascendency. Journal of Brand Management, 22(5), 448–466.
Dahl, D. W., Fuchs, C., & Schreier, M. (2015). Why and when consumers prefer products of user-driven firms: A social identification account. Management Science, 61(8), 1978–1988.
Davenport, T., Guha, A., Grewal, D., & Bressgott, T. (2020). How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 24–42.
Davidson, P. (2019). Early warning sign of recession? High-wage workers are spending less. USA Today. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/11/25/us-consumer-spending-high-income-households-pulling-back/4277063002/.
Deloitte. (2019). Global Powers of Luxury Goods. Retrieved January 21, 2022.www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ar/Documents/Consumer_and_Industrial_Products/Global-Powers-of-Luxury-Goods-abril-2019.pdf.
Dietvorst, B. J., Simmons, J. P., & Massey, C. (2015). Algorithm aversion: People erroneously avoid algorithms after seeing them err. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(1), 114–126.
Dion, D., & Borraz, S. (2015). Managing heritage brands: A study of the sacralization of heritage stores in the luxury industry. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, 77–84.
Dubois, B., & Laurent, G. (1996). The functions of luxury: A situational approach to excursionism. ACR North American Advances, 23, 470–477.
Dubois, B., & Paternault, C. (1995). Observations: Understanding the world of international luxury brands: The "dream formula.". Journal of Advertising Research, 35(4), 69–76.
Dubois, B., Laurent, G., & Czellar, S. (2001). Consumer rapport to luxury: Analyzing complex and ambivalent attitudes. In Consumer research working paper 736, HEC School of management.
Dubois, D., Jung, S., & Ordabayeva, N. (2021). The psychology of luxury consumption. Current Opinion in Psychology, 39, 82–87.
Dumoulin, D. A. (2007). What is today’s definition of luxury? AdMap, 481, 27–30.
Elder, R. S., Schlosser, A. E., Poor, M., & Xu, L. (2017). So close I can almost sense it: The interplay between sensory imagery and psychological distance. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(4), 877–894.
Fionda, A. M., & Moore, C. M. (2009). The anatomy of the luxury fashion brand. Journal of Brand Management, 16(5–6), 347–363.
Fuchs, C., Prandelli, E., Schreier, M., & Dahl, D. W. (2013). All that is users might not be gold: How labeling products as user designed backfires in the context of luxury fashion brands. Journal of Marketing, 77(5), 75–91.
Gardyn, R. (2002). Defining luxury: Oh, the good life despite the recession, Americans' income has shown some remarkable resilience. American Demographics, 24(10), 30–35.
Granulo, A., Fuchs, C., & Puntoni, S. (2021). Preference for human (vs. robotic) labor is stronger in symbolic consumption contexts. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31(1), 72–80.
Grewal, D., Hulland, J., Kopalle, P. K., & Karahanna, E. (2020). The future of technology and marketing: A multidisciplinary perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 1–8.
Grewal, D., Gauri, D. K., Das, G., Agarwal, J., & Spence, M. T. (2021). Retailing and emergent technologies. Journal of Business Research, 134, 198–202.
Hagtvedt, H., & Patrick, V. M. (2009). The broad embrace of luxury: Hedonic potential as a driver of brand extendibility. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19(4), 608–618.
Hansen, J., & Wänke, M. (2011). The abstractness of luxury. Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(5), 789–796.
Haslam, N. (2006). Dehumanization: An integrative review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(3), 252–264.
Heine, K. (2010). Identification and motivation of participants for luxury consumer surveys. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 8(2), 132–145.
Hirschman, E. C., & Holbrook, M. B. (1982). Hedonic consumption: Emerging concepts, methods and propositions. Journal of Marketing, 46(3), 92–101.
Huang, M. H., Rust, R., & Maksimovic, V. (2019). The feeling economy: Managing in the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI). California Management Review, 61(4), 43–65.
Hung, K. P., Chen, A. H., Peng, N., Hackley, C., Tiwsakul, R. A., & Chou, C. L. (2011). Antecedents of luxury brand purchase intention. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 20(6), 457–467.
Johar, J. S., & Sirgy, M. J. (1991). Value-expressive versus utilitarian advertising appeals: When and why to use which appeal. Journal of Advertising, 20(3), 23–33.
Kapferer, J., & Bastien, V. (2009). The specificity of luxury management: Turning marketing upside down. Journal of Brand Management, 16(5), 311–322.
Kelly, T. (1998). Brand essence—Making our brands last longer. Journal of Brand Management, 5(6), 390–391.
Kernstock, J., Brexendorf, T. O., & Powell, S. M. (2017). Introduction: Luxury brand management insights and opportunities. In J. N. Kapferer, J. Kernstock, T. O. Brexendorf, & S. M. Powell (Eds.), Advances in luxury brand management (pp. 1–24). Palgrave Macmillan.
Kivetz, R., & Simonson, I. (2002). Self-control for the righteous: Toward a theory of precommitment to indulgence. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(2), 199–217.
Kumar, V., Rajan, B., Venkatesan, R., & Lecinski, J. (2019). Understanding the role of artificial intelligence in personalized engagement marketing. California Management Review, 61(4), 135–155.
Kunst, A. (2018). Americans who bought premium or luxury items 2018, by income. Statista. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/242827/affluent-americans-who-said-they-prefer-to-buy-designer-or-luxury-brands/.
Kwon, J., Seo, Y., & Ko, D. (2016). Effective luxury-brand advertising: The ES–IF matching (entity–symbolic versus incremental–functional) model. Journal of Advertising, 45(4), 459–471.
Langer, D. (2020). How artificial intelligence could jump-start the luxury sector – with China's help. Style. Retrieved January 21, 2022. https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3081763/how-artificial-intelligence-could-jump-start-luxury.
Lee, M., Ko, E., Lee, S., & Kim, K. (2015). Understanding luxury disposition. Psychology & Marketing, 32(4), 467–480.
Leung, E., Paolacci, G., & Puntoni, S. (2018). Man versus machine: Resisting automation in identity-based consumer behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 55(6), 818–831.
Loef, J., Antonides, G., & van Raaij, W. F. (2001). The effectiveness of advertising matching purchase motivation. Available at SSRN 370921.
Logg, J. M., Minson, J. A., & Moore, D. A. (2019). Algorithm appreciation: People prefer algorithmic to human judgment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 151, 90–103.
Longoni, C., & Cian, L. (2020). Artificial intelligence in utilitarian vs. hedonic contexts: The “word-of-machine” effect. Journal of Marketing, 0022242920957347.
Longoni, C., Bonezzi, A., & Morewedge, C. K. (2019). Resistance to medical artificial intelligence. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(4), 629–650.
Loureiro, S. M. C., & Kaufmann, H. R. (2016). Luxury values as drivers for affective commitment: The case of luxury car tribes. Cogent Business & Management, 3(1), 1171192.
Loyens, K. (2019). What are the impacts of AI on luxury brands?. Screen Shot. Retrieved December 30, 2020. https://screenshot-media.com/the-future/fashion/ai-impact-luxury-brands/.
Margariti, K., Boutsouki, C., & Hatzithomas, L. (2019). The dilemma of luxury brand extensions. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 10(4), 305–323.
Martínez-Miranda, J., & Aldea, A. (2005). Emotions in human and artificial intelligence. Computers in Human Behavior, 21(2), 323–341.
Mende, M., Scott, M. L., van Doorn, J., Grewal, D., & Shanks, I. (2019). Service robots rising: How humanoid robots influence service experiences and elicit compensatory consumer responses. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(4), 535–556.
Mitchell, A. A., & Olson, J. C. (1981). Are product attribute beliefs the only mediator of advertising effects on brand attitude? Journal of Marketing Research, 18(3), 318–332.
Moreau, C. P., & Herd, K. B. (2010). To each his own? How comparisons with others influence consumers’ evaluations of their self-designed products. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(5), 806–819.
Moreau, C. P., Prandelli, E., Schreier, M., & Hieke, S. (2020). Customization in luxury brands: Can Valentino get personal? Journal of Marketing Research, 57(5), 937–947.
Morhart, F., Malär, L., Guèvremont, A., Girardin, F., & Grohmann, B. (2015). Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(2), 200–218.
Munguia, J., Lloveras, J., Llorens, S., & Laoui, T. (2010). Development of an AI-based rapid manufacturing advice system. International Journal of Production Research, 48(8), 2261–2278.
Newman, G. E., & Dhar, R. (2014). Authenticity is contagious: Brand essence and the original source of production. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(3), 371–386.
Noor, A. (2017). AI and the Future of the Machine Design. American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved December 29, 2020. https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/memagazineselect/article/139/10/38/380304/AI-and-the-Future-of-the-Machine.
Okonkwo, U. (2007). Luxury fashion branding: Trends, tactics, techniques. Palgrave.
Okonkwo, U. (2009). Sustaining the luxury brand on the internet. Journal of Brand Management, 16(5), 302–310.
Patrick, V. M., & Hagtvedt, H. (2009). Luxury branding. Handbook of brand relationships (p. 267–280).
Pessoa, L. (2019). Intelligent architectures for robotics: The merging of cognition and emotion. Physics of Life Reviews, 31, 157–170.
Pozharliev, R., Verbeke, W. J., Van Strien, J. W., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2015). Merely being with you increases my attention to luxury products: Using EEG to understand consumers’ emotional experience with luxury branded products. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(4), 546–558.
Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42(1), 185–227.
Puntoni, S., Reczek, R. W., Giesler, M., & Botti, S. (2021). Consumers and artificial intelligence: An experiential perspective. Journal of Marketing, 85(1), 131–151.
Ray, A. (2018). Compassionate artificial intelligence: Frameworks and algorithms. Compassionate AI Lab (An Imprint of Inner Light Publishers).
Roberts, J., & Armitage, J. (2015). Luxury and creativity: Exploration, exploitation, or preservation? Technology Innovation Management Review, 5(7), 41–49.
Rosenthal-von der Pütten, A. M., Krämer, N. C., Hoffmann, L., Sobieraj, S., & Eimler, S. C. (2013). An experimental study on emotional reactions towards a robot. International Journal of Social Robotics, 5(1), 17–34.
Schreier, M., Fuchs, C., & Dahl, D. W. (2012). The innovation effect of user design: Exploring consumers’ innovation perceptions of firms selling products designed by users. Journal of Marketing, 76(5), 18–32.
Septianto, F., Chiew, T. M., & Thai, N. T. (2020). The congruence effect between product emotional appeal and country-based emotion: The moderating role of country-of-origin. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 52, 101916.
Sheth, J. N., Newman, B. I., & Gross, B. L. (1991). Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values. Journal of Business Research, 22(2), 159–170.
Shevchik, L. (2006). Responding to new media: Automobile advertising and modern consumerism, Doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University.
Spiggle, S., Nguyen, H. T., & Caravella, M. (2012). More than fit: Brand extension authenticity. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(6), 967–983.
Stegemann, N. (2006). Unique brand extension challenges for luxury brands. Journal of Business and Economics Research, 4(10), 57–68.
Upshaw, L. B. (1995). Building brand identity: A strategy for success in a hostile marketplace (Vol. 1). University of Texas Press.
Verganti, R., Vendraminelli, L., & Iansiti, M. (2020). Innovation and design in the age of artificial intelligence. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 37(3), 212–227.
Vickers, J. S., & Renand, F. (2003). The marketing of luxury goods: An exploratory study–three conceptual dimensions. The Marketing Review, 3(4), 459–478.
Vigneron, F., & Johnson, L. W. (2004). Measuring perceptions of brand luxury. Journal of Brand Management, 11(6), 484–506.
Walsh, M. F., Winterich, K. P., & Mittal, V. (2010). Do logo redesigns help or hurt your brand? The role of brand commitment. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 19(2), 76–84.
Wiedmann, K. P., Hennigs, N., & Siebels, A. (2007). Measuring consumers' luxury value perception: A cross-cultural framework. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2007, 1–21.
Wiedmann, K. P., Hennigs, N., & Siebels, A. (2009). Value-based segmentation of luxury consumption behavior. Psychology & Marketing, 26(7), 625–651.
Wilcox, K., Kim, H. M., & Sen, S. (2009). Why do consumers buy counterfeit luxury brands? Journal of Marketing Research, 46(2), 247–259.
Wilkins, N. (2020). Artificial intelligence: A comprehensive guide to Ai, machine learning, internet of things, robotics, deep learning, predictive analytics, neural networks, reinforcement learning, and our future.
Woodruff, R. B., & Gardial, S. (1996). Know your customer: New approaches to understanding customer value and satisfaction. Wiley.
You, S., & Robert, L. P. (2018). Emotional attachment, performance, and viability in teams collaborating with embodied physical action (EPA) robots. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(5), 377–407.
Zane, D. M., Smith, R. W., & Reczek, R. W. (2020). The meaning of distraction: How metacognitive inferences from distraction during multitasking affect brand evaluations. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(5), 974–994.
Zhan, L., & He, Y. (2012). Understanding luxury consumption in China: Consumer perceptions of best-known brands. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1452–1460.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their very constructive comments and suggestions throughout the review process.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Dhruv Grewal served as Guest Editor for this article.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 1002 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, L., Mehta, R. Technology devalues luxury? Exploring consumer responses to AI-designed luxury products. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 50, 1135–1152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00854-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00854-x