Abstract
Intelligent customer service avatars are widely used on online public welfare platforms. Interactions with intelligent customer service avatars may influence an individual's online giving behavior. Intelligent customer service avatars are characterized by both formal and behavioral realism dimensions. However, the existing literature focuses on exploring the impact of one of the dimensions of intelligent customer service avatars on individuals' online donation behavior, and less literature focuses on the joint impact of both dimensions of the avatars on individuals' online donation behavior. This paper explores the impact, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of two dimensions of intelligent customer service avatars on online donation behavior. The results of the study indicate that intelligent customer service avatars with high (vs. low) formal or behavioral realism positively influence individuals' online donation behavior, and that intelligent customer service avatars with high formal-high behavioral realism have the greatest positive impact on individuals' online donation behavior. Psychological closeness mediates the above effects. Importantly, the effect of intelligent customer service avatars on individuals' online donation behavior was more significant in the high (vs. low) attachment anxiety group. This study not only has important theoretical implications for the fields of avatar marketing, charitable giving, and consumer attachment style research, but also has important practical implications for promoting the future development and contextual use of intelligent customer service avatars in the charitable sector.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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References
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 71872055, 72062001], the Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education [grant numbers YCSW2023075, YCSW2022023].
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Huang, X., Wei, M. & Xiang, S. When AI meets internet public welfare: a study of the impact of intelligent customer service avatars on individual online donation behavior. Curr Psychol 43, 13402–13427 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05344-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05344-z