Our results show that, 57.8% of the participants regularly use at least one of the proposed technological devices (i.e. smartphone, tablet, laptop), 26.7% use one from time to time, 2.2% had attempted to use one, and 13.3% never used one. The most popular device seems to be the smartphone (68.9% regular usage), followed by the tablet (22.2% regular usage) and laptop (17.8% regular usage). The smartphone appears to be also the device with the highest usability, rated as easy to use by 75.6% of the participants. Asked about their acceptance for the shown avatars, 71.1% liked Francesca, Serena was accepted by 66.7% and Gerardo by 46.7%. Pasquale was the least favored, accepted by only 22.2% of the participants.
Analyzing the Pragmatic Qualities (PQ), Hedonic Qualities of Identification (HQI) and Stimulation (HQS), and the attractiveness (ATT) of the agents, a 2(gender) × 4(PQ, HQS, HQI, ATT) ANOVA was applied (α = .01). No interactions were found between gender and avatars. Significant differences were, however, found among avatars for PQ (F(1, 43) = 40.04, p < .001), HQI (F(1, 43) = 42.32, p < .001), HQS (F(1, 43) = 47.84, p < .001), and ATT (F(1, 43) = 47.51, p < .001). Bonferroni post hoc tests revealed that these significant differences were always between Pasquale and Francesca (with p < .001 for PQ, HQI, HQS, and ATT), between Pasquale and Serena (with p < .001, for PQ, HQI, HQS, and ATT), between Gerardo and Francesca (with p < .001, for PQ, HQI, HQS, and ATT), and between Gerardo and Serena (with p < .001 for PQ, and ATT, and p = .002 for HQI). No significant HQS differences were found between Gerardo and Pasquale, Francesca and Serena, and Gerardo and Serena.
To summarize the preference scores obtained in each cluster of Sect. 2 (PQ, HQI, HQS, ATT), we classified them in Strong/High (7–13 points), Moderate (14-20 points), Mild (21–27 points), and None (28–35 points). According to this arrangement, 64.4% of the participants considered Francesca moderately pragmatic (PQ) (Serena = 53.3%, Gerardo = 42.2%, Pasquale = 24.5%). They also found her to be moderately mind-pleasing (HQI) (66.5%; Serena = 51.1%, Gerardo = 35.6%, Pasquale = 22.2%), moderately stimulating (HQS) (75.5%; Serena = 66.6%, Gerardo = 40.0%, Pasquale = 20.0%), and moderately attractive (ATT) (64.5%; Serena = 55.6%, Gerardo = 44.4%, Pasquale = 31.1%).