Alexa? What Keeps Consumers (from) Engaging with You? Kate Nicewicz Scott (PhD Graduate) Mona Sinha (Dissertation Chair) Saurabh Gupta (Committee Co-Second) Jennifer Hutchins (Committee Co-Second) Patrick van Esch (Reader)
OVERVIEW
As consumers continue to grow more comfortable leveraging technology in their daily routines, the introduction of artificial intelligence, including smart speakers, has become largely unavoidable (Davenport et al., 2020). Smart speakers offer convenience benefits for users, while providing firms with a competitive advantage in the way of large amounts of valuable data acquired through consistent, meaningful consumer engagement. This work employs a mixed-methods strategy to investigate why and how individual user, task, and technology characteristics influence engagement with smart speakers. Findings show both willingness and resistance to engage with AI technology, depending upon a users’ personality characteristics, the device’s level of anthropomorphism, and/or the nature of the task (Serenko, 2007; Swartz, 2003; Waytz et al., 2010a). Study 1 conducted in- depth interviews with both users and non-users of smart speakers to examine how user, task, and technology characteristics interact to affect engagement (or lack thereof) with smart speakers. A metaphor analysis identified variables that strengthen or weaken direct relationships. Several constructs emerged and were used to develop a new empirical model that Study 2 tests through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
30 | PhD Summaries
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs