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A Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis for Determining Consumer
Preferences for Intelligent Personal Assistant Robots.
The Influence of Anthropomorphous Attributes on Purchase Intention of Intelligent Personal Assistant Robots Considered Jointly.
MSc Marketing Thesis
Name: Sebastiaan Wagenmaker Student number: S2137100
Introduction
› Robots are becoming becoming available for everyday in-home use as consumer
products (Young et al, 2009).
› Intelligent Personal Assistant Robots
• Performs tasks or services for an individual
› Anthropomorphization
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Theory
Anthropomorphization → The attribution of human form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to a nonhuman entity (Bartneck, 2009).
● Is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology (Hutson, 2012) ● Helps us to rationalize actions of inmate objects, animals and others (Duffy,
2013)
Social Interaction → The ability to use normal modes of interaction, and stable social norms during close encounters with humans (Mohammad et al, 2009)
● Humans have a need for frequent, nonaversive interactions with an ongoing relational bond (Baumeister et al, 1995)
Theory
Design → Extent to which the robot is built to look and move like the human body ● People seem to evaluate a product more positively if it resembles a human
schema (Aggarwal et al, 2007).
● Robot with a humanlike face display was perceived as more sociable, rated as having most mind, being most humanlike, alive, and amiable (Broadbent et al, 2013).
Level of Autonomy → Degree of self-regulation or control in performing tasks (Smithers, 1997)
● Relieves users from significant workload, but also decreases the amount of control over its tasks (Muszynski et al, 2012).
● In order to deal with the sort of environments in which we live and work,
Conceptual Framework
| 6Purchase Intention Design
● Looks like a machine ● Has facial
expressions, but looks like a machine
● Has facial expressions and body movement
Control variables
● Price
● Technology Readiness ● Privacy Concerns
Social Interaction
● Passive: Only speaks when spoken to ● Active: Speaks on its
own initiative
Level of Autonomy
● Passive: Only does instructed tasks ● Assertive: Suggests
tasks it could do ● Autonomous: Does
tasks without asking
H2 H1
H3 H4
H1: An active level of social interaction has a more positive influence on the purchase intention of an intelligent
personal assistant robot than a passive level.
H2a: A robot with facial expressions and body movement has a more positive influence on the purchase intention
of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a robot that looks like a machine.
H2b: A robot with facial expressions and body movement has a more positive influence on the purchase intention
of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a robot that looks like a machine but has facial expressions.
H3a: An assertive level of autonomy has a more positive influence on the purchase intention of an intelligent
personal assistant robot than a passive level.
H3b: An assertive level of autonomy has a more positive influence on the purchase intention of an intelligent
personal assistant robot than an autonomous level.
H4a: A robot with facial expressions and body movement strengthens the influence of active social interaction on
purchase intention, compared to a robot that looks like a machine.
H4b: A robot with facial expressions and body movement strengthens the influence of active social interaction on
Method
› Dual Response Choice Based Conjoint
• 204 participants from the US
• Video instructions → Predictive validity
› Collected data
• 12 choice sets per respondent → 10 estimation, 2 holdout
• Control variables → Measured with Likert scale
• Technology Readiness
• Privacy Concerns
Results
Passive
Active
Looks like a machine
Looks like a machine, but has facial expressions Has facial expressions and body movement
Passive
Assertive
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Results
Hypotheses Supported
1 An active level of social interaction has a more positive influence on the purchase
intention of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a passive level. No
2a A robot with facial expressions and body movement has a more positive influence on the purchase intention of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a robot that looks like a machine.
Yes
2b A robot with facial expressions and body movement has a more positive influence on the purchase intention of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a robot that looks like a machine but has facial expressions.
Yes
3a An assertive level of autonomy has a more positive influence on the purchase
intention of an intelligent personal assistant robot than a passive level. No
3b An assertive level of autonomy has a more positive influence on the purchase
intention of an intelligent personal assistant robot than an autonomous level. Yes
4a A robot with facial expressions and body movement strengthens the influence of active social interaction on purchase intention, compared to a robot that looks like a machine.
No
4b A robot with facial expressions and body movement strengthens the influence of active social interaction on purchase intention, compared to a robot that looks like a machine but has facial expressions.
Discussion
Theoretical Implications
● Humanlike design more preferred than has a machinelike robot ○ But to what extent?
● No preference of an assertive level over a passive level of autonomy ○ But: consumers do not want a robot that is fully autonomous
■ Fear of loss of control?
● Irrelevance of (active or passive) social interaction Managerial Implications
● Make the robot look more humanlike ● Avoid using a robot with full autonomy
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Discussion
Limitations
● Whole sample from the United States → Generalization issues ● Humanlike design quite conservative
● Training video → Perception of functionalities bias
● Absolute considering willingness-to-pay price → Extrapolated ● Online survey → Assumptions instead of actual experiences Suggestions for Future Research
● Sample with a more diverse nationality ● Use robots that look more humanlike ● Field experiments
