AI-chatbots as frontline agents promise innovative opportunities for shaping service offerings
that benefit customers and retailers. Examining current practice through the lens of agency …

We review a growing body of research in consumer behavior that has examined when
consumers humanize brands by perceiving them as like, part of, or in a relationship with …

Companies are increasingly employing text-based chatbots as a time and cost-efficient way
to interact with customers. While companies begin to explore anthropomorphic chatbot …

Artificial intelligence chatbots have invaded the tourism industry owing to their low cost and
high efficiency. However, the influence of emotional expressions of chatbots on service …

Despite the hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI), the potential of AI in customer
relationship management (CRM) remains underexplored in academia. A between-subjects …

The current research examines consumers' responses to sensory endorsements from virtual
influencers. The authors reveal that consumers perceive virtual and human influencers to …

Consumers' interactions with smart objects have a relational nature, and extensive research
has supported the “relationship metaphor” as a fruitful way to understand consumer …

Algorithms, increasingly used by brands, sometimes fail to perform as expected or, even
worse, cause harm, leading to brand harm crises. Algorithm failures are unfortunately …

Social media are now essential platforms for marketing communications, and the volume of
consumer-brand interactions on these platforms is exploding. Even so, it remains unclear …

Feeling left out has been shown to trigger primal, automatic responses in an attempt to
compensate for threats to social belongingness. Such responses typically involve …