The impact of providing non-human identity cues about sales agents on consumer responses: the role of social presence and speciesism activation

De Cicco, Roberta, Elmashhara, Maher Georges ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1576-560X, Silva, Susana and Hammerschmidt, Maik (2025) The impact of providing non-human identity cues about sales agents on consumer responses: the role of social presence and speciesism activation. European Journal of Marketing. ISSN 0309-0566 (In Press)

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Abstract

Purpose – This work investigates how different strategies for providing cues about the nonhuman identity of a sales agent influence users’ perceptions and purchase-related outcomes, and how a social interaction style shapes these responses. Additionally, the authors explore the role of consumers’ speciesism against non-human entities in eliciting unfavourable responses to the disclosure of the agent’s artificial nature. Design/methodology/approach – Three experimental studies were conducted using real chatbot interactions. Study 1 investigates how non-human identity cues impact consumer trust and, subsequently, attitude toward the firm and intentions to purchase the products offered. Study 2 tests these effects across different levels of social presence. Study 3 examines consumer responses to different non-human identity disclosure strategies, considering speciesism's moderating role. Findings – Study 1 proves that disclosing (vs. not disclosing) the artificial nature of a sales agent leads to a decline in trust toward the firm, which in turn negatively influences both attitude toward the firm and purchase intention. This finding reveals discrimination against disclosed (vs. non-disclosed) artificial sales agents despite identical, flawless performance. However, Study 2 proves that the negative effects vanish when perceived social presence is high. Study 3 underlines that high speciesism leads to a trust decline if non-human identity cues are presented during the interaction but not if presented earlier in the journey before the interaction. Originality – This work addresses pressing issues for managers concerned with the implementation of artificial sales agents. Results extend knowledge on speciesism toward digital agents, inform which people are particularly prone to respond negatively to such agents, and present levers for designing chat-based social interactions that prevent nonhuman-related prejudices that could undermine the effectiveness of conversational technologies. Keywords: Artificial agents, Chatbots, Sales agents, Identity disclosure, Social presence, Speciesism, Trust, Attitude, Conversational commerce. Paper type: Research paper.