Anthropomorphism a Way Forward to Create Customer Experience

Abstract

The implementation of various tools and techniques to create customer experience are very common in services marketing. However, unlocking the potential of anthropomorphism for travelers remains under studied. In an electronic-savvy business world, a growing number of businesses are leveraging the use of voice assistants. The use of voice navigation assistant has been largely overlooked. The key focus of this research is to investigate the role of anthropomorphism in creating customer experience and its subsequent outcomes. Moreover, this study also investigated the role of perceived usefulness and customer experience as mediators between anthropomorphism and continuance usage intention of voice navigation assistants by travelers. Survey data was collected from 542 respondents and was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show anthropomorphism has significant positive impact on perceived usefulness, customer experience and intention to continue use. Customer experience and perceived usefulness both mediate the relationship between anthropomorphism and intention to continue use. The study also provides practical and theoretical insights along with future research directions for academic scholars and practitioners. Key Words: Anthropomorphism, Intention to continue use, Customer Experience, Perceived Usefulness, Voice Navigation Assistant.