Five experiments find deferential chatbots win more loyalty sign-ups

The researchers attribute the effect to sense of dominance, a momentary state in which consumers feel they hold a higher position in the immediate service hierarchy. A three-level test with subordinate, peer and superior chatbots, controlling for perceived warmth, social presence and perceived threat, supported this pathway.

The effect was not universal. It was stronger among agency-oriented consumers focused on personal achievement and disappeared among communion-oriented consumers. It also appeared only in low-arousal service settings; in high-arousal situations chatbot status had no influence.

The research builds on social dominance theory and work on status-conferring loyalty programs, noting that loyalty programs sell status as much as savings and that chatbots increasingly deliver that status promise in place of human employees.

Its core test compared how the chatbot's assigned social standing, a deferential assistant versus a peer, affected whether consumers accepted a loyalty program. The three-level design added a superior chatbot condition and statistically controlled for alternative explanations such as warmth, social presence and threat.

Boundary conditions came from consumer orientation and context. Agency-oriented consumers, who value personal achievement, responded to status-affirming cues, while communion-oriented consumers did not. Drawing on resource-matching ideas, the authors say consumers needed enough cognitive resources to notice subtle status signals, so the effect appeared only in low-arousal settings.