Human-like underdog brands: How brand personality affects self-service technology adoption

• Yaeri Kim

  Seoul Women’s University

• Kiwan Park

  Seoul National University

• Seojin Stacey Lee

  Seoul National University

This research explored the effects of service delivery types (conventional face-to-face service vs. self-service technologies; SSTs) and brand personality (underdog brand vs. top-dog brand) on consumers’ brand attitudes. Study 1 revealed that consumers perceived more anthropomorphic features in underdog brands than in top-dog brands (Hypothesis 1). The anthropomorphic brand personality of an underdog affected consumers’ preferences for service type. The results of Study 2 indicated that consumers preferred face-to-face service to SSTs for underdog brands (Hypothesis 2). The underlying mechanism to explain this phenomenon was revealed by the perceived increased discomfort when using SSTs (Hypothesis 3). These findings offer practical implications for marketing managers in deciding when brand personality should be considered when adopting a new service type.

1. Yaeri Kim, Seoul Women’s University
   Department of Data Science
2. Kiwan Park, Seoul National University
   College of Business Administration
3. Seojin Stacey Lee, Seoul National University
   Center for Happiness Studies

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