IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jacres/doi10.1086-698493.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Endowing a Product with Life Make One Feel More Alive? The Effect of Product Anthropomorphism on Consumer Vitality

Author

Listed:
  • Fangyuan Chen
  • Jaideep Sengupta
  • Rashmi Adaval

Abstract

While most research in the area of product anthropomorphism examines how making products more humanlike can influence subsequent consumer reactions to those products, the present research examines how the act of anthropomorphizing products can influence consumers themselves. We propose that when consumers have an insufficient sense of either connectedness or competence, anthropomorphizing a product satisfies these deficiencies and increases vitality. Furthermore, this enhanced vitality has positive implications for individuals’ capacity to exert self-control in unrelated domains. A set of three studies provides support for these hypotheses. By demonstrating the positive effect of anthropomorphism on consumer vitality and self-control, this research illuminates the nature of anthropomorphism. In doing so, we also connect two streams of literature: one on anthropomorphism and the other on vitality, which share an inherent connection that has not been explicated by past research.

Suggested Citation

  • Fangyuan Chen & Jaideep Sengupta & Rashmi Adaval, 2018. "Does Endowing a Product with Life Make One Feel More Alive? The Effect of Product Anthropomorphism on Consumer Vitality," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 503-513.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jacres:doi:10.1086/698493
    DOI: 10.1086/698493
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/698493
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/698493
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/698493?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Velasco, Franklin & Yang, Zhiyong & Janakiraman, Narayanan, 2021. "A meta-analytic investigation of consumer response to anthropomorphic appeals: The roles of product type and uncertainty avoidance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 735-746.
    2. Huang, Jingya & Wang, Liangyan & Chan, Eugene, 2024. "When does anthropomorphism hurt? How tool anthropomorphism negatively affects consumers' rewards for tool users," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. van Esch, Patrick & Cui, Yuanyuan (Gina) & Sledge, April & Das, Gopal & Pala, Erol, 2023. "Preference for partner or servant brand roles depends on consumers’ power distance belief," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    4. Karpinska-Krakowiak, Malgorzata & Eisend, Martin, 2021. "The Effects of Animistic Thinking, Animistic Cues, and Superstitions on Brand Responses on Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 104-117.
    5. Qin, Huanyu & Xie, Zhipeng & Ding, Chen & Wang, Jingyuan & Xu, Yi, 2024. "Healing or hesitation? The impact of anthropomorphism on consumers' repair intentions for products," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jacres:doi:10.1086/698493. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JACR .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.