Foreseeing the unforeseen social dimensions and implications of AI digital humans in retail : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Albany Campus, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 14 December 2025.
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2023-12-14
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Massey University
Embargoed until 14 December 2025
Embargoed until 14 December 2025
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Abstract
The overall focus of this doctoral thesis was to broaden the theoretical and practical understanding of the social dimensions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within a retail context. Specifically, this thesis unpacks the social dimensions that determine consumers’ experiences with AI digital humans (henceforth AIDHs) and unravels the social implications of the technology that may be unforeseen at this preliminary stage of the AI retail revolution. While retail technologies are widely accepted as impacting consumers’ shopping practices, a review of the relevant retailing and consumer literature indicates a lack of knowledge and emphasis on AI consumer-facing technology's social implications and dimensions. There is also a noticeable paucity of research that considers consumers’ actual experiences with AI retail technologies, despite consumers being the ultimate end-users of AI service encounters. Retailers are increasingly investing in advanced AIDH systems globally, however, scholarly insights into the social implications of leveraging the technology within a retail context are limited.
This thesis seeks to address this problem by interrogating consumers’ experiences and perceptions of retail AIDHs to construct the theoretical foundations that illuminate shopper’s needs in relation to AIDHs, clarify how the technology socially influences consumers’ shopping practices, and unpack the ensuing social implications.
Three overarching research objectives were built to accomplish this aim.
Objective 1:
To capture the complexities and dynamics of consumer experiences with AIDHs, focusing on the critical social themes underpinning consumers’ interactions with the technology.
Objective 2:
To derive a sociologically informed understanding of the meanings that consumers associate with favourable and unfavourable AIDH interactions and to investigate how these meanings may form the basis of a broader social implication in the form of a shopper-based novel Digital Matthew Effect.
Objective 3:
To understand how consumers comprehend AIDHs, particularly whether retail AIDHs are perceived as social actors and whether interactions with the technology are social experiences. Also, to reveal and make sense of any consumer confusion that may ensue when attempting to comprehend these AI objects.
This thesis presents three distinct research articles, each acting as a fragment of the central research agenda by exploring one of these objectives. The papers are discovery-orientated in nature and draw on practice-informed, ethnographic research to develop a richly contextualised understanding of consumers’ shopping practices with AIDHs in a naturalistic setting. A multi-method qualitative approach, underpinned by an interpretivist epistemology, is adopted. A series of activities are conducted, including consumer in-store observations, interviews (depth and intercept) with consumers and retail managers, and a media content analysis.
The findings show that social dimensions play a pivotal role in consumers’ experiences with AIDHs and that the technology has a profound social impact on its users. The social dynamics of consumer-AIDH interactions produce social possibilities and challenges that affect the process of consumers integrating AIDHs into their shopping practices. A typology of nine social elements of retail AIDHs is proposed and discussed. The findings contribute to an emerging academic conversation that explores the shift of retail technologies from task-orientated machines towards their role and function as social actors within shopping environments. This thesis demonstrates how consumers use, and would like to use, AIDHs within their shopping practices to provide practical suggestions for the design and implementation of retail AIDHs as the technology continues to advance over the coming years. The insights derived from this thesis are necessary for promoting positive consumer experiences with AIDHs, as well as mitigating unwanted repercussions, and therefore lend themselves to practical suggestions for the retail industry, which are discussed. I conclude this thesis by offering a research agenda that aims to build the foundation for a successful widespread application of AIDHs within retail over the coming years.
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AI, digital humans, shopping, service encounters, customer experience, social practice, human-AI interaction; social implications