Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
DOI
10.1007/s11747-022-00892-5
Publication Title
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Volume
50
Issue
6
Pages
1198-1218
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform firm-customer interactions. However, current AI marketing agents are often perceived as cold and uncaring and can be poor substitutes for human-based interactions. Addressing this issue, this article argues that artificial empathy needs to become an important design consideration in the next generation of AI marketing applications. Drawing from research in diverse disciplines, we develop a systematic framework for integrating artificial empathy into AI-enabled marketing interactions. We elaborate on the key components of artificial empathy and how each component can be implemented in AI marketing agents. We further explicate and test how artificial empathy generates value for both customers and firms by bridging the AI-human gap in affective and social customer experience. Recognizing that artificial empathy may not always be desirable or relevant, we identify the requirements for artificial empathy to create value and deduce situations where it is unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful.
Rights
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
ORCID
0000-0003-1570-3430 (Liu-Thompkins)
Original Publication Citation
Liu-Thompkins, Y., Okazaki, S., & Li, H. (2022). Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: Bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50(6), 1198-1218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-022-00892-5
Repository Citation
Liu-Thompkins, Yuping; Okazaki, Shintaro; and Li, Hairong, "Artificial Empathy in Marketing Interactions: Bridging the Human-AI Gap in Affective and Social Customer Experience" (2022). Marketing Faculty Publications. 22.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/marketing_pubs/22