Promoting mindful consumption through a chatbot with an experiential mind

Purpose To promote long-term sustainability and improve consumers’ quality of life, marketers can use artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to initiate conversations about mindful consumption. Although anthropomorphic designs are integral for successful persuasion, there is scant research on how anthropomorphizing chatbots’ internal traits influences consumers. Integrating the Uncanny Valley Effect (UVE) and the Arousal-Biased Competition (ABC) theory, this study aims to investigate how a chatbot with a higher experiential mind shapes attitudes toward mindful consumption messages by examining people’s emotional responses (i.e. eeriness and amazement) and cognitive engagement. Design/methodology/approach Incorporating real-time interactions with a chatbot, this research adopted an online experiment with a one-factor, two-condition (a higher vs a lower experiential mind) design with eeriness and amazement as parallel mediators, leading to cognitive absorption and, consequently, attitudes toward mindful consumption messages in a serial manner. Findings This study found that a chatbot with a higher (vs lower) experiential mind simultaneously triggers higher levels of eeriness and amazement, leading to higher cognitive absorption and a more positive message attitude. Originality/value This study expands the current anthropomorphism literature by examining the effects of imbuing nonhuman agents with an experiential mind and emphasizing a nuanced view of emotional responses to anthropomorphized chatbots. The findings contribute to establishing a theoretical link between a chatbot’s experiential mind level and persuasion outcomes, offering strategic and ethical insights for anthropomorphized AI use in sustainability marketing.