How Technology Use in Care Contexts Shapes Inferences About Vulnerable Consumers' Level of Dependency

ABSTRACT Marketing research has primarily investigated factors that influence consumers' adoption of technologies, but little is known about how observing consumers using technologies can bias inferences about and consumption choices for them. We investigate this question in a caregiving consumption context, in which inferences about and choices for others are especially relevant. Specifically, we show how the type of care support care‐receivers rely upon (technology‐based vs. human‐based) influences inferences of dependency and, consequently, the consumption choices made for these vulnerable consumers. Eight experimental studies (N = 3445; five in the web appendix; Table 1) provide causal evidence that observers judge care‐receiving consumers as less dependent when the caregiving tasks are carried out by technology than when they are carried out by a human caregiver. This is because observers infer a higher mental capacity for care‐receiving consumers who rely on technology‐based care support. Lastly, we demonstrate marketing‐relevant downstream consequences of this inference: observers are less likely to choose utilitarian over hedonic products for supposedly less dependent consumers. Altogether, the findings contribute to emerging research in marketing on the impact of technology and consumption outcomes for vulnerable consumers by demonstrating a new type of inference bias and its downstream implications for product choice.