Cognitive and Gender Bias in Voice Commerce
(R2024-122632)

AUTHORS

Gaia Rancati, Middle Tennessee State University; Carsten Schultz, University of Hagen; Maurizio Mauri, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

ABSTRACT

Digital Voice Assistants have evolved into recommendation agents assisting users in online shopping by supporting decision-making and facilitating the search and selection of products and services. These assistants can also lead to gender stereotyping and cause cognitive biases that influence customers' purchasing behavior. This study specifically examines the potential of digital voice assistants as recommendation agents in terms of gender bias and social proof. A multidisciplinary protocol involving a scenario-based survey and a neuroscientific experiment are used to answer this research question. In the male digital voice assistant survey scenario, prior experience is more important for women than for men. For the female digital voice assistant scenario, perceived usefulness has a greater impact on purchase intention for men than women, whereas women's attitudes are more relevant than men's. Most importantly, digital voice assistants' recommendations outweigh traditional social proof heuristics in customers' product selection.