The Effect of Gender Stereotypes in Voice Commerce
(A2023-113949)

AUTHORS

Lea Sollfrank, Goethe University Frankfurt; Ju-Young Kim, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

ABSTRACT

The use of voice commerce continues to grow. However, the extent to which gender stereotypes influence human-AI interaction in this context and thus, affect the user’s evaluation of product recommendations is unclear. Based on the CASA paradigm and literature on gender stereotypes, we investigate the influence and interaction of the voice assistant (VA) gender with user and product gender on perceptual measures, such as social attractiveness, competence and trustworthiness. We further examine the user’s probability to conform to the suggestion of the VA. Our findings from an online experiment indicate that a match-up between a female VA and a female product has elevating effects on how the user perceives the VA, resulting in reconsidering previous product choice and changes in user behavior. Further, male users seem to generally prefer a female VA, whereas female users prefer a match-up of the VA gender and the product gender.