Anthropomorphism and consumer behaviour: A SPAR-4-SLR protocol compliant hybrid review

Abstract

The notion of ‘anthropomorphism’ has been a subject of intrigue for transdisciplinary academics and scholars for the longest time, as the origin of this concept dates back to the BCE (Before Common Era). Over the past few decades, anthropomorphism literature has been burgeoning in the marketing discipline and its subfields (branding, advertising, consumer behaviour, etc.). This relatively novel stream adopts anthropomorphism as a concept and offers fascinating insights into consumers and their choices, behaviour, and intentions. Although there have been several qualitative review-based assessments of anthropomorphism within the marketing field, none have been informed by quantitative tools or through a framework-based approach. Our hybrid variant of systematic review fills this gap by using bibliometric techniques (performance analysis, co-authorship analysis of countries and authors, and co-word analysis of keywords) and Theories-Context-Characteristics-Methods (TCCM) framework to show the evolution, trends, and intellectual structure of anthropomorphism in consumer behaviour research. We depict the evolving trajectory and trends over time using a sample of 432 peer-reviewed journal articles and 27,671 secondary references (between 2005 and 2023) on anthropomorphism in consumer behaviour. Significant results include identifying and describing the most influential authors, articles, journals and countries, different research streams, their development, and future research directions. We also present six knowledge clusters delineating the intellectual knowledge structure of the field. An additional section depicting theories employed, characteristics explored, contexts examined, and methods utilized in the domain have also been presented. Furthermore, we used the TCCM framework to orchestrate possible trajectories for future research. By doing this, we offer academics and practitioners a systematic comprehension of the advancements in the domain and a comprehensive road map for future research.