Engaging consumers through artificially intelligent technologies: Systematic review, conceptual model, and further research

Abstract

While consumer engagement (CE) in the context of artificially intelligent (AI‐based) technologies (e.g., chatbots, smart products, voice assistants, or autonomous cars) is gaining traction, the themes characterizing this emerging, interdisciplinary corpus of work remain indeterminate, exposing an important literature‐based gap. Addressing this gap, we conduct a systematic review of 89 studies using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) approach to synthesize the AI‐based CE literature. Our review yields three major themes of AI‐based CE, including (i) Increasingly accurate service provision through AI‐based CE; (ii) Capacity of AI‐based CE to (co)create consumer‐perceived value, and (iii) AI‐based CE's reduced consumer effort in their task execution. We also develop a conceptual model that proposes the AI‐based CE antecedents of personal, technological, interactional, social, and situational factors, and the AI‐based CE consequences of consumer‐based, firm‐based, and human‐AI collaboration outcomes. We conclude by offering pertinent implications for theory development (e.g., by offering future research questions derived from the proposed themes of AI‐based CE) and practice (e.g., by reducing consumer‐perceived costs of their brand/firm interactions).