The robotic companion's choice encourages sustainable food choices: The moderating role of anthropomorphism

Previous research has shown the impact of the food choices of others on individuals' own food choices. We conducted two studies to investigate how a robot's choice might influence people's choices between meat-heavy and vegetable-forward meals in imaginary scenarios. In Study 1, the participants were instructed to choose three dishes from a set of two meat and two vegetable dishes, after their companion (either a human or a robot) had chosen a meat-heavy meal or a vegetable-forward meal. The results revealed that the participants chose meat-heavy meals less frequently when the companion chose a vegetable-forward meal compared to a meat-heavy meal, regardless of whether the companion was a human or a robot. In Study 2, we investigated whether anthropomorphism moderated the effect of the robotic companion's choices on the participants' food choices. The results revealed that the food choices made by a highly human-like robot could exert a greater influence on the participants' food choices than those of a moderately anthropomorphic robot. Collectively, these findings provide empirical evidence that a robotic companion's choice can influence consumers' food choices in imaginary scenarios, which has implications for promoting sustainable food choices using human–robot interactions.