None of my business: The impact of anthropomorphism on helping behavior in access-based consumption

Access-based services benefit the environment by reducing energy consumption and improving resource efficiency, and thus have achieved worldwide popularity in recent years. Although anthropomorphism is common in access-based services and has considerable benefits, it may also have negative effects on these services. However, previous studies have not explored consumer proactive helping behavior after problems occur in access-based services. Therefore, the present study aimed to address this gap through four studies. Our findings demonstrated that when a shared product is in a negative state, anthropomorphism inhibits consumer helping behavior (Study 1). This effect is driven by responsibility attribution, wherein anthropomorphism (vs. non-anthropomorphism) encourages consumers to attribute the negative state to the shared product (Study 2). Notably, the negative effect of anthropomorphism on helping behavior is reversed when anthropomorphic features align with a baby schema (Studies 3a and 3b) or when consumers exhibit an interdependent self-construal (Study 4).