Alexa! Are you a credible influencer? A source credibility perspective

This study investigates how the credibility of voice assistants (VAs) influences consumers’ attitudes and recommendation acceptance intention (RAI). We build on the source credibility model (SCM) to provide an enriched research model (i) with two more credibility attributes: morality and intelligence; and (ii) where we distinguish between hedonic and utilitarian ones. We collected data from 510 VA users, showing that hedonic and utilitarian credibility attributes improve consumers’ attitudes towards the recommendation, increasing their RAI. Furthermore, we uncover significant gender-based differences in how credibility attributes influence consumer attitudes: hedonic attributes (especially attractiveness) have a stronger impact on female consumers. In comparison, utilitarian attributes (especially intelligence) have a stronger impact on male consumers. Theoretically, our study explains consumers’ RAI based on an enriched source credibility perspective and proves a previously unknown gender effect in this context. Practically, it provides concrete guidelines for brands to maximize the efficiency of their recommendations.