Virtual Service Agents’ Influence on both General and Marginalised Consumers’ Perceptions of Inclusion – a general and marginalised consumer perspective

As service encounters increasingly shift to digital interfaces, companies are turning to virtual service agents (VSAs) for consumer touchpoints. Marginalised consumer group representation is an important aspect to discuss in this transition. VSAs are flexible from a design perspective and can represent marginalised (i.e. underrepresented in the market) or general consumers (i.e. well-represented in the market), but their influence on consumers’ perceived inclusion is underexplored. This study investigates to what extent VSA representation of marginalised (vs. general) consumers influences both general and marginalised consumers’ perceived inclusion at brand, market, and societal levels.<br/>Inclusion is a multilevel construct across micro, meso, and macro contexts, and initiatives taken at brand level may shape inclusion at market and even society level. We therefore distinguish between perceived inclusion at brand, market, and societal level. Moreover, whereas perceived inclusion typically reflects whether individual consumers feel included, recent research highlights that general consumers, despite not being targeted by the inclusion initiatives themselves, may still value such initiatives for their ethical stance.<br/>We conducted two online experiments (n1=756, n2=735) presenting respondents to a travel agency VSA to support holiday planning. Study 1 recruited general consumer respondents and compared how VSAs, representing marginalised (vs. general) consumers, influences their perceived inclusion of the self and other (marginalised groups) by the brand, market, and society. Study 2 replicated the design, but was enlisting respondents belonging to a marginalised consumer group (elderly or physically disabled)<br/>Results demonstrate that VSAs representing marginalised groups enhances general consumers perceived inclusion of marginalised consumers at all three levels. However, they do not feel more included themselves at any level. Marginalised consumers perceive increased inclusion of both themselves and other marginalised groups at brand level. This does not translate into market and societal levels. This indicates that inclusive service initiatives foster general consumer perceptions of societal progress, yet fails to materialise into broader lived inclusion for marginalised groups.<br/>Nonetheless, marginalised VSA representation increases marketing outcomes among marginalised consumers such as purchase intention and relative brand attractiveness.<br/>We demonstrate that inclusive representations can have different functions for marginalised and general consumers yet can be deployed in general consumer contexts without backlash fears. Moreover, by distinguishing between perceived inclusion at three levels, we introduce a perspective not previously examined, and highlight companies’ roles in shaping wider market and social beliefs of inclusion.