Designing an Empathetic and Inclusive Digital Animal Adoption Marketplace: A Conceptual Framework for Malaysia

HRMARS - Digital platforms are increasingly used to facilitate animal adoption, yet many existing systems remain transactional, fragmented, and emotionally disconnected from the ethical and social nature of adoption decisions. In multicultural contexts such as Malaysia, these limitations are compounded by issues of accessibility, trust, and uneven digital literacy. This study proposes a conceptual framework for designing an empathetic and inclusive digital animal adoption marketplace that integrates functional usability with emotional and ethical considerations. Drawing on theories from user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), technology acceptance (TAM and UTAUT), service-dominant logic, inclusive design, and emotional design, the framework explains how digital empathy, accessibility, and trust interact to shape users’ perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, adoption intention, satisfaction, and long-term platform sustainability. Using a systematic review of prior literature, the study develops a set of theoretically grounded propositions linking emotional, cognitive, and behavioral constructs within a unified adoption ecosystem. The framework conceptualizes animal adoption platforms as value co-creation environments in which adopters, shelters, and digital systems collectively contribute to humane and sustainable outcomes. The study contributes theoretically by extending technology acceptance models to socially oriented digital services through the integration of empathy and inclusivity. Practically, it offers design-oriented insights for developers, non-governmental organizations, and policymakers seeking to improve animal welfare outcomes through compassionate, accessible, and trustworthy digital adoption systems in Malaysia.