Understanding Consumers’ Interaction Experiences With Smart Objects:

The Effects of Self-Expansion and Self-Extension on Promoting Consumer Well-Being

Abstract

In the modern world, people have become accustomed to living with various smart objects, such as smartphones, wearable devices, and Internet of Things home appliances equipped with AI. While living with smart objects has many benefits, will such an everyday life lead to a happy future for us? This study examines how two intelligent attributes of AI-enabled smart speakers affect consumer well-being from the perspective of the means-end chain theory. We conducted an online survey of 234 smart voice assistant (SVA) users and analyzed their responses via structural equation modeling. We found that autonomy mainly encouraged consumers to expand themselves, and their interaction experience directly enhanced their subjective well-being toward living with SVAs and indirectly increased it by mediating anthropomorphism and approachability toward SVAs. However, interactivity only encouraged consumers to extend themselves, and this interaction experience directly enhanced their subjective well-being regarding living with SVAs and indirectly increased it only by mediating approachability toward SVAs.