Bragging About Valuable Resources? The Dual Effect of Companies’ AI and Human Self‐Promotion
研究发现企业宣传AI资源会降低顾客使用AI服务的意愿，因为顾客觉得宣传夸大且与期望不符；而宣传人力资源则能提升人力资本感知，产生积极效果。
ABSTRACT As companies actively invest in self‐promotion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) empowered services to sustain their competitive advantage, there is a growing potential for such promotional activities to backfire. Bridging signaling theory with the resource‐based view, this research reveals that companies’ self‐promotion of AI resources can reduce customers’ willingness to engage with AI‐based (vs. human‐based) services. Four studies, including text mining and experiments, demonstrate that companies’ self‐promotion of AI‐based resources has a detrimental effect on willingness to engage, and concurrently perceived as exaggeration. In contrast, companies’ self‐promotion about human‐related resources yields beneficial outcomes, since such promotional signals contribute to the enhancement of human capital. The findings suggest that self‐discrepancy and trust are the key underlying factors driving the effects as customers may experience a discrepancy between their expectations of human‐like service interactions and actual AI capabilities. Additionally, findings reveal the moderating effect of honest (vs. self‐promotional) framing on the relationship between service type (AI vs. human) and willingness to engage. Customer perceptions of AI appear less influenced by presentation style compared to perceptions of human resources. This research provides valuable insights into how customers respond to companies’ self‐promotion of AI resources and emphasizes the need for promotional alignment with customers’ expectations about AI.