Logo with or without eyes?: The effect of brand anthropomorphism on consumer self-disclosure of sensitive information

Abstract

This study is a replication study of Horváth et al.’s (2021) prior research. The purpose of this study was to investigate when and why brand anthropomorphism changes consumer self-disclosure in a non-commercial context (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic). In total, 245 Dutch respondents were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions in a 2 (brand anthropomorphized vs. not-anthropomorphized) x 2 (sensitive information vs. non-sensitive information) between-subjects design of an online experiment. The results partially supported Horváth et al.’s (2021) hypotheses, since brand anthropomorphism only negatively affected the depth (and not breadth) of consumer self-disclosure of sensitive information. Additionally, this negative effect was not mediated by the perceived intrusiveness of questions or feelings of embarrassment. Possible explanations for these differences between the two studies are thoroughly discussed, as well as the managerial implications of these findings. This study ends with on elaborative discussion on the limitations of this research and avenues for future research.