Let the Machine Decide: When Consumers Trust or Distrust Algorithms

Suggested Citation

Castelo, N., Bos, M. W., & Lehmann, D. (2019). Let the Machine Decide: When Consumers Trust or Distrust Algorithms. NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 11(2), 24-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nimmir-2019-0012

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review – AI and the Machine Age of Marketing

Authors

Noah Castelo, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, ncastelo@ualberta.ca
Maarten W. Bos, Senior Research Scientist, Snap Inc., Santa Monica, CA, USA, maarten.w.bos@gmail.com
Donald Lehmann, George E. Warren Professor of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, drl2@columbia.edu

Download Article

Noah Castelo, Maarten W. Bos and Donald Lehmann

Thanks to the rapid progress in the field of artificial intelligence, algorithms are able to accomplish an increasingly comprehensive list of tasks, and often they achieve better results than human experts. Nevertheless, many consumers have ambivalent feelings towards algorithms and tend to trust humans more than they trust machines. Especially when tasks are perceived as subjective, consumers often assume that algorithms will be less effective, even if this belief is getting more and more inaccurate.

To encourage algorithm adoption, managers should provide empirical evidence of the algorithm’s superior performance relative to humans. Given that consumers trust in the cognitive capabilities of algorithms, another way to increase trust is to demonstrate that these capabilities are relevant for the task in question. Further, explaining that algorithms can detect and understand human emotions can enhance adoption of algorithms for subjective tasks.

Authors

Noah Castelo, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, ncastelo@ualberta.ca
Maarten W. Bos, Senior Research Scientist, Snap Inc., Santa Monica, CA, USA, maarten.w.bos@gmail.com
Donald Lehmann, George E. Warren Professor of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, drl2@columbia.edu

Share Publication

Copy link

Suggested Citation

Here you can find more exciting articles of this issue.

To the entire issue

Whatever your perception of AI is, the machine age of marketing has arrived. To fully grasp how AI is changing every fabric of both our …

Go to article

Powered by better hardware and software, and fueled by the emergence of computational social science, digital traces of human activity can …

Go to article

Technological advancements in AI are continuously transforming the way companies operate, including how they interact with their customer...

Go to article

The implementation of bot interfaces varies tremendously in current industry practice. They range from the human-like to those that merely …

Go to article

The algorithms that control AVs will need to embed moral principles guiding their decisions in situations of unavoidable harm.

Go to article

Consumers produce enormous amounts of textual data of product reviews online. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help analyze this data and …

Go to article

While many customers are still reluctant to entrust themselves to Alexa, Cortona or Siri in their homes, they seem to be less worried …

Go to article

All issues

2025-04

Influencer Marketing Relationship Building Livestream Commerce

Go to issue

2024-10

Platform Strategies Platforms and Brands Business Innovation

Go to issue

2024-04

Content Creation AI-Support Prompt Engineering

Go to issue

Let the Machine Decide: When Consumers Trust or Distrust Algorithms

Other articles of the MIR issue “AI and the Machine Age of Marketing”

Latest issues