Self‐efficacy and callousness in consumer judgments of AI‐enabled checkouts

In a retail setting, two field studies and one controlled online experiment show that compared to self‐service checkouts, artificial intelligence (AI)‐enabled checkouts temporarily activate perceived shopping convenience. This leads to more favourable attitudes and higher purchase intent, but only for consumers who have higher levels of self‐efficacy (Studies 1 and 2). Furthermore, we find that this positive effect of AI‐enabled checkouts conditional on consumers' self‐efficacy, is diminished for consumers who show a low level of callousness (Study 3). This study introduces a novel variable to consumer literature, callousness, a subconstruct of psychopathy and features the unexplored tripartite “AI–physical–human” ecosystem, which adds a significant layer to the incipient AI literature and serves as a theeoretical framework for continued inquiries.