Anthropomorphic AI in retail: Machine, assistant, or coworker?

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in organizational workflows, employees are more frequently required to collaborate with AI as a coworker. This study investigated how cognitive and affective anthropomorphism shaped employees' relational and behavioral responses to AI coworkers, and how perceived instrumental and emotional support from AI moderated these relationships. Analyzing data from 343 employees working in AI-integrated back-end retail logistics roles, the results revealed that both cognitive and affective anthropomorphism enhanced interpersonal closeness. Cognitive anthropomorphism significantly fostered emotional attachment, indicating that employees' perceptions of AI's humanlike cognitive qualities played an especially important role in fostering deeper relational bonds in task-intensive settings. Interpersonal closeness and emotional attachment, in turn, enhanced communication satisfaction, which subsequently drove employees' intention to continue working with AI. The moderating effects revealed a nuanced pattern: emotional support weakened the effect of affective anthropomorphism on interpersonal closeness, whereas instrumental support strengthened the indirect effect of cognitive anthropomorphism on emotional attachment via interpersonal closeness. By differentiating the relational effects of cognitive and affective anthropomorphism, this study advances theoretical understanding of workplace human–AI interaction and offers practical insights for AI design. Specifically, the findings underscore the value of a stage-based design logic and perceived support in facilitating sustainable human–AI collaboration.