None of my business: the impact of anthropomorphism on helping behavior in access-based consumption

Access-based services benefit the environment by reducing energy consumption and improving resource efficiency, and thus have achieved worldwide popularity in recent years. Although anthropomorphism is common in access-based services and has considerable benefits, it may also have negative effects on these services. However, previous studies have not explored consumer proactive helping behavior after problems occur in access-based services. Therefore, the present study aimed to address this gap through four studies. Our findings demonstrated that when a shared product is in a negative state, anthropomorphism inhibits consumer helping behavior (Study 1). This effect is driven by responsibility attribution, wherein anthropomorphism (vs. nonanthropomorphism) encourages consumers to attribute the negative state to the shared product (Study 2). Notably, the negative effect of anthropomorphism on helping behavior is reversed when anthropomorphic features align with a baby schema (Studies 3a and 3b) or when consumers exhibit an interdependent selfconstrual(Study 4).