The effect of virtual sales agent (VSA) gender - product gender congruence on product advice credibility, trust in VSA and online vendor, and purchase intention

To determine the hypothesized effect of VSA gender-product gender on variables such as trust and purchase intention, a 2 (VSA gender: male vs female)-×-3 (product gender: male, female, and neutral) experiment with 183 inhabitants (between the age of 18 and 30) of the Netherlands was implemented. Results of the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) reveal that congruence between VSA gender and product gender (e.g. female VSA providing advice about a feminine product) positively influences customers' belief in the credibility of the product-related advice, their trust in the VSA and the online vendor, and their purchase intention. The separate main effects of VSA gender and product gender on the aforementioned dependent variables, however, are not statistically significant. Furthermore, customers' gender did not serve any moderating function in the relationship between VSA gender-product gender congruence and the dependent variables.