Factors influencing South African consumer acceptance of marketers’ use of human digital twins (HDTs)

Human digital twins (HDTs) are virtual, data-driven consumer replicas that are generated by AI and used by marketers to analyse and predict consumer behaviours. By collating large amounts of personalised data on the online behaviour of specific consumers, an HDT facilitates sophisticated modelling of those individuals’ preferences and potential future choices, thus assisting marketers in determining which consumer to target with product offerings. This study aimed to identify the factors that may influence South African consumers’ acceptance of HDT use for marketing purposes. A cohort of 121 adults was recruited to complete a Likert-scale survey comprising statements linked to five factors that could influence a consumer’s acceptance of HDT use. Two of the tested factors, namely perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, were drawn from the technology acceptance model (TAM), with three additional factors, namely knowledge, trust, and technological proficiency, added based on constructs present elsewhere in the technology-acceptance literature. Statistical analysis of the survey responses found that all five factors had statistically significant positive relationships with customer acceptance of HDT use.