How do AI service agents impact tourists’ pro-environmental behavior? The effects of childlike anthropomorphism and moral disengagement

Drawing on moral disengagement theory, this research examines how service provider type shapes tourists' pro-environmental behavior. Across five studies including four scenario-based experiments and a field experiment, we show that AI service agents, compared with human service providers, tend to reduce tourists' pro-environmental intentions and behaviors. Moral disengagement serves as the psychological mechanism underlying this effect, such that AI service agents increase tourists' moral disengagement, which in turn weakens their pro-environmental behavior. We further show that childlike anthropomorphism attenuates this process by reducing moral disengagement: with childlike anthropomorphic AI tourists’ pro-environmental responses are comparable to their responses to human service providers. These findings advance research on AI service agents, moral disengagement, and AI anthropomorphism in tourism and offer practical insights for aligning AI service development with sustainable tourism goals.