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Thanuka de Silva imageThesis title: Toward an Understanding of How Artificial Intelligent Agents Cocreate Value with Customers

Qualifications: Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Master of Business Administration in Marketing

PhD start date: 1 January 2022

Supervisors: Associate Professor Sergio Biggemann, Dr Loic (Pengtao) Li

Emailthanuka.desilva@postgrad.otago.ac.nz

Research summary

With the advancements in technology, particularly the emergence of artificial intelligent (AI) agents that can mimic human cognition, affect, and behaviours, they have become more humanlike than machine-like. Apart from using humanlike AI agents to foster interactions with customers in service settings and customers' personal settings, firms have also focused on integrating such nonhumans into their online business strategy. In this regard, value-generating interactions are no longer limited to human-human interactions only but can also include human-machine interactions. Notwithstanding the ability of AI agents to integrate resources with human actors, the existing technology-mediated cocreation is still predominantly limited to a discussion of humans as actors, whereas machines were recognized as a medium for facilitating resource integration between human actors. Against this backdrop, I endeavour to understand how AI agents integrate resources with customers in cocreating value.

Research interests

  • Customer engagement
  • Digital marketing
  • Services marketing
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Value cocreation

Publications

  • de Silva, T. M. (2021), The role of customer engagement in cultivating relationships with automotive Facebook brand pages, Online Information Review, Vol. 45 No. 7, pp. 1362-1380.
  • Ranaweera, H. V. and de Silva, T. M. (2021), Linking customer motivations to customer engagement in fashion Facebook brand pages, South Asian Journal of Business Insights, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 03-23.
  • de Silva, T. M. (2019), Building relationships through customer engagement in Facebook brand pages, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 38 No. 6, pp. 713-729.
  • de Silva, W. T. M. (2014), “The outside environment temperature and its effect on emotional responses to the colour and music”, International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, Vol. 2 No.3, pp. 166–174.
  • de Silva, T. M. (2019), “Customer engagement in Facebook brand pages”, Paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Management and Economics, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka.URL: http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/138
  • de Silva, W. T. M. (2014), “Impact of music on emotional responses”, Paper presented at the Wayamba International Conference, Wayamba University, Kuliyapitiya, Sri Lanka.
  • de Silva, W. T. M. (2014), “Emotional responses elicited to colour and music under hot and mild outside environment temperatures”, Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on Management and Economics, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka.
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