Hey Alexa: examining the effect of perceived socialness in usage intentions of AI assistant-enabled smart speaker

Abstract

Purpose Artificially intelligent (AI) assistant-enabled smart speaker not only can provide assistance by navigating the massive amount of product and brand information on the internet but also can facilitate two-way conversations with individuals, thus resembling a human interaction. Although smart speakers have substantial implications for practitioners, the knowledge of the underlying psychological factors that drive continuance usage remains limited. Drawing on social response theory and the technology acceptance model, this study aims to elucidate the adoption process of smart speakers. Design/methodology/approach A field survey of 391 smart speaker users were obtained. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings Media richness (social cues) and parasocial interactions (social role) are key determinants affecting the establishment of trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which, in turn, affect attitude, continuance usage intentions and online purchase intentions through AI assistants. Originality/value AI assistant-enabled smart speakers are revolutionizing how people interact with smart products. Studies of smart speakers have mainly focused on functional or technical perspectives. This study is the first to propose a comprehensive model from both functional and social perspectives of continuance usage intention of the smart speaker and online purchase intentions through AI assistants.

How interaction experience enhances customer engagement in smart speaker devices? The moderation of gendered voice and product smartness

“…AI technology enables smart speakers to have advanced natural language processing and machine-learning functions, which are more advanced and more humanized than ever before (Guzman, 2018). Smart speakers can facilitate consumers to play music, allow more time for entertainment, purchasing products, socializing and spending less time searching for information, or even controlling other smart home appliances by using interactive voice control (Kowalczuk, 2018; Hsieh et al , 2021; Tsai et al , 2021). Therefore, the need for consumers to feel comfortable while interacting with electronic devices or AI agent will be important for enhancing the customer experience and boost consumer engagement (Kim et al , 2021; Payne et al , 2021; Wang, 2021).…”

“…Recent studies of the IoT theoretical model in the human–computer interaction (HCI) field are intention-based, investigating why certain consumers adopt and use smart speakers (Kowalczuk, 2018; Hsieh et al , 2021), smart watches (Kim and Shin, 2015) and smart homes (Yang et al , 2017; Hubert et al , 2019). Other studies are benefit-based, by using the gratification theory to understand voice assistant interactions (McLean and Osei-Frimpong, 2019).…”

Artificial intelligent chatbots as brand promoters: a two-stage structural equation modeling-artificial neural network approach

“…In the second stage, we adopted the ANN analysis method. Previous research on AI chatbots mainly using SEM has focused exclusively on single-stage data analysis (Hsieh and Lee, 2021;McLean and Osei-Frimpong, 2019;Richad et al, 2019;Trivedi, 2019;Zarouali et al, 2018). Scholars have argued that SEM analysis simplifies the decision-making process when verifying linear causality between variables while non-linear relationships often exist in the real world.…”

“…Finally, we contribute to the literature by engaging in a two-stage approach by integrating SEM and a deep learning-based ANN analysis. Previous studies have mainly used a cross-sectional design (Ashfaq et al, 2020;Brill et al, 2019;Hsieh and Lee, 2021;Richad et al, 2019). We first conducted a PLS-SEM analysis to uncover multi-dimensional social support and then used a deep-learning-based ANN analysis as a non-linear model to uncover the black box of the proposed theoretical framework.…”

Effects of personal innovativeness and perceived value of disclosure on privacy concerns in proximity marketing: self-control as a moderator

“…Such personalized contents enable consumers to minimize the time and costs required to search for precise information (Im and Ha, 2015)). This customized service will build trust in consumers and drive their positive attitudes toward the service (Hsieh and Lee, 2021). Consumers will thus consider that it can add and further enhance their valuable shopping experiences and offer greater benefits (Kang and Namkung, 2019).…”