How Social Cues in Virtual Assistants Influence Concerns and Persuasion: The Role of Voice and a Human Name

Voorveld, Hilde A. M.; Araujo, Theo

doi:10.1089/cyber.2019.0205

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…It thereby shows that findings from these research lines can be translated to the context of virtual assistants. Hence, we can show and corroborate previous research (Voorveld and Araujo, 2020) that using the persuasion knowledge model is generally a useful tool to explain persuasive attempts coming from a virtual assistant. Notably, the positive effects of persuasion knowledge on brand memory were stronger than the negative effects on brand attitudes and purchase intention.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Is voice really persuasive? The influence of modality in virtual assistant interactions and two alternative explanations

Ischen

Araujo²,

Voorveld³

et al. 2022

INTR

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PurposeVirtual assistants are increasingly used for persuasive purposes, employing the different modalities of voice and text (or a combination of the two). In this study, the authors compare the persuasiveness of voice-and text-based virtual assistants. The authors argue for perceived human-likeness and cognitive load as underlying mechanisms that can explain why voice- and text-based assistants differ in their persuasive potential by suppressing the activation of consumers' persuasion knowledge.Design/methodology/approachA pre-registered online-experiment (n = 450) implemented a text-based and two voice-based (with and without interaction history displayed in text) virtual assistants.FindingsFindings show that, contrary to expectations, a text-based assistant is perceived as more human-like compared to a voice-based assistant (regardless of whether the interaction history is displayed), which in turn positively influences brand attitudes and purchase intention. The authors also find that voice as a communication modality can increase persuasion knowledge by being cognitively more demanding in comparison to text.Practical implicationsSimply using voice as a presumably human cue might not suffice to give virtual assistants a human-like appeal. For the development of virtual assistants, it might be beneficial to actively engage consumers to increase awareness of persuasion.Originality/valueThe current study adds to the emergent research stream considering virtual assistants in explicitly exploring modality differences between voice and text (and a combination of the two) and provides insights into the effects of persuasion coming from virtual assistants.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Is voice really persuasive? The influence of modality in virtual assistant interactions and two alternative explanations

Ischen

Araujo²,

Voorveld³

et al. 2022

INTR

Self Cite

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“…Because research has demonstrated that voice assistants have a bad reputation concerning a lack of transparency on how data is processed and stored ( Voorveld and Araujo, 2020 ), the missing effect of ontological class on the privacy concerns was surprising. However, the companies behind the state-of-the-art voice assistants are also frequently the reasons for mistrust ( Lau et al, 2018 ), which was not the case within this study as the voice assistant was presented as a product of a university research project.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, it should be highlighted that different technologies are associated with different privacy concerns. Voorveld and Araujo (2020) , for instance, demonstrated that interactions via smart speakers created higher data security concerns compared to the same interactions with a voice assistant on a smartphone. The authors discuss that this might be due to the fact that voice within the voice assistant is designed to continuously “listen” to users.…”

Section: Theoretical Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flirting With or Through Media: How the Communication Partners’ Ontological Class and Sexual Priming Affect Heterosexual Males’ Interest in Flirtatious Messages and Their Perception of the Source

Szczuka

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Because technologies are frequently used for sexual gratification it seems plausible that artificial communication partners, such as voice assistants, could be used to fulfill sexual needs. While the idea of sexualized interaction with voice assistants has been portrayed in movies (e.g., “Her”), there is a lack of empirical research on the effect of the ontological class (human versus artificial) on the voice’s potential to evoke interest in a sexualized interaction and its perception in terms of sexual attractiveness. The Sexual Interaction Illusion Model (SIIM), which emphasizes influences on sensations evoked by artificial interaction partners, furthermore suggests that there may be contextual influences, especially sexual arousal, that may be crucial for the question of engaging in a sexualized interaction with an artificial entity. To empirically investigate whether the ontological class of the speaker (computer-mediated human in comparison to voice assistants) and the level of sexual arousal affects the heterosexual males’ interest in hearing more flirtatious messages and the perception of the communication partner’s sexual attractiveness, an online experiment with between subject design was conducted. Two hundred and fifty seven respondents were confronted with at least four, and voluntarily six messages from either a computer-mediated human or a flirtatious voice assistant, in interaction with being previously primed sexually or neutrally. The results demonstrated that the effect of sexual arousal was not prevailing on the interest in further messages and the attractiveness perception of the interaction partners, while the ontological class did so. Here, the voice assistant evoked more interest in further messages and the technology itself, while the computer mediated human was perceived to be more sexually attractive and flirtatious, and evoked more social presence. The communication partners social presence was shown to be the predictor with most explanatory power for the interaction partners perceived sexual attractiveness, regardless of whether it was human or artificial. The results underline differences between artificial and human interaction partners, but also underline that especially social presence and the feeling that the user is addressed (in terms of flirtatiousness) is crucial in digitalized intimacy regardless of the ontological class.

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“…Recently, studies have been conducted that demonstrated the modality of algorithm-mediated communication (e.g. voice vs. text) plays a role in its persuasive impact on recipients (Cho, 2019;Cho et al, 2019;Voorveld and Araujo, 2020). This implies that modality should be considered in the investigation of outcomes of algorithm-mediated communication.…”

Section: The Input: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Theories like the MAIN model (Sundar, 2008), and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2014) acknowledged the importance of modality in shaping communication effects. Recently, studies have been conducted that demonstrated the modality of algorithm-mediated communication (e.g., voice vs. text) plays a role in its persuasive impact on recipients (Cho, 2019;Cho et al, 2019;Voorveld and Araujo, 2020). This implies that modality should be considered in the investigation of outcomes of algorithm-mediated communication.…”

Section: The Persuasion Attempt: Context Nature Medium and Modalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The algorithmic persuasion framework in online communication: conceptualization and a future research agenda

Zarouali

Boerman

Voorveld

et al. 2022

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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to introduce a comprehensive and dynamic framework that focuses on the role of algorithms in persuasive communication: the algorithmic persuasion framework (APF).Design/methodology/approachIn this increasingly data-driven media landscape, algorithms play an important role in the consumption of online content. This paper presents a novel conceptual framework to investigate algorithm-mediated persuasion processes and their effects on online communication.FindingsThe APF consists of five conceptual components: input, algorithm, persuasion attempt, persuasion process and persuasion effects. In short, it addresses how data variables are inputs for different algorithmic techniques and algorithmic objectives, which influence the manifestations of algorithm-mediated persuasion attempts, informing how such attempts are processed and their intended and unintended persuasive effects.Originality/valueThe paper guides future research by addressing key elements in the framework and the relationship between them, proposing a research agenda (with specific research questions and hypotheses) and discussing methodological challenges and opportunities for the future investigation of the framework.

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How Social Cues in Virtual Assistants Influence Concerns and Persuasion: The Role of Voice and a Human Name

Cited by 27 publications

References 46 publications

Is voice really persuasive? The influence of modality in virtual assistant interactions and two alternative explanations

Is voice really persuasive? The influence of modality in virtual assistant interactions and two alternative explanations

Flirting With or Through Media: How the Communication Partners’ Ontological Class and Sexual Priming Affect Heterosexual Males’ Interest in Flirtatious Messages and Their Perception of the Source

The algorithmic persuasion framework in online communication: conceptualization and a future research agenda

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