“I Am Here to Assist You Today”: The Role of Entity, Interactivity and Experiential Perceptions in Chatbot Persuasion

Abstract

Online users are increasingly exposed to chatbots as one form of AI-enabled media technologies, employed for persuasive purposes, e.g., making product/service recommendations. However, the persuasive potential of chatbots has not yet been fully explored. Using an online experiment (N = 242), we investigate the extent to which communicating with a stand-alone chatbot influences affective and behavioral responses compared to interactive Web sites. Several underlying mechanisms are studied, showing that enjoyment is the key mechanism explaining the positive effect of chatbots (vs. Web sites) on recommendation adherence and attitudes. Contrary to expectations, perceived anthropomorphism seems not to be particularly relevant in this comparison.The communication between online users and organizations is increasingly shifting toward interactions with technology driven by artificial intelligence (AI; Sundar, 2020). Among the most prevalent instances of technology with which users are confronted are AI-based chatbots. Defined as "software that accepts natural language as input and generates natural language as output, engaging in a conversation" (Griol et al., 2013, p. 706), chatbots can be found on social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) and messaging apps (e.g., Skype, Facebook Messenger); they can be an alternative to (branded) Web sites (e.g., A.s.r., 2019). These stand-alone chatbots are often used for making product or service recommendations (e.g., shopping, financial/health-related CONTACT Carolin Ischen

How chatbots' social presence communication enhances consumer engagement: the mediating role of parasocial interaction and dialogue

“…While constructs like dialogue, two-way communication, reciprocity have been extensively theorized in the interpersonal communication literature, the theoretical deliberation and empirical evidence regarding dialogue in mediated communication, particularly for digital platforms that enable one-on-one conversations like social messengers and chatbots remain scarce. Distinct from existing chatbot studies that focus on the mediating role of perceived interactivity, which is broadly defined as two-way communication and active control (Ischen et al , 2020) and applicable to social media communication in general, the results underscore the importance of the under-researched mediator of perceived dialogue that can better capture the mutuality and synchronous back-and-forth cadence distinct to chatbot-consumer communication.…”

Felhasználói tapasztalatok Emmával, a vásárlási asszisztens chatbottal

“…E gyre elterjedtebbé válik, hogy a szervezetek az online felhasználókkal mesterséges intelligencia alapú technológia alkalmazásával kommunikálnak emberi munkaerő igénybevétele nélkül (Ischen, Araujo, Noort, Voorveld & Smit, 2020). Erre alkalmas számítógépes program a chatbot is, mely képes emberi kommunikációt folytatni a felhasználóval emberi beavatkozás nélkül "előre megírt forgatókönyvek és szabályok szerint egy chatfelületen keresztül" (Brandtzaeg & Følstad, 2017;Kenesei & Bognár, 2019, p. 68).…”

Effects of personalization and source expertise on users’ health beliefs and usage intention toward health chatbots: Evidence from an online experiment

“…In addition, previous studies have shown that the source of information is one of the aspects of users’ judgments regarding the trustworthiness and quality of chatbots. 4 , 12 Among them, source expertise has exhibited its effect in terms of perceptions regarding the credibility of messages when users are processing online health-related information. 13 However, in the context of health chatbots, how the source expertise can affect users’ health-related perceptions still deserves an in-depth analysis.…”