I, chatbot! the impact of anthropomorphism and gaze direction on willingness to disclose personal information and behavioral intentions

Abstract

The present research focuses on the interplay between two common features of the customer service chatbot experience: gaze direction and anthropomorphism. Although the dominant approach in marketing theory and practice is to make chatbots as human‐like as possible, the current study, built on the humanness‐value‐loyalty model, addresses the chain of effects through which chatbots' nonverbal behaviors affect customers' willingness to disclose personal information and purchase intentions. By means of two experiments that adopt a real chatbot in a simulated shopping environment (i.e., car rental and travel insurance), the present work allows us to understand how to reduce individuals' tendency to see conversational agents as less knowledgeable and empathetic compared with humans. The results show that warmth perceptions are affected by gaze direction, whereas competence perceptions are affected by anthropomorphism. Warmth and competence perceptions are found to be key drivers of consumers’ skepticism toward the chatbot, which, in turn, affects consumers’ trust toward the service provider hosting the chatbot, ultimately leading consumers to be more willing to disclose their personal information and to repatronize the e‐tailer in the future. Building on the Theory of Mind, our results show that perceiving competence from a chatbot makes individuals less skeptical as long as they feel they are good at detecting others’ ultimate intentions.

A meta-analysis of the effect of chatbot anthropomorphism on the customer journey

“…Second, there has been controversy about the effect of chatbot anthropomorphism on consumer attitudes and the results of this research show that, based on anthropomorphism theory, chatbot anthropomorphism has a positive contribution to consumer attitudes (Lei et al. , 2021; Pizzi et al. , 2023), whereas the uncanny valley theory (Mori, 1970) is not significant.…”

Do chatbots establish “humanness” in the customer purchase journey? An investigation through explanatory sequential design

“…Pizzi et al (2023) found that warmth and competence can significantly mediate the relationship between anthropomorphism and gaze direction and future intentions with chatbots. These research results support the earlier findings of Pizzi et al (2023).…”

“…Prior research has explained that competence can indirectly influence rational thinking and generate positive outcomes (Todd & Gigerenzer, 2003). Pizzi et al (2023) found that warmth and competence can significantly mediate the relationship between anthropomorphism and gaze direction and future intentions with chatbots. These research results support the earlier findings of Pizzi et al (2023).…”

Chatbots in frontline services and customer experience: An anthropomorphism perspective

“…Brand credibility has been overlooked in the anthropomorphism literature and the link between brand credibility and chatbot characteristics has not been yet explored. Previous research in AI and chatbots have mostly found that AI/chatbot anthropomorphism has a positive influence on perceptions of competence (e.g., Pizzi et al, 2023) and warmth (e.g., S. Y. Kim et al, 2019; Pizzi et al, 2023). However, it should be noted that the relationship between anthropomorphism and perceived competence/authenticity is not always be linear or universal.…”

“…While some research has looked at how chatbots resemble human language, more research is needed to determine how different language styles affect customer perception of chatbot's humanlikeness which may lead to different perceived competence and authenticity (S. Y. Kim et al, 2019; Pizzi et al, 2023). Additionally, the effort to anthropomorphize chatbots faces the difficulty that consumers find it increasingly challenging to correctly distinguish humans from chatbots (Pizzi et al, 2023). A chatbot is the representative of a brand when interacting with customers.…”