The Role of Trusting Beliefs in Voice Assistants during Voice Shopping

Abstract

Artificial intelligence-based voice assistants (VAs) such as Amazon Alexa deliver personalized product recommendations in order to match consumers' needs. The use of voice assistants for shopping purposes incorporates elements of risk affecting when and how they are considered trusted relationship partners. In this uncertain environment, it is unclear 'when' voice assistants are capable of gaining trust and 'how' the development of such a trusted relationship affects decisions. This research explores the effect of trusting beliefs towards voice assistants on decision satisfaction through the indirect effect of consideration set size (n. of options), in the context of voice shopping. Findings of an individual-session online experiment (N = 180) show a positive direct effect of trust on customer's satisfaction and a mediating role of set size, confirming consumers' bias towards default choices. This study highlights the consequences of trust in AI-enabled voice assistants for decision-making during utilitarian purchases.

“Alexa, order me a pizza!”: The mediating role of psychological power in the consumer–voice assistant interaction

“…Psychological power in consumer behavior represents a construct that is not easy to imagine or detect (Rucker et al, 2012). While literature suggests that consumers use VAs for purchase decisions driven by functional product benefits (Mari, 2019; Moriuchi, 2019), the underlying psychological mechanisms driving this behavior have rarely been empirically examined. Our research identifies the workings of power as one such psychological mechanism and illustrates some of the consequences of psychological power as a mediator within the consumers–VA consumption context.…”

“…Less research, however, has considered the intervention of the VA on the consumer decision‐making process. Initial evidence seems to suggest that consumers experience ease in making certain purchases via VAs, namely, habitual purchases of low involvement products that are psychologically effortless (Mari, 2019; Moriuchi, 2019). More complex purchase decisions that are associated with high involvement products prove to be more problematic, in part, because some consumers resist automated features that reduce the psychological efforts enjoyed by high‐involvement products and purchases (Leung et al, 2018).…”

“…Usage is up too, with over half (52%) of VA owners reporting they use these devices at least once a day, up from 46% at the beginning of the year (National Public Media, 2020). While much research agrees that the use of VAs remains limited to simple tasks such as search, setting alarms, reporting the weather, and playing music (Mari, 2019), voice commerce is on the rise, with sales reaching $1.8 bn in 2018 and potential to reach $40 bn by 2022 in the United States alone (Hayllar & Coode, 2018). However, despite this burgeoning marketplace, scholarship has yet to unpack the dimensionality of the VA shopping experience.…”

“…First, the findings of this study emphasize the functional elements of VAs that drive usage, particularly in the realm of voice‐commerce. While many recent studies document the social and relational roles of VAs in consumer experiences (Pitardi & Marriott, 2021; Ramadan et al, 2021; Whang & Im, 2021), the psychological mechanisms underpinning the functional usage of VAs remain under‐explored (Mari, 2019; Moriuchi, 2019). This is surprising given the impact such findings warrant for marketers aiming to increase sales through voice‐commerce.…”

Match or Mismatch? How Matching Personality and Gender between Voice Assistants and Users Affects Trust in Voice Commerce

“…This limited uptake of voice commerce can be attributed to several obstacles: Users experience low interaction quality, limited transparency [3,4], and an uncomfortable feeling when shopping via voice [5]. In addition, several studies have found that one of the most important barriers to the widespread use of voice commerce is a lack of trust [5,6], especially when it comes to trust in the competence and benevolence of VAs [3]. Trust has also been recognized as one of the key success factors for adoption in studies on other information systems (IS) artifacts, particularly in the context of online shopping [7,8].…”