Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/288799 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Citation: 
[Journal:] Electronic Markets [ISSN:] 1422-8890 [Volume:] 31 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Berlin, Heidelberg [Year:] 2020 [Pages:] 427-445
Publisher: 
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
Communicating with customers through live chat interfaces has become an increasingly popular means to provide real-time customer service in many e-commerce settings. Today, human chat service agents are frequently replaced by conversational software agents or chatbots, which are systems designed to communicate with human users by means of natural language often based on artificial intelligence (AI). Though cost- and time-saving opportunities triggered a widespread implementation of AI-based chatbots, they still frequently fail to meet customer expectations, potentially resulting in users being less inclined to comply with requests made by the chatbot. Drawing on social response and commitment-consistency theory, we empirically examine through a randomized online experiment how verbal anthropomorphic design cues and the foot-in-the-door technique affect user request compliance. Our results demonstrate that both anthropomorphism as well as the need to stay consistent significantly increase the likelihood that users comply with a chatbot’s request for service feedback. Moreover, the results show that social presence mediates the effect of anthropomorphic design cues on user compliance.
Subjects: 
Artificial intelligence
Chatbot
Anthropomorphism
Social presence
Compliance
Customer service
JEL: 
C91
D91
M31
L86
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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