IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v129y2021icp878-890.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Artificial intelligence and the new forms of interaction: Who has the control when interacting with a chatbot?

Author

Listed:
  • Pizzi, Gabriele
  • Scarpi, Daniele
  • Pantano, Eleonora

Abstract

Advances in artificial intelligence provide new tools of digital assistance that retailers can use to support consumers while shopping. The aim of this research is to examine how consumers react as a function of assistants’ appearance (human- vs. not human-like) and activation (automatic vs. human-initiated). We advance a model of sequential mediation whose empirical validation on 400 participants in two studies shows that non-anthropomorphic digital assistants lead to higher psychological reactance. In turn, reactance affects perceived choice difficulty, which positively reflects on choice certainty, perceived performance and—ultimately—satisfaction. Thus, although reactance might appear as a negative outcome, it eventually leads to higher satisfaction. Furthermore, initiation (system vs. user initiation) does not activate the chain of effects, but significantly interacts with anthropomorphism so that individuals exhibit lower reactance when confronted with human-like digital assistants activated by the consumer. Overall, reactance is highest for non-human like digital assistants that are computer-initiated.

Suggested Citation

  • Pizzi, Gabriele & Scarpi, Daniele & Pantano, Eleonora, 2021. "Artificial intelligence and the new forms of interaction: Who has the control when interacting with a chatbot?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 878-890.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:129:y:2021:i:c:p:878-890
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320307499
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keeling, Kathleen & McGoldrick, Peter & Beatty, Susan, 2010. "Avatars as salespeople: Communication style, trust, and intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 793-800, August.
    2. Vargo, Stephen L. & Lusch, Robert F., 2017. "Service-dominant logic 2025," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 46-67.
    3. Garbarino, Ellen C & Edell, Julie A, 1997. "Cognitive Effort, Affect, and Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(2), pages 147-158, September.
    4. Anna-Maria Seeger & Armin Heinzl, 2018. "Human Versus Machine: Contingency Factors of Anthropomorphism as a Trust-Inducing Design Strategy for Conversational Agents," Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organization, in: Fred D. Davis & René Riedl & Jan vom Brocke & Pierre-Majorique Léger & Adriane B. Randolph (ed.), Information Systems and Neuroscience, pages 129-139, Springer.
    5. D. Harrison McKnight & Vivek Choudhury & Charles Kacmar, 2002. "Developing and Validating Trust Measures for e-Commerce: An Integrative Typology," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 334-359, September.
    6. Fitzsimons, Gavan J, 2000. "Consumer Response to Stockouts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(2), pages 249-266, September.
    7. Oliver, Richard L & DeSarbo, Wayne S, 1988. "Response Determinants in Satisfaction Judgments," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(4), pages 495-507, March.
    8. Quentin André & Ziv Carmon & Klaus Wertenbroch & Alia Crum & Douglas Frank & William Goldstein & Joel Huber & Leaf Boven & Bernd Weber & Haiyang Yang, 2018. "Consumer Choice and Autonomy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 28-37, March.
    9. Stock, Ruth & Merkle, Moritz, 2018. "Can Humanoid Service Robots Perform Better Than Service Employees? A Comparison of Innovative Behavior Cues," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 110836, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Peltier, James W. & Dahl, Andrew J. & Swan, Eric L., 2020. "Digital information flows across a B2C/C2C continuum and technological innovations in service ecosystems: A service-dominant logic perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 724-734.
    11. Kurt T. Dirks & Donald L. Ferrin, 2001. "The Role of Trust in Organizational Settings," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 450-467, August.
    12. Khalid Aldiri & Dave Hobbs & Rami Qahwaji, 2008. "The Human Face of E-Business: Engendering Consumer Initial Trust Through the Use of Images of Sales Personnel on E-Commerce Web Sites," International Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR), IGI Global, vol. 4(4), pages 58-78, October.
    13. Laroche, Michel & Kim, Chankon & Zhou, Lianxi, 1996. "Brand familiarity and confidence as determinants of purchase intention: An empirical test in a multiple brand context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 115-120, October.
    14. Aguirre, Elizabeth & Mahr, Dominik & Grewal, Dhruv & de Ruyter, Ko & Wetzels, Martin, 2015. "Unraveling the Personalization Paradox: The Effect of Information Collection and Trust-Building Strategies on Online Advertisement Effectiveness," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 34-49.
    15. Tiffany White & Debra Zahay & Helge Thorbjørnsen & Sharon Shavitt, 2008. "Getting too personal: Reactance to highly personalized email solicitations," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 39-50, March.
    16. Cindy Lombart & Didier Louis, 2012. "Consumer satisfaction and loyalty: Two main consequences of retailer personality," Post-Print hal-00956956, HAL.
    17. Lombart, Cindy & Louis, Didier, 2012. "Consumer satisfaction and loyalty: Two main consequences of retailer personality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 644-652.
    18. Murray, Kyle B. & Häubl, Gerald, 2009. "Personalization without Interrogation: Towards more Effective Interactions between Consumers and Feature-Based Recommendation Agents," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 138-146.
    19. Gavan J. Fitzsimons & Donald R. Lehmann, 2004. "Reactance to Recommendations: When Unsolicited Advice Yields Contrary Responses," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 82-94, September.
    20. Baier, Daniel & Stüber, Eva, 2010. "Acceptance of recommendations to buy in online retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 173-180.
    21. Yoo, Weon-Sang & Lee, Yunjung & Park, JungKun, 2010. "The role of interactivity in e-tailing: Creating value and increasing satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 89-96.
    22. Arkes, Hal R. & Blumer, Catherine, 1985. "The psychology of sunk cost," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 124-140, February.
    23. Carmon, Ziv & Wertenbroch, Klaus & Zeelenberg, Marcel, 2003. "Option Attachment: When Deliberating Makes Choosing Feel Like Losing," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(1), pages 15-29, June.
    24. Roland T. Rust & Ming-Hui Huang, 2014. "The Service Revolution and the Transformation of Marketing Science," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 206-221, March.
    25. Gerald Häubl & Valerie Trifts, 2000. "Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 4-21, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xuequn Wang & Xiaolin Lin & Bin Shao, 2023. "Artificial intelligence changes the way we work: A close look at innovating with chatbots," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(3), pages 339-353, March.
    2. Leah Warfield Smith & Randall Lee Rose & Alex R. Zablah & Heath McCullough & Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, 2023. "Examining post-purchase consumer responses to product automation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 530-550, May.
    3. Querci, Ilaria & Monsurrò, Luigi & Peverini, Paolo, 2024. "When anthropomorphism backfires: Anticipation of negative social roles as a source of resistance to smart object adoption," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Ahn, Jungyong & Kim, Jungwon & Sung, Yongjun, 2022. "The effect of gender stereotypes on artificial intelligence recommendations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 50-59.
    5. Whang, Jeong-Bin & Song, Ji Hee & Lee, Jong-Ho & Choi, Boreum, 2022. "Interacting with Chatbots: Message type and consumers' control," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 309-318.
    6. Chakraborty, Debarun & Polisetty, Aruna & G, Sowmya & Rana, Nripendra P. & Khorana, Sangeeta, 2024. "Unlocking the potential of AI: Enhancing consumer engagement in the beauty and cosmetic product purchases," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Mengjun Li & Ayoung Suh, 2022. "Anthropomorphism in AI-enabled technology: A literature review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2245-2275, December.
    8. Sebastian Molinillo & Francisco Rejón-Guardia & Rafael Anaya-Sánchez, 2023. "Exploring the antecedents of customers’ willingness to use service robots in restaurants," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(1), pages 167-193, March.
    9. Wien, Anders Hauge & Peluso, Alessandro M., 2021. "Influence of human versus AI recommenders: The roles of product type and cognitive processes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 13-27.
    10. Massaro, Alessandro & Magaletti, Nicola & Cosoli, Gabriele & Giardinelli, Vito O. M. & Leogrande, Angelo, 2022. "Text Mining Approaches Oriented on Customer Care Efficiency," MPRA Paper 112300, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Shahzad, Muhammad Farrukh & Xu, Shuo & An, Xin & Javed, Iqra, 2024. "Assessing the impact of AI-chatbot service quality on user e-brand loyalty through chatbot user trust, experience and electronic word of mouth," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Na Cai & Shuhong Gao & Jinzhe Yan, 2024. "How the communication style of chatbots influences consumers’ satisfaction, trust, and engagement in the context of service failure," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Schillaci, Carmela Elita & de Cosmo, Lucrezia Maria & Piper, Luigi & Nicotra, Melita & Guido, Gianluigi, 2024. "Anthropomorphic chatbots' for future healthcare services: Effects of personality, gender, and roles on source credibility, user satisfaction, and intention to use," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    14. Huang, Dongling & Markovitch, Dmitri G. & Stough, Rusty A., 2024. "Can chatbot customer service match human service agents on customer satisfaction? An investigation in the role of trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Gorny, Paul M. & Groos, Eva & Strobel, Christina, 2024. "Do Personalized AI Predictions Change Subsequent Decision-Outcomes? The Impact of Human Oversight," MPRA Paper 121065, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Talaei-Khoei, Amir & Yang, Alan T. & Masialeti, Masialeti, 2024. "How does incorporating ChatGPT within a firm reinforce agility-mediated performance? The moderating role of innovation infusion and firms’ ethical identity," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pantano, Eleonora & Pizzi, Gabriele, 2020. "Forecasting artificial intelligence on online customer assistance: Evidence from chatbot patents analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Bleier, Alexander & Eisenbeiss, Maik, 2015. "The Importance of Trust for Personalized Online Advertising," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 390-409.
    3. Ben Mimoun, Mohammed Slim & Poncin, Ingrid & Garnier, Marion, 2012. "Case study—Embodied virtual agents: An analysis on reasons for failure," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 605-612.
    4. Simona Botti & Susan Broniarczyk & Gerald Häubl & Ron Hill & Yanliu Huang & Barbara Kahn & Praveen Kopalle & Donald Lehmann & Joe Urbany & Brian Wansink, 2008. "Choice under restrictions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 183-199, December.
    5. Schreiner, Timo & Rese, Alexandra & Baier, Daniel, 2019. "Multichannel personalization: Identifying consumer preferences for product recommendations in advertisements across different media channels," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 87-99.
    6. Darima Fotheringham & Michael A. Wiles, 2023. "The effect of implementing chatbot customer service on stock returns: an event study analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 802-822, July.
    7. Lurie, Nicholas H. & Wen, Na, 2014. "Simple Decision Aids and Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(4), pages 511-523.
    8. Trampe, Debra & Konuş, Umut & Verhoef, Peter C., 2014. "Customer Responses to Channel Migration Strategies Toward the E-channel," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 257-270.
    9. Thorbjørnsen, Helge & Dahlén, Micael, 2011. "Customer reactions to acquirer-dominant mergers and acquisitions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 332-341.
    10. Beke, Frank T. & Eggers, Felix & Verhoef, Peter C. & Wieringa, Jaap E., 2022. "Consumers’ privacy calculus: The PRICAL index development and validation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 20-41.
    11. Lena Bjørlo & Øystein Moen & Mark Pasquine, 2021. "The Role of Consumer Autonomy in Developing Sustainable AI: A Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    12. Zha, Dongmei & Marvi, Reza & Foroudi, Pantea, 2023. "Synthesizing the customer experience concept: A multimodularity approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Stefan F. Bernritter & Paul E. Ketelaar & Francesca Sotgiu, 2021. "Behaviorally targeted location-based mobile marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 677-702, July.
    14. Debora Dhanya Amarnath & Uma Pricilda Jaidev, 2021. "Toward an integrated model of consumer reactance: a literature analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 71(1), pages 41-90, February.
    15. Cheng, Junjun & Chen, Bo & Huang, Zihang, 2023. "Collective-based ad transparency in targeted hotel advertising: Consumers’ regulatory focus underlying the crowd safety effect," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    16. Li Mo & Xiaosan Zhang & Yabin Lin & Zhenghui Yuan & Zengjun Peng, 2023. "Consumers’ Attitudes towards Online Advertising: A Model of Personalization, Informativeness, Privacy Concern and Flow Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, February.
    17. Gavan J. Fitzsimons & Donald R. Lehmann, 2004. "Reactance to Recommendations: When Unsolicited Advice Yields Contrary Responses," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 82-94, September.
    18. Saeidi, Sayedeh Parastoo & Sofian, Saudah & Saeidi, Parvaneh & Saeidi, Sayyedeh Parisa & Saaeidi, Seyyed Alireza, 2015. "How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 341-350.
    19. Joerß, Tom & Hoffmann, Stefan & Mai, Robert & Akbar, Payam, 2021. "Digitalization as solution to environmental problems? When users rely on augmented reality-recommendation agents," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 510-523.
    20. Mark Heitmann & Andreas Herrmann, 2007. "Die Zufriedenheit mit dem Entscheidungsprozess als Determinante der Kundenbindung," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 530-566, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:129:y:2021:i:c:p:878-890. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.