Ability is in the eye of the beholder: How context and individual factors shape consumer perceptions of digital assistant ability

As consumers and companies continue to invest in voice-based digital assistant technologies, a better understanding of how consumers evaluate these technologies is needed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that digital assistants often fall short of consumer expectations, with digital assistant ability playing a key role in consumers’ evaluation of these technologies. It is unclear, however, how contextual and individual factors shape digital assistant ability perceptions. To better understand consumer perceptions of digital assistant ability, we propose a novel measurement of the construct and then explore the use of digital assistants in the context of task automation versus augmentation. Across three studies and six samples, we find that (1) our new measure of digital assistant ability influences intended consumer outcomes and (2) ability assessments are dependent upon both the use context (i.e., automation versus augmentation; disclosure of automation) and individual characteristics (i.e., consumer mood state and consumer preference for human interaction). Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.