IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v80y2024ics0969698924002066.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informing or persuading? Unveiling the complex dynamics of live chat in online labor markets

Author

Listed:
  • Dong, Lingfeng
  • Wu, Zhenwei
  • Ji, Ting
  • Tu, Yu

Abstract

This paper delves into the impact of live chat signals, manifested by persuasive and informative signals, on contract decision and the moderating role of business familiarity. Utilizing a dataset from a Chinese online labor market, our results confirm that politeness, response frequency, and reply speed positively influence contract decision. Regarding the moderating effects, business familiarity undermines the impact of politeness and enhances that of reply speed on contract decisions. The implications are as follows: first, this paper is among the early studies to empirically explore the live chat mechanism in online labor platforms. Second, this paper integrates the differential roles of live chat signals and business familiarity into a comprehensive model to specify the intricacies involved in the signal-behavior linkages. Third, our study illustrates how live chat works and prescribes how to effectively use this tool to bring benefits to vendors and platform managers, thus further extending the literature regarding live chat.

Suggested Citation

  • Dong, Lingfeng & Wu, Zhenwei & Ji, Ting & Tu, Yu, 2024. "Informing or persuading? Unveiling the complex dynamics of live chat in online labor markets," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:80:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924002066
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103910
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698924002066
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.103910?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. Lele Kang & Chuan‐Hoo Tan & J. Leon Zhao, 2020. "Do cognitive and affective expressions matter in purchase conversion? A live chat perspective," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(4), pages 436-449, April.
    2. Nishtha Langer & Ram D. Gopal & Ravi Bapna, 2020. "Onward and Upward? An Empirical Investigation of Gender and Promotions in Information Technology Services," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 383-398, June.
    3. Shrum, L. J. & Lowrey, Tina M. & Pogacar, Ruth, 2018. "The Effects of Linguistic Devices on Consumer Information Processing and Persuasion: A Language Complexity × Processing Mode Framework," HEC Research Papers Series 1261, HEC Paris, revised 03 May 2018.
    4. Vieira, Valter Afonso & Silva, Juliano Domingues da & Faia, Valter da Silva & Gabler, Colin, 2024. "Drivers of industrial sales performance in the agent-buyer chat channel: The role of social and functional content, message valence, and synchronicity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Fan, Liu & Zhang, Xiaoping & Rai, Laxmisha, 2021. "When should star power and eWOM be responsible for the box office performance? - An empirical study based on signaling theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Yi Wang, 2021. "The price of being polite: politeness, social status, and their joint impacts on community Q&A efficiency," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 101-122, May.
    7. Marios Kokkodis, 2021. "Dynamic, Multidimensional, and Skillset-Specific Reputation Systems for Online Work," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 688-712, September.
    8. Luo, Lijuan & Xu, Meiling & Zheng, Yujie, 2024. "Informative or affective? Exploring the effects of streamers’ topic types on user engagement in live streaming commerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Pee, L.G. & Jiang, James & Klein, Gary, 2018. "Signaling effect of website usability on repurchase intention," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 228-241.
    10. Zhang, Yu & Yuan, Yafen & Su, Jiafu & Xiao, Yan, 2021. "The effect of employees' politeness strategy and customer membership on customers' perception of co-recovery and online post-recovery satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    11. Marios Kokkodis, 2023. "Adjusting Skillset Cohesion in Online Labor Markets: Reputation Gains and Opportunity Losses," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1245-1258, September.
    12. Yili Hong & Paul A. Pavlou, 2017. "On Buyer Selection of Service Providers in Online Outsourcing Platforms for IT Services," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 547-562, September.
    13. Pandey, Shweta & Mittal, Sheetal & Chawla, Deepak, 2024. "Tackling consumer information asymmetry and perceived uncertainty for luxury re-commerce through seller signals," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Rese, Alexandra & Ganster, Lena & Baier, Daniel, 2020. "Chatbots in retailers’ customer communication: How to measure their acceptance?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    15. Xue (Jane) Tan & Youwei Wang & Yong Tan, 2019. "Impact of Live Chat on Purchase in Electronic Markets: The Moderating Role of Information Cues," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 1248-1271, December.
    16. Yili Hong & Jing Peng & Gordon Burtch & Ni Huang, 2021. "Just DM Me (Politely): Direct Messaging, Politeness, and Hiring Outcomes in Online Labor Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 786-800, September.
    17. Tran, Anh D. & Pallant, Jason I. & Johnson, Lester W., 2021. "Exploring the impact of chatbots on consumer sentiment and expectations in retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Ji Wu & Haichuan Zhao & Haipeng (Allan) Chen, 2021. "Coupons or Free Shipping? Effects of Price Promotion Strategies on Online Review Ratings," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 633-652, June.
    19. Ayaburi, Emmanuel W. & Treku, Daniel N., 2020. "Effect of penitence on social media trust and privacy concerns: The case of Facebook," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 171-181.
    20. Dong, Lingfeng & Zhang, Jie & Huang, Liqiang & Liu, Yuan, 2021. "Social influence on endorsement in social Q&A community: Moderating effects of temporal and spatial factors," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    21. Li, Meichan & Wang, Rui, 2023. "Chatbots in e-commerce: The effect of chatbot language style on customers’ continuance usage intention and attitude toward brand," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    22. Gordon Burtch & Yili Hong & Senthil Kumar, 2021. "When Does Dispute Resolution Substitute for a Reputation System? Empirical Evidence from a Service Procurement Platform," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1565-1582, June.
    23. Song, Mengmeng & Zhang, Huixian & Xing, Xinyu & Duan, Yucong, 2023. "Appreciation vs. apology: Research on the influence mechanism of chatbot service recovery based on politeness theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    24. Li, Zhaotong & Wu, Min & Teo, Chee-Chong & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2024. "An investigation of consumer switching intention on the use of automated courier station from a signaling perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    25. Marios Kokkodis & Sam Ransbotham, 2023. "Learning to Successfully Hire in Online Labor Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1597-1614, March.
    26. Jingchuan Pu & Yang Liu & Yuan Chen & Liangfei Qiu & Hsing Kenneth Cheng, 2022. "What Questions Are You Inclined to Answer? Effects of Hierarchy in Corporate Q&A Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 244-264, March.
    27. Grace Gu & Feng Zhu, 2021. "Trust and Disintermediation: Evidence from an Online Freelance Marketplace," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 794-807, February.
    28. Mingfeng Lin & Yong Liu & Siva Viswanathan, 2018. "Effectiveness of Reputation in Contracting for Customized Production: Evidence from Online Labor Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 345-359, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Lingfeng Dong & Ting Ji & Jie Zhang, 2022. "Effects of Conversation Politeness on Hiring Decision in Online Labor Markets: An Inverted U-Shaped Relationship Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-11, November.
    2. Yili Hong & Jing Peng & Gordon Burtch & Ni Huang, 2021. "Just DM Me (Politely): Direct Messaging, Politeness, and Hiring Outcomes in Online Labor Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 786-800, September.
    3. Duan, Yongrui & Liu, Tonghui & Mao, Zhixin, 2022. "How online reviews and coupons affect sales and pricing: An empirical study based on e-commerce platform," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Panos Constantinides & Ola Henfridsson & Geoffrey G. Parker, 2018. "Introduction—Platforms and Infrastructures in the Digital Age," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 381-400, June.
    5. Kamoonpuri, Sana Zehra & Sengar, Anita, 2023. "Hi, May AI help you? An analysis of the barriers impeding the implementation and use of artificial intelligence-enabled virtual assistants in retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Irfan Kanat & Yili Hong & T. S. Raghu, 2018. "Surviving in Global Online Labor Markets for IT Services: A Geo-Economic Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 893-909, December.
    7. Kong, Juan & Lou, Chen, 2023. "Do cultural orientations moderate the effect of online review features on review helpfulness? A case study of online movie reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Marios Kokkodis, 2023. "Adjusting Skillset Cohesion in Online Labor Markets: Reputation Gains and Opportunity Losses," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1245-1258, September.
    9. Gordon Burtch & Yili Hong & Senthil Kumar, 2021. "When Does Dispute Resolution Substitute for a Reputation System? Empirical Evidence from a Service Procurement Platform," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(6), pages 1565-1582, June.
    10. Cheng, Zhendong & Fan, Wenfang & Shao, Bingjia & Jia, Wenli & Zhang, Yong, 2024. "The impact of intelligent customer service agents’ initial response on consumers’ continuous interaction intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Hu, Qian & Pan, Zhao, 2023. "Can AI benefit individual resilience? The mediation roles of AI routinization and infusion," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Xia Zhao & Ling Xue & Peijian Song & Elena Karahanna, 2024. "Direct Communication and Two-Sided Matching Quality on a Digital Platform: A Perspective of Choice Based on Consideration Set," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 629-641, June.
    13. Guan, Dongxiao & Lei, Yunfei & Liu, Yu & Ma, Qinhai, 2024. "The effect of matching promotion type with purchase type on green consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Li, Zhipeng & Zhou, Xiaoyu & Huang, Shoujun, 2021. "Managing skill certification in online outsourcing platforms: A perspective of buyer-determined reverse auctions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    15. Ma, Xiaoyue & Huo, Yudi, 2023. "Are users willing to embrace ChatGPT? Exploring the factors on the acceptance of chatbots from the perspective of AIDUA framework," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Le, Hoang Tran Phuoc Mai & Park, Jungkun & Lee, Sangwoo, 2023. "Emotion and trust in virtual service assistant design for effective service recovery," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Jin Liu & Xingchen Xu & Xi Nan & Yongjun Li & Yong Tan, 2023. ""Generate" the Future of Work through AI: Empirical Evidence from Online Labor Markets," Papers 2308.05201, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    18. Dandan Qiao & Huaxia Rui & Qian Xiong, 2023. "AI and Jobs: Has the Inflection Point Arrived? Evidence from an Online Labor Platform," Papers 2312.04180, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    19. Kazakova, E. & Sandomirskaia, M. & Suvorov, A. & Khazhgerieva, A. & Shavshin, R., 2023. "Platforms, online labor markets, and crowdsourcing. Part 1. Traditional online labor market," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 120-148.
    20. Song, Mengmeng & Zhang, Huixian & Xing, Xinyu & Duan, Yucong, 2023. "Appreciation vs. apology: Research on the influence mechanism of chatbot service recovery based on politeness theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    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:joreco:v:80:y:2024:i:c:s0969698924002066. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.