IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v203y2024ics0040162524001732.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Automated social presence in artificial-intelligence services: Conceptualization, scale development, and validation

Author

Listed:
  • Liao, Xia
  • Zheng, Yu-Hao
  • Shi, Guicheng
  • Bu, Huimei

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly changing the service industry. Automated social presence (ASP) is an essential construct in AI services. However, there is a lack of conceptualization and a valid measurement scale of ASP. Hence, the objective of the present study is to conceptualize, develop, and validate an ASP measurement scale. With four phases and 1027 Chinese respondents, this study followed rigorous scale development steps. Phase 1 conceptualized the ASP based on previous research. Phase 2 involved the development of measures, including generating items and validating content through individual interviews and expert assessments. Phase 3 involved ASP scale purification and refinement via exploratory factor analysis. In Phase 4, a new survey sample was collected to test the reliability, and validity through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings indicated that ASP is a multidimensional construct with five dimensions: social affability, empathy, responsiveness, communication versatility, and competence. Additionally, the developed scale showed sufficient reliability and validity. This study guides the design, development, and deployment of AI beings to enhance the consumer experience in AI services.

Suggested Citation

  • Liao, Xia & Zheng, Yu-Hao & Shi, Guicheng & Bu, Huimei, 2024. "Automated social presence in artificial-intelligence services: Conceptualization, scale development, and validation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:203:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524001732
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162524001732
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123377?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. Emna Chérif & Jean-François Lemoine, 2019. "Anthropomorphic virtual assistants and the reactions of Internet users: An experiment on the assistant’s voice," Post-Print hal-03806669, HAL.
    2. David H. Autor & David Dorn, 2013. "The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1553-1597, August.
    3. Waqas, Muhammad & Salleh, Noor Akma Mohd & Hamzah, Zalfa Laili, 2021. "Branded Content Experience in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 106-120.
    4. Eppmann, René & Bekk, Magdalena & Klein, Kristina, 2018. "Gameful Experience in Gamification: Construction and Validation of a Gameful Experience Scale [GAMEX]," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 98-115.
    5. Adrian Alexandrescu & Cristian Nicolae Butincu & Mitică Craus, 2017. "Recommending Products and Services Belonging to Online Businesses Using Intelligent Agents," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 338-348, December.
    6. Tiberius, Victor & Gojowy, Robin & Dabić, Marina, 2022. "Forecasting the future of robo advisory: A three-stage Delphi study on economic, technological, and societal implications," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    7. Fred D. Davis & Richard P. Bagozzi & Paul R. Warshaw, 1989. "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(8), pages 982-1003, August.
    8. Daniela Castillo & Ana Isabel Canhoto & Emanuel Said, 2021. "The dark side of AI-powered service interactions: exploring the process of co-destruction from the customer perspective," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(13-14), pages 900-925, October.
    9. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    10. Younhee Kim & Seunghwan Myeong & Michael J. Ahn, 2023. "Living Labs for AI-Enabled Public Services: Functional Determinants, User Satisfaction, and Continued Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Yuping Liu-Thompkins & Shintaro Okazaki & Hairong Li, 2022. "Artificial empathy in marketing interactions: Bridging the human-AI gap in affective and social customer experience," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1198-1218, November.
    12. Shin, Jungwoo & Park, Yuri & Lee, Daeho, 2018. "Who will be smart home users? An analysis of adoption and diffusion of smart homes," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 246-253.
    13. 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).
    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. Wagner, Gerhard & Schramm-Klein, Hanna & Steinmann, Sascha, 2017. "Consumers' attitudes and intentions toward Internet-enabled TV shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 278-286.
    2. Li, Sixian & Peluso, Alessandro M. & Duan, Jinyun, 2023. "Why do we prefer humans to artificial intelligence in telemarketing? A mind perception explanation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Bielefeldt, Jonas & Poelzl, Jana & Herbst, Uta, 2016. "What’s Mine Isn’t Yours – Barriers to Participation in the Sharing Economy," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 70(1), pages 4-25.
    4. Jeannot, Florence & Dampérat, Maud & Salvador, Marielle & El Euch Maalej, Mariem & Jongmans, Eline, 2022. "Toward a luxury restaurant renewal: Antecedents and consequences of digitalized gastronomy experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 518-539.
    5. Casaló, Luis V. & Flavián, Carlos & Guinalíu, Miguel, 2010. "Determinants of the intention to participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer behavioral intentions," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 898-911.
    6. Ageeva, Elena & Melewar, T.C. & Foroudi, Pantea & Dennis, Charles & Jin, Zhongqi, 2018. "Examining the influence of corporate website favorability on corporate image and corporate reputation: Findings from fsQCA," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 287-304.
    7. Marios Koufaris, 2002. "Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Online Consumer Behavior," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(2), pages 205-223, June.
    8. Ying Yu & Tung-Jung Sung, 2023. "A value-based view of the smart PSS adoption: a study of smart kitchen appliances," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(2), pages 499-527, June.
    9. Shwu-Ing Wu & Ya-Chen Chuang, 2018. "Effects of the Experience in Using the Third-Party Payment on the Payment Model of Online Shopping," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(7), pages 107-107, June.
    10. Belanche, Daniel & Casaló, Luis V. & Flavián, Marta, 2024. "Human versus virtual influences, a comparative study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Rese, Alexandra & Baier, Daniel & Geyer-Schulz, Andreas & Schreiber, Stefanie, 2017. "How augmented reality apps are accepted by consumers: A comparative analysis using scales and opinions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 306-319.
    12. Ageeva, Elena & Melewar, T.C. & Foroudi, Pantea & Dennis, Charles, 2019. "Cues adopted by consumers in examining corporate website favorability: An empirical study of financial institutions in the UK and Russia," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 15-32.
    13. Rese, Alexandra & Schreiber, Stefanie & Baier, Daniel, 2014. "Technology acceptance modeling of augmented reality at the point of sale: Can surveys be replaced by an analysis of online reviews?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 869-876.
    14. Christian Arnold & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2019. "Determinants of Industrial Internet of Things Adoption in German Manufacturing Companies," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(06), pages 1-21, October.
    15. Inwon Kang & Deokhee Cheon & Matthew Shin, 2011. "Advertising strategy for outbound travel services," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 5(4), pages 361-380, December.
    16. Peng Cheng & Zhe Ouyang & Yang Liu, 0. "The effect of information overload on the intention of consumers to adopt electric vehicles," Transportation, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-20.
    17. Malin Jonell & Beatrice Crona & Kelsey Brown & Patrik Rönnbäck & Max Troell, 2016. "Eco-Labeled Seafood: Determinants for (Blue) Green Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-19, September.
    18. Tommaso AGASISTI & Geraint JOHNES & Marco PACCAGNELLA, 2021. "Tasks, occupations and wages in OECD countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(1), pages 85-112, March.
    19. Baird, Matthew D. & Engberg, John & Gutierrez, Italo A., 2022. "RCT evidence on differential impact of US job training programmes by pre-training employment status," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Philippe Cohard, 2020. "Information Systems Values: A Study of the Intranet in Three French Higher Education Institutions," Post-Print hal-02987225, HAL.

    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:tefoso:v:203:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524001732. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    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.