The impact of AI service agents on consumer behaviour outcomes exploring the concept of brand personality

Abstract

Background: AI service agents are an emerging crucial touchpoint adopted by brands in their marketing strategies, therefore, a thorough understanding of human-machine interactions is crucial in order for marketers to implement better chatbot designs that match consumers’ needs. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to understand the effect of consumer-chatbot interactions on consumers’ brand personality perceptions (BPPs) and behavioural marketing outcomes (purchase intent, satisfaction, and trust), whilst investigating consumers’ age (generation) as a moderator. Methodological Approach: Primary data was collected using convenience sampling. A scenario-based, between-subjects, 2x2 factorial experiment, including the variation of two variables (chatbot type and generation), was conducted to analyse their causal impact on consumer BPP and behaviour respectively. The two independent variables are ‘chatbot type’ and ‘generation’. Findings: In summary, the chatbot framed as a friend led to the BPP of sincerity and the formal chatbot led to competence. Consequently, sincerity contributed mostly to trust and purchase intention while competence contributed mostly to satisfaction. Hence, chatbot type indirectly influenced consumer behaviour outcomes. Sincerity contributed to the highest levels of satisfaction, trust, and purchase intent. Finally, age (generation) had a significant impact on the chatbot interaction-BPP relation.