Social Actor or Technology? Experimental Studies on the Perception of Chatbots Versus Humans and Their Implications for Anthropomorphic Chatbot Design
Research output: Books and anthologies › Dissertations
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Lüneburg: Medien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 2024. 275 p.
Research output: Books and anthologies › Dissertations
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TY - BOOK
T1 - Social Actor or Technology? Experimental Studies on the Perception of Chatbots Versus Humans and Their Implications for Anthropomorphic Chatbot Design
AU - Seitz, Lennart
PY - 2024/5/27
Y1 - 2024/5/27
N2 - Advancements in AI and natural language processing have enabled chatbots to engage in highly human-like conversations. Additionally, many chatbots are intentionally equipped with various social cues, such as human avatars, to further enhance their human-like appearance. While most existing research highlights the social and beneficial perception of humanized chatbots, this thesis critically examines potential limitations. Through three empirical papers applying both qualitative and quantitative methods, this thesis demonstrates that users typically enter chatbot interactions with computer-like cognitive schemas, leading to different expectations compared to interactions with humans. For instance, users might expect chatbots to respond quickly, objectively, and without emotion. Social cues that clearly conflict with these expectations (e.g., empathetic expressions or response delays) can have adverse effects on central outcome dimensions like perceived authenticity, perceived usefulness, trust, and usage intentions. However, results provide evidence that these effects are moderated by individual and contextual factors, such as the user's inherent tendency to anthropomorphize chatbots. This thesis thus contributes to the ongoing debate on the (non-)social nature of chatbots by providing numerous theoretical insights and practical implications for anthropomorphic chatbot design. It also outlines future research directions and discusses emerging ethical challenges related to AI and chatbots, considering their societal impact and the potential rapid obsolescence of research findings.
AB - Advancements in AI and natural language processing have enabled chatbots to engage in highly human-like conversations. Additionally, many chatbots are intentionally equipped with various social cues, such as human avatars, to further enhance their human-like appearance. While most existing research highlights the social and beneficial perception of humanized chatbots, this thesis critically examines potential limitations. Through three empirical papers applying both qualitative and quantitative methods, this thesis demonstrates that users typically enter chatbot interactions with computer-like cognitive schemas, leading to different expectations compared to interactions with humans. For instance, users might expect chatbots to respond quickly, objectively, and without emotion. Social cues that clearly conflict with these expectations (e.g., empathetic expressions or response delays) can have adverse effects on central outcome dimensions like perceived authenticity, perceived usefulness, trust, and usage intentions. However, results provide evidence that these effects are moderated by individual and contextual factors, such as the user's inherent tendency to anthropomorphize chatbots. This thesis thus contributes to the ongoing debate on the (non-)social nature of chatbots by providing numerous theoretical insights and practical implications for anthropomorphic chatbot design. It also outlines future research directions and discusses emerging ethical challenges related to AI and chatbots, considering their societal impact and the potential rapid obsolescence of research findings.
KW - Digital media
KW - Chatbot
KW - Conversational Agent
KW - Chatbot
KW - Conversational Agent
KW - Management studies
KW - Service Provision
KW - Marketing
KW - Marketing
KW - Service Provision
KW - Service robots
KW - Media and communication studies
KW - Social Response Theory
KW - Social Response Theory
KW - Expectancy violations theory
KW - Psychology
KW - Anthropomorphism
KW - Schema theory
KW - Empathy
KW - Social cognition
KW - Anthropomorphism
KW - Schema theory
KW - Empathy
KW - Mind Perception Theory
KW - Business informatics
KW - Technology Acceptance Model
KW - Künstliche Intelligenz
KW - Technology Acceptance Model
KW - Information Systems
KW - Business psychology
KW - Health sciences
KW - E-health
KW - Digital health
KW - E-health
KW - Digital health
U2 - 10.48548/pubdata-985
DO - 10.48548/pubdata-985
M3 - Dissertations
BT - Social Actor or Technology? Experimental Studies on the Perception of Chatbots Versus Humans and Their Implications for Anthropomorphic Chatbot Design
PB - Medien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
CY - Lüneburg
ER -