The development of self-service technologies, while intended to better serve customers by offering them autonomy, has created situations in which individuals may require additional help. The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of chat as an assistance channel, to identify its perceived role in a customer service environment.,In all, 23 semi-structured interviews held with both chat and non-chat users assessed perceptions of chat in an assistance encounter. A thematic analysis was used.,The findings highlight a paradoxical perception of chat in a customer assistance context. On the one hand, customers perceive live chat as mainly beneficial in a customer service context, alleviating embarrassment, perceived threats and potential dissatisfaction linked to assistance requests. On the other hand, the elusive nature of a chat conversation interlocutor (human or artificial) adversely affects how customers interpret assistance from companies.,This research underscores the perceived threats of assistance encounters and shows the ambivalent role of chat in such a context. It also highlights chat’s specific features that make it a relevant medium for assistance requests.,This study helps companies better understand customers’ perceptions of assistance requests and chat in that context. Companies can use the findings to develop better ways to address assistance needs and offer transparent and fully personalized human chat to provide an inclusive service.,This paper highlights the ambivalent role of chat as an assistance channel, easing assistance requests but also entailing a potential negative spillover effect, when negative chat perceptions of an artificial interlocutor have consequences.

中文翻译：

---

是敌是友？作为双刃剑聊天以协助客户

自助服务技术的发展旨在通过向客户提供自主权来更好地为客户提供服务，但这种情况造成了个人可能需要更多帮助的情况。本文的目的是探索聊天作为辅助渠道的认知，以识别其在客户服务环境中的作用。总共，对聊天和非聊天用户进行的23次半结构化访谈评估了聊天中的聊天感知。协助遇到。使用了主题分析。这些发现突出了客户支持环境中对聊天的悖论理解。一方面，客户将实时聊天视为对客户服务的主要好处，从而减轻了与协助请求相关的尴尬，感知到的威胁和潜在的不满。另一方面，聊天对话对话者（人为或人为的）难以捉摸的性质会对客户如何解释公司的援助产生不利影响。这项研究强调了援助遭遇的感知威胁，并显示了在这种情况下聊天的模棱两可的作用。它还强调了聊天的特殊功能，使聊天成为帮助请求的相关媒介。此研究可帮助公司更好地了解客户对援助请求的了解，并在这种情况下进行聊天。公司可以利用这些发现来开发更好的方式来满足援助需求，并提供透明且完全个性化的人类聊天以提供包容性服务。溢出效应，