Purpose

Chatbot users’ communication experience with disembodied conversational agents was compared with instant messaging (IM) users’ communication experience with human conversational agents. The purpose of this paper is to identify what affects users’ intention to reuse and whether they perceive any difference between the two.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model was developed based on computer-mediated communication (CMC) and interpersonal communication theories. Data were collected online from four different continents (North America, Europe, Asia and Australia). Partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to examine the research model.

Findings

The findings mainly reveal that media richness and social presence positively influence trust and reuse intention through task attraction and social attraction; IM users reported significantly higher scores in terms of communication experience, perceived attractiveness of the conversational agent, and trust than chatbot users; users’ trust in the conversational agents is mainly determined by perceived task attraction.

Research limitations/implications

Customers’ evaluation of the communication environment is positively related to their perceived competence of the conversational agent which ultimately affect their intention to reuse chatbot/IM. The findings reveal determinants of chatbot/IM adoption which have rarely been mentioned by previous work.

Practical implications

Practitioners should note that consumers in general still prefer to interact with human conversational agents. Practitioners should contemplate how to combine chatbot and human resources effectively to deliver the best customer service.

Originality/value

This study goes beyond the Computer as Social Actor paradigm and Technology Acceptance Model to understand chatbot and IM adoption. It is among one of the first studies that compare chatbot and IM use experience in the tourism and hospitality literature.

中文翻译：

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聊天机器人与人工服务的比较：客户感知与重用意愿

目的

将聊天机器人用户与非实体对话代理的通信体验与即时消息 (IM) 用户与人类对话代理的通信体验进行了比较。本文的目的是确定影响用户重用意图的因素以及他们是否认为两者之间有任何差异。

设计/方法/方法

基于计算机中介通信 (CMC) 和人际通信理论开发了一个概念模型。数据是从四大洲（北美、欧洲、亚洲和澳大利亚）在线收集的。应用偏最小二乘结构方程模型来检验研究模型。

发现

研究结果主要揭示了媒体丰富度和社会存在通过任务吸引和社会吸引对信任和再利用意愿产生积极影响；IM 用户在交流体验、对话代理的感知吸引力和信任方面的得分明显高于聊天机器人用户；用户对会话代理的信任主要取决于感知到的任务吸引力。

研究限制/影响

客户对通信环境的评价与他们对会话代理的感知能力呈正相关，最终影响他们重用聊天机器人/IM 的意图。调查结果揭示了聊天机器人/IM 采用的决定因素，这些因素以前的工作很少提及。

实际影响

从业者应该注意到，一般而言，消费者仍然更喜欢与人类对话代理进行交互。从业者应该考虑如何有效地结合聊天机器人和人力资源来提供最好的客户服务。

原创性/价值

这项研究超越了计算机作为社交参与者的范式和技术接受模型，以了解聊天机器人和 IM 的采用。这是在旅游和酒店文献中比较聊天机器人和 IM 使用体验的首批研究之一。