The role of perceived social presence in online shopping : The effects of chatbot appearance on perceived social presence, satisfaction and purchase intention

These days, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere: on mobile phones, the Internet, and even in some everyday household items. It transformed consumers’ everyday life, including how they interact with organizations. Consequently, big brands increasingly implement intelligent chatbots to automate the online interaction with their customers to increase satisfaction and to reduce costs. Due to the distant nature of an online environment, feelings of social presence have been quite hard to convey. Based on the social response theory, chatbots seem an excellent instrument to address the lack of interpersonal interaction and to exhibit feelings of social presence. Using an experimental 2x3 research design with actual chatbots, this study explores the extent to which chatbot appearance and task complexity can influence perceptions of social presence. Moreover, this study examines the relevance of chatbot appearance, task complexity and social presence to important designer- and organizational-related outcomes, such as satisfaction and purchase intention. Data is collected with an online survey among 135 respondents.