The DOI matches its Crossref record; 85 of the 85 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Whether to trust chatbots: Applying the event-related approach to understand consumers’ emotional experiences in interactions with chatbots in e-commerce
Abstract
Chatbots can be used in marketing services to substantially improve the consumer experience. Based on cognitive appraisal theory, this study applied an event-related potential (ERP) approach to investigate consumers’ emotional experiences and consumer trust in passive interaction with chatbots versus humans, taking into account objective or subjective tasks in e-commerce. The results showed that chatbot (vs. human) service interactions automatically drew more consumer attention at the subconscious stage (i.e., a larger P2); consumers purposefully allocated more resources to regulate the negative emotions elicited by chatbots at the conscious stage (i.e., a larger LPP); and there was a lower trust in chatbots than in humans. Moreover, under subjective tasks, the differences between chatbots and human agents in emotional experience (as reflected by LPP) and trust were amplified. The findings will encourage e-retailers to improve the emotional service experience of their chatbots and prioritize the application of chatbots for objective tasks in customer service.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Wang, C., Li, Y., Fu, W., & Jin, J.
- Affiliations
- Hefei University of Technology (CN)
- Shanghai International Studies University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Fu, Weizhong
- Jin, Jia
- Venue
- Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-07
- Volume
- 73
- Pages
- 103325
- ISSN
- 0969-6989 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4323671075
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 17
- FWCI
- 11.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (20YJAZH098)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (72271166, 2022KFKT003)
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JS2020HGXJ0032)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › AI in Service Interactions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Keywords
- chatbots, consumer trust, emotional experience, event-related potentials, appraisal theory, P2 component, e-commerce customer service, emotion regulation, e-retailers
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