Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment
Previous studies have found that individuals react differently to online customer service interactions with chatbots than human agents. However, it remains unclear which agent is more effective at mitigating negative consumer evaluations in the context of service failures. This article explores whet...
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| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000204 |
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| author | Na Cai Jeakang Heo Jinzhe Yan |
| author_facet | Na Cai Jeakang Heo Jinzhe Yan |
| author_sort | Na Cai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have found that individuals react differently to online customer service interactions with chatbots than human agents. However, it remains unclear which agent is more effective at mitigating negative consumer evaluations in the context of service failures. This article explores whether online customer service agents, informed by social perception theory, can influence consumer evaluations by simulating service failure scenarios for future reference. In this study, human participants responded to a service failure interaction task with the Wizard-of-Oz method. This study conducted the pretest to verify the validity of stimuli and the main experiment to verify the proposed hypotheses. Results indicated that participants in human conditions were more likely to mitigate negative evaluations brought about by service failures, while a chatbot aggravated this negative effect. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics between online chatbots and human agents in the context of service failures. Interactions with human agents can mitigate consumers' negative evaluations of services, as human agents are perceived to demonstrate higher competence than chatbots. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e4a6d42f0fc84dccaf15dc9ec72b0dfe |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-e4a6d42f0fc84dccaf15dc9ec72b0dfe2025-08-20T02:13:48ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-03-0125310470710.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104707Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experimentNa Cai0Jeakang Heo1Jinzhe Yan2Shandong Agriculture and Engineering University, ChinaSKK Business School, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea; Corresponding authors.College of Business, Gachon University, Republic of Korea; Corresponding authors.Previous studies have found that individuals react differently to online customer service interactions with chatbots than human agents. However, it remains unclear which agent is more effective at mitigating negative consumer evaluations in the context of service failures. This article explores whether online customer service agents, informed by social perception theory, can influence consumer evaluations by simulating service failure scenarios for future reference. In this study, human participants responded to a service failure interaction task with the Wizard-of-Oz method. This study conducted the pretest to verify the validity of stimuli and the main experiment to verify the proposed hypotheses. Results indicated that participants in human conditions were more likely to mitigate negative evaluations brought about by service failures, while a chatbot aggravated this negative effect. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics between online chatbots and human agents in the context of service failures. Interactions with human agents can mitigate consumers' negative evaluations of services, as human agents are perceived to demonstrate higher competence than chatbots.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000204Agency typePerceived competencePerceived warmthText-based interactionExpectancy violations |
| spellingShingle | Na Cai Jeakang Heo Jinzhe Yan Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment Acta Psychologica Agency type Perceived competence Perceived warmth Text-based interaction Expectancy violations |
| title | Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment |
| title_full | Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment |
| title_fullStr | Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment |
| title_short | Understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures: Evidence from a Wizard-of-Oz experiment |
| title_sort | understanding consumer reactions to chatbot service failures evidence from a wizard of oz experiment |
| topic | Agency type Perceived competence Perceived warmth Text-based interaction Expectancy violations |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000204 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nacai understandingconsumerreactionstochatbotservicefailuresevidencefromawizardofozexperiment AT jeakangheo understandingconsumerreactionstochatbotservicefailuresevidencefromawizardofozexperiment AT jinzheyan understandingconsumerreactionstochatbotservicefailuresevidencefromawizardofozexperiment |