Research On The Factors Influencing Consumers’ Intention To Utilize And Intention To Explore AI-chatbots In The Context Of E-commerce

The increasing transaction volume of e-commerce has brought great pressure on the traditional manual customer service,and also provided opportunities for AI-Chatbots.The total amount of e-commerce transactions conducted through AI-Chatbots around the world is soaring.However,many consumers have low willingness to use AI-Chatbots.In previous studies on the utilization rate of AI-Chatbots,functional elements were the elements that researchers valued as affecting consumers’ use of AI-Chatbots.However,as a social entity that interacts with consumers,the social elements of AI-Chatbots should also be taken into consideration.This paper explores consumer behavior from the perspective of the Stimulus-Organism-Response(SOR)framework and combines relationship-oriented/task-oriented and use/exploration-related research to construct a model for exploring the elements that affect consumers’ use of AI-Chatbots.The model reveals how social elements affect consumers’ perceived intimacy and perceived intelligence evaluation of AI-Chatbots.This study used a questionnaire survey as the empirical research method and used Smart PLS3.0 as the structural equation analysis software.Following the mesaurement model test,this study tested the hypotheses in the structural equation model.Finally,the empirical results of 302 valid questionnaires showed that the three dimensions of social elements,perceived humanness,social interaction,and social presence,all have a positive impact on perceived intimacy,while perceived humanness and social presence also have a positive effect on perceived intelligence.The improvement of consumers’ perceived intimacy with AI-Chatbots will strengthen their willingness to use and explore it,while the improvement of consumers’ perceived intelligence of AI-Chatbots only enhances their willingness to use it.This study constructed a model of the impact mechanism of social elements on consumers’ use and exploration of AI-Chatbots in AI-Chatbots design by reviewing relevant theories and literature.It also explored the moderating effect of consumers’ demand for interpersonal interaction.This study not only enriched the theoretical research but also provided constructive guidelines for practitioners.