Abstract
Does fear of COVID-19 shape consumers’ tendency to anthropomorphize chatbots? To answer this question, this paper analyzed data from a survey of 377 US participants. Grounded in the three-factor theory of anthropomorphism, our results showed that fear of COVID-19 increases consumers’ tendency to imbue chatbots with human-like characteristics, which in turn leads to increased intention to use chatbot-powered mobile apps. In addition, our results also showed that consumers’ sensation-seeking (versus pragmatism-seeking) tendency toward using mobile apps moderated the indirect effect of fear on intention to use via perceived anthropomorphism. Our findings provide both theoretical and practical implications, especially with the recent call for utilizing chatbots in customer service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Dinh, CM., Park, S.S. (2022). Humanizing Chatbots: The Effect of Fear from the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Martínez-López, F.J., Martinez, L.F. (eds) Advances in Digital Marketing and eCommerce. DMEC 2022. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05728-1_4
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