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AI-Based Coaching: Impact of a Chatbot’s Disclosure Behavior on the Working Alliance and Acceptance

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HCI International 2022 – Late Breaking Papers: Interacting with eXtended Reality and Artificial Intelligence (HCII 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13518))

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Abstract

Chatbots are increasingly used as digital self-coaching tools in various fields. One area of application is in higher education. Here, coaching chatbots can accompany and support students’ self-reflection processes. For the present study, a coaching chatbot on the topic of exam anxiety was developed within the Conversational AI framework Rasa, which is intended to enable low-threshold engagement with students’ exam anxiety through solution- and resource-oriented questions. In the study, the disclosure behavior of a chatbot (self-disclosure, information disclosure, no disclosure) was varied in order to draw conclusions about acceptance and working alliance in chatbot coaching. Studies show that self-disclosure and/or information disclosure of a chatbot can have a positive effect on working alliance-like constructs like rapport. The online experiment included chatbot coaching and a subsequent survey. 201 subjects participated in the three experimental conditions. Technical functionality, acceptance, and working alliance were moderate to good in all three experimental groups. The subjects were willing to engage in interaction with the chatbot. However, no statistically significant differences can be demonstrated between the three experimental groups. Self-disclosure, information disclosure, or no disclosure do not seem to have an impact on the acceptance and working alliance between user and chatbot in the use case of student coaching on exam anxiety. The results provide an important complement to previous studies on (self-)disclosure and lead to further research questions about effectiveness factors in chatbot coaching. One focus will be on exploring context. The conversation and contextual design are subject to further investigations and improvements.

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Acknowledgments

This journal contribution is based on a project carried out as part of the module “Research Seminar” in the master's program Mechanical Engineering at TH Köln/University of Applied Sciences. We kindly thank the master’s students/our fellow students Laura Nehler, Pascal Bieker and Simon Froitzheim for carrying out this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TH Köln/University of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany

    Vanessa Mai, Alexander Bauer, Christian Deggelmann, Caterina Neef & Anja Richert

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  1. Vanessa Mai
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  2. Alexander Bauer
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  3. Christian Deggelmann
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  4. Caterina Neef
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  5. Anja Richert
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Correspondence to Vanessa Mai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD, USA

    Jessie Y. C. Chen

  2. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Orlando, FL, USA

    Gino Fragomeni

  3. Siemens (United States), Princeton, NJ, USA

    Helmut Degen

  4. Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Stavroula Ntoa

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Mai, V., Bauer, A., Deggelmann, C., Neef, C., Richert, A. (2022). AI-Based Coaching: Impact of a Chatbot’s Disclosure Behavior on the Working Alliance and Acceptance. In: Chen, J.Y.C., Fragomeni, G., Degen, H., Ntoa, S. (eds) HCI International 2022 – Late Breaking Papers: Interacting with eXtended Reality and Artificial Intelligence. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13518. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21707-4_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21707-4_28

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