IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p3974-d781135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Artificial Intelligence Better than Manpower? The Effects of Different Types of Online Customer Services on Customer Purchase Intentions

Author

Listed:
  • Min Qin

    (Research Center of Management Science and Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
    School of Software, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

  • Wei Zhu

    (Research Center of Management Science and Engineering, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China
    School of Software, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

  • Shiyue Zhao

    (School of Software, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

  • Yu Zhao

    (School of Software, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China)

Abstract

Artificial intelligence has been widely applied to e-commerce and the online business service field. However, few studies have focused on studying the differences in the effects of types of customer service on customer purchase intentions. Based on service encounter theory and superposition theory, we designed two shopping experiments to capture customers’ thoughts and feelings, in order to explore the differences in the effects of three different types of online customer service (AI customer service, manual customer service, and human–machine collaboration customer service) on customer purchase intention, and analyses the superposition effect of human–machine collaboration customer service. The results show that the consumer’s perceived service quality positively influences the customer’s purchase intention, and plays a mediating role in the effect of different types of online customer service on customer purchase intention; the product type plays a moderating role in the relationship between online customer service and customer purchase intention, and human–machine collaboration customer service has a superposition effect. This study helped to deepen the understanding of AI developers and e-commerce platforms regarding the application of AI in online business service, and provides reference suggestions for the formulation of more perfect business service strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Min Qin & Wei Zhu & Shiyue Zhao & Yu Zhao, 2022. "Is Artificial Intelligence Better than Manpower? The Effects of Different Types of Online Customer Services on Customer Purchase Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3974-:d:781135
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3974/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3974/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Song, Mengmeng & Xing, Xinyu & Duan, Yucong & Cohen, Jason & Mou, Jian, 2022. "Will artificial intelligence replace human customer service? The impact of communication quality and privacy risks on adoption intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Klein, Lisa R., 1998. "Evaluating the Potential of Interactive Media through a New Lens: Search versus Experience Goods," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 195-203, March.
    3. Fang Cai & Yang Lu, 2016. "Take-off, Persistence and Sustainability: The Demographic Factor in Chinese Growth," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 203-225, May.
    4. Martin Adam & Michael Wessel & Alexander Benlian, 2021. "AI-based chatbots in customer service and their effects on user compliance," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(2), pages 427-445, June.
    5. Amanda Beatson & Nick Lee & Leonard V. Coote, 2007. "Self-Service Technology and the Service Encounter," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 75-89, January.
    6. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    7. Chung, Minjee & Ko, Eunju & Joung, Heerim & Kim, Sang Jin, 2020. "Chatbot e-service and customer satisfaction regarding luxury brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 587-595.
    8. Fang Cai and Yang Lu, 2016. "Take-off, Persistence and Sustainability: The Demographic Factor in Chinese Growth," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 201618, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    9. Xueming Luo & Siliang Tong & Zheng Fang & Zhe Qu, 2019. "Frontiers: Machines vs. Humans: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Disclosure on Customer Purchases," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(6), pages 937-947, November.
    10. Thomas Davenport & Abhijit Guha & Dhruv Grewal & Timna Bressgott, 2020. "How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 24-42, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nazir, Sajjad & Khadim, Sahar & Ali Asadullah, Muhammad & Syed, Nausheen, 2023. "Exploring the influence of artificial intelligence technology on consumer repurchase intention: The mediation and moderation approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Darima Fotheringham & Michael A. Wiles, 2023. "The effect of implementing chatbot customer service on stock returns: an event study analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 802-822, July.
    2. Baabdullah, Abdullah M. & Alalwan, Ali Abdallah & Algharabat, Raed S. & Metri, Bhimaraya & Rana, Nripendra P., 2022. "Virtual agents and flow experience: An empirical examination of AI-powered chatbots," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    3. Li, Meichan & Wang, Rui, 2023. "Chatbots in e-commerce: The effect of chatbot language style on customers’ continuance usage intention and attitude toward brand," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Li, Chia-Ying & Zhang, Jin-Ting, 2023. "Chatbots or me? Consumers’ switching between human agents and conversational agents," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Justina Sidlauskiene & Yannick Joye & Vilte Auruskeviciene, 2023. "AI-based chatbots in conversational commerce and their effects on product and price perceptions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Kamoonpuri, Sana Zehra & Sengar, Anita, 2023. "Hi, May AI help you? An analysis of the barriers impeding the implementation and use of artificial intelligence-enabled virtual assistants in retail," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Mariani, Marcello M. & Hashemi, Novin & Wirtz, Jochen, 2023. "Artificial intelligence empowered conversational agents: A systematic literature review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Song, Mengmeng & Zhang, Huixian & Xing, Xinyu & Duan, Yucong, 2023. "Appreciation vs. apology: Research on the influence mechanism of chatbot service recovery based on politeness theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Huang, Yu-Shan (Sandy) & Dootson, Paula, 2022. "Chatbots and service failure: When does it lead to customer aggression," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Wang, Cuicui & Li, Yiyang & Fu, Weizhong & Jin, Jia, 2023. "Whether to trust chatbots: Applying the event-related approach to understand consumers’ emotional experiences in interactions with chatbots in e-commerce," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Rizomyliotis, Ioannis & Kastanakis, Minas N. & Giovanis, Apostolos & Konstantoulaki, Kleopatra & Kostopoulos, Ioannis, 2022. "“How mAy I help you today?” The use of AI chatbots in small family businesses and the moderating role of customer affective commitment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 329-340.
    12. Song, Mengmeng & Xing, Xinyu & Duan, Yucong & Cohen, Jason & Mou, Jian, 2022. "Will artificial intelligence replace human customer service? The impact of communication quality and privacy risks on adoption intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Leah Warfield Smith & Randall Lee Rose & Alex R. Zablah & Heath McCullough & Mohammad “Mike” Saljoughian, 2023. "Examining post-purchase consumer responses to product automation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 530-550, May.
    14. Zhu, Yimin & Zhang, Jiemin & Wu, Jifei & Liu, Yingyue, 2022. "AI is better when I'm sure: The influence of certainty of needs on consumers' acceptance of AI chatbots," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 642-652.
    15. Jana Holthöwer & Jenny Doorn, 2023. "Robots do not judge: service robots can alleviate embarrassment in service encounters," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 767-784, July.
    16. Roggeveen, Anne L. & Grewal, Dhruv & Karsberg, John & Noble, Stephanie M. & Nordfält, Jens & Patrick, Vanessa M. & Schweiger, Elisa & Soysal, Gonca & Dillard, Annemarie & Cooper, Nora & Olson, Richard, 2021. "Forging meaningful consumer-brand relationships through creative merchandise offerings and innovative merchandising strategies," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 81-98.
    17. Peng, Leiqing & Luo, Mengting & Guo, Yulang, 2023. "Deposit AI as the “invisible hand†to make the resale easier: A moderated mediation model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    18. Lin Li & Kyung Young Lee & Emmanuel Emokpae & Sung-Byung Yang, 2021. "What makes you continuously use chatbot services? Evidence from chinese online travel agencies," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 31(3), pages 575-599, September.
    19. Guha, Abhijit & Grewal, Dhruv & Kopalle, Praveen K. & Haenlein, Michael & Schneider, Matthew J. & Jung, Hyunseok & Moustafa, Rida & Hegde, Dinesh R. & Hawkins, Gary, 2021. "How artificial intelligence will affect the future of retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 28-41.
    20. Zhang, Yaqiong & Wang, Shifu, 2023. "The influence of anthropomorphic appearance of artificial intelligence products on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different product types," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3974-:d:781135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.