Siri, Alexa, and Other Digital Assistants: A Study of Customer Satisfaction With Artificial Intelligence Applications

Siri, Alexa, and other digital assistants are rapidly becoming embraced by consumers and the adoption is projected to grow from 390 million to 1.8 billion for the period of 2015 to 2021. Digital assistants are offering benefits to consumers while also proving to be a disruptive technology for businesses. Coupling digital assistants with other artificial intelligence technologies offers the potential to transform companies by creating more efficient business processes, automating complex tasks, and improving the customer service experience. Businesses have begun integrating this technology into their operations with the expectation of achieving significant productivity gains. Customer satisfaction has been discussed extensively throughout marketing literature. Yet, there is little empirical evidence of customer satisfaction with digital assistants. This study used PLS-SEM to analyze 244 survey responses obtained from a cross-section of consumers. Using the Expectations Confirmation Theory as its foundation, the study identified that expectations and confirmation of expectations substantially explained customer satisfaction with digital assistants. For practice, the study provides guidance which allows firms to prioritize marketing and managerial activities. Firms should focus priorities on assisting digital assistant users to become aware of new skill capabilities while also providing relevant examples of how these skills can be used to meet user needs. In addition, priorities should be focused on assisting users with understanding how the average person can use digital assistants to perform more than just mundane tasks with relative ease. These priorities were identified as areas of high importance for customer satisfaction and require performance improvements

Determinants of consumers' perceived trust in IT-ecosystems

Digital ecosystems, or IT-ecosystems (ITEs), are composed of multiple and independent entities such as individuals, organizations, services, software, and applications. Together, these elements create a number of new independent systems that operate and communicate with their own infrastructure (man to machine; machine to machine; person to person), sharing one or several missions. A better understanding of how ITEs and their interconnected components create benefits and added value for different types of consumers is of particular importance to the establishment of digital environments and to managing their resources. Considering different components of perceived trust in ITEs, we rely in this paper on a multi-dimensional framework of trust effects that includes system-centric as well as user-centric determinants of trust. Based on our conceptual model, we develop two sets of propositions. The first ones address technological drivers of trust in ITEs, whereas the second set of propositions considers individual as well as social drivers of trust. The model and propositions are discussed with reference to preliminary empirical results as well as to future research steps and business implications

A Study to Assess Users’ Preferences for Intelligent Personal Assistance and Improve their Mass Adoption

Despite the dissemination and wide availability of Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA), such systems have not reached the popularity expected. One reason for this is the users\u27 lack of trust in IPA and their providers. Another reason is the IPA\u27s limited performance and skill set, which in turn is due to the intentional segregation of IPAs in proprietary ecosystems. Enabling IPAs to communicate and exchange data with each other could help IPAs improve performance and thus their acceptance among users. Further, certifications and suitable marketing strategies can also contribute towards their mass adop-tion, by fostering user\u27s trust in IPA and their providers. To better understand the incentives necessary to instigate mass adoption of interoperable IPAs, this paper presents a survey which captures the po-tential users\u27 attitude towards interoperable IPAs and their attitude towards different marketing strate-gies which could increase users’ trust in IPAs. The ultimate purpose of this ongoing research is to develop design recommendations and an efficient incentive system that can foster the mass adoption of IPAs

What facilitates consumers accepting service robots? A conceptual framework

Confronting with an increasing number of robots swarming into service industries to replace human personnel, studies regarding what drives consumers to use service robots leave to be, unfortunately, still fragmented. Motivated by this, based on a content analysis of the existing studies, this paper establishes a conceptual framework to comprehend the current literature for in-depth understanding concerning customer attitude and their intention to use service robots. Drawing upon a triangulation of perspectives on end-user (i.e., technology user, consumer, and network member) in adoption research, this framework adopts technology acceptance theories, service quality, and expectancy-value theory to set up the skeleton. Furthermore, the antecedents impacting customer acceptance of service robots are subdivided into robot-design, consumer-oriented, relational components, as well as exogenous factors. This paper not only elaborates on the present situation of service robot acceptance research but also promotes it by developing a comprehensive framework regarding the effect factors

Neither friend, nor device: the role of personal epistemologies in communication with smart speakers

With smart speakers diffusing into society, artificial intelligence is moving from the imaginative reservoirs of dystopian storytelling into vernacular living. How do users perceive communication with it? Are Alexa and Siri considered simple devices, sentient assistants, or even artificial friends? Based on nine qualitative interviews with former smart speaker users in Germany, this study analyzes smart speaker use and related personal epistemologies within a media repertoire perspective. By presenting six interrelated action-guiding principles explaining smart speaker use and people’s ambivalent sensemaking, we argue that smart speakers appear neither as friends nor as mere neutral devices to their users. The identified principles explain the peripheral role of smart speakers within media repertoires as handy but suspicious gimmicks. For future smart speaker adoption, whether smart assistants are interpreted as simple-minded, exploitative gimmicks or relevant, reliable, and trustworthy companions will be crucial

“Hey Siri, how much do you know about me?”: Intelligent Virtual Assistants and the dilemma between commodity and privacy

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Marketing IntelligenceArtificial Intelligence has been gaining ground over time, and Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) are no exception, as people realize that they can be using the time and effort spend on daily tasks, more efficiently, by trusting them to these technological auxiliaries. IVAs are being used by people all over the world to change channels, play songs, turn up the volume, reading text messages and emails, calling someone or even grocery shopping when something’s missing, among many other purposes. However, previous studies show that the concerns with data privacy from using these emerging technologies is growing, since in order to work, these AI assistants need constant access to the devices’ microphones, cameras or even locations. Faced with this dilemma, what weights the most on the scale: The users’ commodity, or their information’s privacy and security? In this research, we used PLS-SEM in order to analyze the barriers and drivers that people take into consideration when having to choose if they would use or not Intelligent Virtual Assistants, and what influences this decision, based on four variables: Familiarity, Trust, Satisfaction and Privacy. Our findings conclude that consumers decidedly value their commodity, having familiarity and satisfaction influencing positively the intentions of use, and having satisfaction being highly influenced by trust. At the same time, it also shows that privacy is an inhibitor to many consumers, affecting negatively the usage perception, as expected

Exploring the factors that influence trust in voice assistants in the DACH Region

Voice assistants (VAs) have gained popularity in recent years due to advances in artificial intelli gence, natural language processing, and the internet of things. Despite their potential to revolu tionize human-technology interactions, the adoption of VAs has been limited by concerns about privacy and trust. To better understand how to address these barriers, this study aims to identify the factors influencing trust in VAs and explore ways to improve trust. Four hypotheses were formulated based on existing literature and user interviews: H1, brand trust has a positive impact on overall trust in VAs; H2, hedonic value perception has a positive effect on general trust in VAs; H2a, hedonic value perception has a more significant impact on general trust in VAs than utilitar ian value perception; and H3, older adults have more trust in VAs compared to other age groups. A survey of participants from the DACH region was conducted and analyzed, confirming H1, H2, and H3 but negating H2a. These findings highlight the importance of brand trust and hedonic value perception in building trust in VAs and suggest that older adults may be more trusting of the technology.Os assistentes de voz (VAs) ganharam popularidade nos últimos anos devido aos avanços na inteligência artificial, no processamento da linguagem natural, e na Internet das coisas. Apesar do seu potencial para revogar as interacções humano-tecnologia, a adopção de assistentes de voz tem sido limitada por preocupações sobre privacidade e confiança. Para melhor compreender como abordar estas barreiras, este estudo visa identificar os factores que influenciam a confiança nos VAs e explorar formas de melhorar a confiança. Quatro hipóteses foram formuladas com base na literatura existente e em entrevistas a utilizadores: H1, a confiança na marca tem um impacto positivo na confiança global em VAs; H2, a percepção do valor hedónico tem um impacto positivo na confiança geral em VAs; H2a, a percepção do valor hedónico tem um impacto maior na confiança geral em VAs do que a percepção do valor utilitário; e H3, os adultos mais velhos têm mais confiança em VAs em comparação com outros grupos etários. Foi realizado e analisado um inquérito aos participantes da região DACH, confirmando H1, H2, e H3, mas negando H2a. Estes resultados salientam a importância da confiança na marca e da percepção do valor hedónico na construção da confiança em VAs e sugerem que os adultos mais velhos podem ter mais confiança na tecnologia