Resolving the Chatbot Disclosure Dilemma: Leveraging Selective Self-Presentation to Mitigate the Negative Effect of Chatbot Disclosure

Chatbots are increasingly able to pose as humans. However, this does not hold true if their identity is explicitly disclosed to users—a practice that will become a legal obligation for many service providers in the imminent future. Previous studies hint at a chatbot disclosure dilemma in that disclosing the non-human identity of chatbots comes at the cost of negative user responses. As these responses are commonly attributed to reduced trust in algorithms, this research examines how the detrimental impact of chatbot disclosure on trust can be buffered. Based on computer-mediated communication theory, the authors demonstrate that the chatbot disclosure dilemma can be resolved if disclosure is paired with selective presentation of the chatbot’s capabilities. Study results show that while merely disclosing (vs. not disclosing) chatbot identity does reduce trust, pairing chatbot disclosure with selectively presented information on the chatbot’s expertise or weaknesses is able to mitigate this negative effect

Gamified Digital Services: How Gameful Experiences Drive Continued Service Usage

Recently, many digital service providers started to gamify their services to promote continued service usage. Although gamification has drawn attention in both practice and research, it remains unclear how users experience gamified services and how these gameful experiences may increase service usage. This research adopts a user-centered perspective to reveal the underlying gameful experience dimensions during gamified service usage and how they drive continued service usage. Findings from Study 1 - a survey with 148 app-users - reveal four essential gameful experience dimensions (skill development, social comparison, social connectedness, and expressive freedom) and how they relate to game mechanics. Study 2, which is based on a survey among 821 app-users, shows that gameful experiences trigger continued service usage through two different types of motivation, namely autonomous and controlled motivation

Claim success, but blame the bot? User reactions to service failure and recovery in interactions with humanoid service robots

Service robots are changing the nature of service delivery in the digital economy. However, frequently occurring service failures represent a great challenge to achieve service robot acceptance. To understand how different service outcomes in interactions with service robots affect usage intentions, this research investigates (1) how users attribute failures committed by humanoid service robots and (2) whether responsibility attribution varies depending on service robot design. In a 3 (success vs. failure vs. failure with recovery) ✕ 2 (warm vs. competent service robot design) between-subject online experiment, this research finds evidence for the self-serving bias in a service robot context, that is, attributing successes to oneself, but blaming others for failures. This effect emerges independently from service robot design. Furthermore, recovery through human intervention can mitigate consequences of failure only for robots with warm design. The authors discuss consequences for applications of humanoid service robots and implications for further research

A Comparison of Mathematical Models for Polarization of Single Eukaryotic Cells in Response to Guided Cues

Polarization, a primary step in the response of an individual eukaryotic cell to a spatial stimulus, has attracted numerous theoretical treatments complementing experimental studies in a variety of cell types. While the phenomenon itself is universal, details differ across cell types, and across classes of models that have been proposed. Most models address how symmetry breaking leads to polarization, some in abstract settings, others based on specific biochemistry. Here, we compare polarization in response to a stimulus (e.g., a chemoattractant) in cells typically used in experiments (yeast, amoebae, leukocytes, keratocytes, fibroblasts, and neurons), and, in parallel, responses of several prototypical models to typical stimulation protocols. We find that the diversity of cell behaviors is reflected by a diversity of models, and that some, but not all models, can account for amplification of stimulus, maintenance of polarity, adaptation, sensitivity to new signals, and robustness

The Chatbot Disclosure Dilemma: Desirable and Undesirable Effects of Disclosing the Non-Human Identity of Chatbots

Fueled by recent technological advancements, chatbots are more frequently used in the online customer service landscape. As chatbots are more and more capable to pose as humans, the question for firms arises whether they should disclose their chatbots’ non-human identity or not. While identity disclosure seems to be the intuitive approach as it promotes transparency, previous research shows that disclosure comes at the cost of lower interaction efficiency, as many consumers today are still skeptical towards chatbots. This research adds to solving this chatbot disclosure dilemma by considering the mediating role of trust in the conversational partner and service-related context factors to understand the repercussions of chatbot disclosure for customer retention. Results of two scenario-based experimental studies show that depending on service context, chatbot disclosure does not only have negative consequences, but can lead to positive outcomes as well

AI and the Vulnerable

Firms increasingly deploy artificial intelligence (AI) based agents for service delivery. While extant research suggests that consumers are oftentimes reluctant to rely on AI agents and prefer human agents, this short paper suggests that for vulnerable consumers the opposite should be the case. The authors theorize that vulnerable consumers make inferences about whether an agent is likely to devalue them in the service interaction. As AI agents are attributed inferior mental abilities than human agents, vulnerable consumers should deem them less capable of social devaluation, resulting in favorable firm-related and consumer-related outcomes. However, if an AI agent is anthropomorphized, the preference for AI agents should diminish or even disappear fully. Therefore, in light of consumer vulnerability, the taken-for-granted assumption of the more human-like, the better may not hold. The authors present the conceptual framework, derive research propositions and discuss the planned empirical studies and contributions

That’s so Embarrassing! When not to Design for Social Presence in Human–Chatbot Interactions

Consumers increasingly rely on chatbots when interacting with firms. This is not only because it is convenient, but also because consumers do not feel judged by these artificial conversational agents. However, when compared to interacting with human employees, interactions with chatbots lack human warmth and sociability. To facilitate these social experiences, firms design their chatbots to convey social presence. Prior research shows that once perceptions of social presence are elicited, consumers’ intentions to use the chatbot increase. However, the present work questions whether designing for social presence is always desirable by spotlighting settings in which the topic of the interaction is perceived as embarrassing by consumers. A scenario experiment shows that while designing for social presence by concealing the chatbot’s identity increases usage intention in non-embarrassing contexts, it backfires in contexts perceived as embarrassing. These results challenge the current mantra of the salutary effects of social presence in human-chatbot interactions

Understanding the what and how of successful social live streaming

Live Streaming is an emerging form of digital media. It enables real-time content generation and consumption and facilitates synchronous interactions between streamers and their community. Previous literature has neglected how streamers can drive specific outcomes of a live stream. Thus, in this research, the authors introduce communication foci (the “what”) and communication styles (the “how”) as levers of streaming success. To do so, they analyze their impact on non-monetary and monetary outcomes employing data gathered from a two-wave questionnaire. Results depict that communication foci represent a double-edged sword: community-focused communication has a positive (negative) influence on non-monetary (monetary) outcomes, and content-focused communication has a negative (positive) influence on non-monetary (monetary) outcomes. Further, when streamers center their communication on the content combined with utilitarian-superior style, monetary outcomes are increased. In sum, these findings are helpful for streamers because it shows how they achieve desirable or avoid undesirable outcomes.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Streamers: The new wave of digital entreprenurship? Extant corpus and future research agenda

Video content creation by “amateur” private users has taken on professional (i.e. work) characteristics. The emergence of user-centric video sharing services (e.g. YouTube, Twitch, Mixer) has set the scene for the rise of micro-celebrities and influencers making video content creation a valuable source of income. The development of occupational and commercial elements within the activity has gained a significant amount of attention from the mainstream media but also from academic research. This paper presents a literature review that aims to examine the nature of the available literature (75 articles) on the occupational characteristics of video content creation. The literature review examines the development of research and terminology of this topic, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks utilized in the examined research, and how the elements of work have been examined and perceived in the examined literature. The results reveal an ongoing development of entrepreneurial aspects in the activity and highlight the need for further research on video content creation in a work context.publishedVersionPeer reviewe