Exploring chatbot trust: Antecedents and behavioural outcomes

An awareness about the antecedents and behavioural outcomes of trust in chatbots can enable service providers to design suitable marketing strategies. An online questionnaire was administered to users of four major banking chatbots (SBI Intelligent Assistant, HDFC Bank's Electronic Virtual Assistant, ICICI bank's iPal, and Axis Aha) in India. A total of 507 samples were received of which 435 were complete and subject to analysis to test the hypotheses. Based on the results, it is found that the hypothesised antecedents, except interface, design, and technology fear factors, could explain 38.6% of the variance in the banking chatbot trust. Further, in terms of behavioural outcomes chatbot trust could explain, 9.9% of the variance in customer attitude, 11.4% of the variance in behavioural intention, and 13.6% of the variance in user satisfaction. The study provides valuable insights for managers on how they can leverage chatbot trust to increase customer interaction with their brand. By proposing and testing a novel conceptual model and examining the factors that impact chatbot trust and its key outcomes, this study significantly contributes to the AI marketing literature.