“I am chatbot, your virtual mental health adviser.” What drives citizens’ satisfaction and continuance intention toward mental health chatbots during the COVID-19 pandemic? An empirical study in China

INTRODUCTION: In order to address the psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health chatbots have been extensively used by public sectors. According to Theory of Consumption Values, this paper proposed an analytical framework to investigate the determinants behind users’ satisfaction and continuance intention toward mental health chatbots. METHODS: The empirical study was conducted through an online survey, facilitated by the use of questionnaire posted on the WeChat platform. Seven-point Likert scale and closed-ended questions were employed. Totally 371 valid samples were collected. The research data was tested via the partial least squares structural equation modeling. Gender, age, and income were included as control variables. RESULTS: Analysis of samples collected from 371 Chinese users suggested that personalization (functional value), enjoyment (emotional value), learning (epistemic value), and the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic (conditional value) have positive influences on user satisfaction and continuance intention, but such effects were weak. The findings also revealed that user satisfaction has weakly positive impact on continuance intention. However, voice interaction (functional value) was an insignificant predictor of user satisfaction and continuance intention. DISCUSSION: This study developed a critical perspective on the role of Theory of Consumption Values in the context of mental health chatbot usage, while Theory of Consumption Value has been increasingly employed to explain the use of AI-based public services. Thus, this research devotes to the enhancement of theoretical frameworks regarding the usage of mental health chatbots.