Lecture title: Choice-equipped Chatbots in Customer Service: A Bleeding or a Curse?

Report time: 9:30-11:00, October 19 (Wednesday), Beijing time

Conference No.: # Tencent Conference: 471-640-398

Introduction to the report:

Chatbots are increasingly equipped to provide choices when interacting with customers. This research investigates when and why the implementation of choices enhances or impairs customers’ service experience. Based on the concept of fluency, we posit that the implementation of choice is beneficial only after a conversational breakdown occurs because the value of choice provision for facilitating fluency may not be recognizable or realized in the absence of service breakdowns. We further propose that the implementation of choice is counterproductive for a service task with high complexity because the greater likelihood of the choice set being perceived as incomprehensive may decrease the perception of fluency. We conducted several experiments to test these hypotheses. By illuminating when and why choice implementation may help or harm customers during a chatbot-initiated service interaction, we augment the current understanding of a chatbot’s role in customers’ service experience and provide insights for the deployment of choice-equipped chatbots in customer service.

Brief introduction of the reporter:

Dr. Han Zhang is a tenured professor of information technology management at the Business School of Georgia Institute of Technology and a professor of technology and management at Steven A. Denning. Professor Han Zhang obtained a doctorate in information systems from the University of Texas at Austin. His main research fields are the economics of information technology, online trust and reputation, online word of mouth and the evolution of electronic markets. His academic papers were published in MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems and other academic journals. He is currently the senior editor of three academic journals: MIS Quarterly, Information&Management, Journal of Information Systems and E-Business Management. As a co-founder, Professor Zhang Han founded China Summer Workshop on Information Management (CSWIM) in 2007.

(Undertaken by: Department of Management Engineering, Scientific Research and Academic Exchange Center)