Research on factors motivating customers’ intention to use chatbots: Perspective from Vietnam

Abstract

Chatbot has become an effective interactive apparatus between firms and customers in electronic commerce. This work aims to identify crucial factors influencing customers’ intention to use chatbots in Vietnam. A research model is formulated due to the association between the well-accepted Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and several salient characteristics of chatbots (e.g., perceived intelligence). Data are accumulated from 307 respondents who have experienced online purchases and are inclined to utilize chatbots for seeking information about products/services. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is applied for examining the hypothesized relationships and measuring the research model. Findings reveal that the central route (i.e., accuracy and relevance) and peripheral route (i.e., information credibility) are the underlying motivators of trust and information usefulness toward chatbots. Moreover, trust, information usefulness, and perceived intelligence play a vital role in fostering customer intention to use chatbots. This paper develops a customer use intention model toward chatbots, whereas extant studies have not analyzed information characteristics and innate features of chatbots for theirs usage in online purchases. Finally, managerial implications are discussed to tempt customers’ engagement with chatbots in Vietnam.