Customer's Intention to Adopt AI Chatbots in E-Commerce Framework: Using Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

AI-powered chatbots (chatter robots) are increasingly used to enhance customer interactions and streamline support services in the e-commerce industry. They offer superior customer assistance on the Internet and alleviate the challenges faced by businesses in providing adequate customer support and engagement. However, since some popular mobile retail applications like Zalora have been known for using AI chatbots since 2017, little research has investigated customers' experiences and adoption. Thus, this research uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to create a framework that describes the influence of customer engagement, experiences, and attitudes when using e-commerce platforms with AI chatbots. The findings reveal that perceived usability and interactivity affect customers' cognitive and affective attitudes toward their intention to adopt AI chatbots in an e-commerce platform. At the same time, perceived intelligence impacts affective attitude, and anthropomorphism affects cognitive attitude. Consequently, cognitive and affective attitudes affect customers' intention to use AI chatbots in the platform. The results of the SEM showed that the framework for describing the factors that influence the Intention to adopt AI chatbots is generally statistically acceptable.