Abstract:

The recent developments in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, coupled with the novel digital technologies and smart devices, as well as, the constant increase in the number of mobile messaging application users are fundamentally changing the interaction between customers and organizations. In this new digital world, companies are facing a new competitive reality, where the rules of engagement across sectors and industries are changing. Thus, enterprises need to adopt a proactive approach in their journey to becoming intelligent, as the service interface will be gradually transformed into a technology-dominant one. Artificial Intelligence-based messaging solutions, namely the conversational bots, represent one of the first stepping stones in order for the companies to become faster, more efficient and capable of providing customers relevant and personalized experiences. Indeed, chatbots can be perceived as the perfect illustration of the development and implementation of customer-centric artificial intelligence that mimic human behavior, which has a wide range of applications in various fields, such as: education, healthcare, financial services, e-commerce etc. By placing the Social Information Processing Theory, Media Equation Theory and CASA Paradigm at the heart of our conceptualization, we developed a model which proposes anthropomorphic design cues as a determinant of both social presence and perceived competence, which in turn will have a positive influence on the trusting beliefs.