Abstract:

This paper aims to demonstrate the influence that recommendation agent type voice may have on consumers’ reactions. Through experimentation, we compare the effects of human and synthetic voice on perceived social presence, recommendation agent trust, website trust and behavioral intentions. The findings suggest that the human voice is likely to provide a higher level of social presence and recommendation agent trust. The structural equation model shows that social presence has a positive effect both on recommendation agent trust and behavioral intentions. In turn, recommendation agent trust influences website trust and behavioral intentions. Finally, results show that website trust positively impacts behavioral intentions.