Chatbots as Game Changers in Sales Management – An Analysis of the Acceptance to Use Chatbots

Abstract

Chatbots enhance the efficiency of relevant customer touchpoints in terms of the customer experience and associated costs. Managers fear that they will require a high capital expenditure and result in low customer acceptance. However, research on the usage of chatbots has focused on technological aspects. By contrast, this paper contributes to a research stream that analyzes the acceptance of chatbots. According to the technology acceptance model (TAM), perceived useful- ness and voluntariness of use have an impact on the intention to use chatbots. This research adds stress as an additional influencing factor in the TAM and examines the moderating role of stress on usefulness and voluntariness and their relationship on the intention to use chatbots. The results of an experiment demonstrate that managers need to consider impact of stress when employing chatbots for daily interactions with customers.