The affective outcomes of using influence tactics in embodied conversational agents

An Exploratory Study of the Potential of Online Counseling for University Students by a Human-Operated Avatar Counselor

Recently, the use of digital technologies, such as avatars and virtual reality, has been increasingly explored to address university students' mental health issues. However, there is limited research on the advantages and disadvantages of counselors using avatars in online video counseling. Herein, 25 university students were enrolled in a pilot online counseling session with a human counselor-controlled avatar, and asked about their emotional experiences and impressions of the avatar and to provide qualitative feedback on their communication experience. Positive emotions during the session were associated with impressions of the avatar's intelligence and likeability. The anthropomorphism, animacy, likeability, and intelligent impressions of the avatar were interrelated, indicating that the avatar's smile and the counselor's expertise in empathy and approval may have contributed to these impressions. However, no associations were observed between participant experiences and their prior communication with avatars, or between participant experiences and their gender or the perceived gender of the avatar. Accordingly, recommendations for future practice and research are provided. Accumulating practical and empirical findings on the effectiveness of human-operated avatar counselors is crucial for addressing university students' mental health issues.

Ready for Take-off? – Gestaltung und Wahrnehmung von Reiseimpfberatungschatbots

Der Einsatz von Sprachassistenten (Alltagsbeispiele sind Alexa von Amazon, Siri von Apple oder der Chatbot von Hellofresh) hat auch im Gesundheitswesen Einzug gehalten. Ein aktuelles Beispiel ist der WhatsApp Chatbot der WHO, welcher Nutzer:innen über COVID-19 aufklärt. Sprachassistenten haben die Fähigkeit, Patienten und Patientinnen orts- und zeitunabhängig aufzuklären, wodurch Mitarbeiter:innen entlastet werden. Jedoch gibt es neben den technischen (u. a. Entwicklung und Optimierung der Algorithmen für die Spracherkennung) auch Herausforderungen in der Mensch-Chatbot-Interaktion. In dieser Studie wird untersucht, welche Rolle die menschenähnliche Gestaltung (u. a. menschlicher Name, Begrüßung, menschlicher Avatar) eines Reiseimpfberatungschatbots auf dessen Wahrnehmung durch Nutzer:innen hat. Spezifisch geht es darum zu verstehen, ob und wie sich Anthropomorphismus (die Wahrnehmung von Menschlichkeit und sozialer Präsenz in Objekten, Tieren und Maschinen) auf die wahrgenommene Vertrauenswürdigkeit und letztendliche Zufriedenheit mit dem Service auswirkt. In einem Online-Experiment mit 78 Teilnehmer:innen, wurden zwei Chatbot-Gestaltungen (mit menschenähnlichen Gestaltungselementen vs. ohne diese Elemente) verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die wahrgenommene soziale Präsenz signifikant die wahrgenommene Vertrauenswürdigkeit und die Zufriedenheit mit dem Service des Chatbots erhöhen. Somit ist die Implikation, dass bei der Reiseimpfberatung und ähnlichen Beratungsprozessen eine menschliche Gestaltung der Sprachassistenten zu empfehlen ist.

Human-like communication in conversational agents: a literature review and research agenda

Purpose

Conversational agents (chatbots, avatars and robots) are increasingly substituting human employees in service encounters. Their presence offers many potential benefits, but customers are reluctant to engage with them. A possible explanation is that conversational agents do not make optimal use of communicative behaviors that enhance relational outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to identify which human-like communicative behaviors used by conversational agents have positive effects on relational outcomes and which additional behaviors could be investigated in future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a systematic review of 61 articles that investigated the effects of communicative behaviors used by conversational agents on relational outcomes. A taxonomy is created of all behaviors investigated in these studies, and a research agenda is constructed on the basis of an analysis of their effects and a comparison with the literature on human-to-human service encounters.

Findings

The communicative behaviors can be classified along two dimensions: modality (verbal, nonverbal, appearance) and footing (similarity, responsiveness). Regarding the research agenda, it is noteworthy that some categories of behaviors show mixed results and some behaviors that are effective in human-to-human interactions have not yet been investigated in conversational agents.

Practical implications

By identifying potentially effective communicative behaviors in conversational agents, this study assists managers in optimizing encounters between conversational agents and customers.

Originality/value

This is the first study that develops a taxonomy of communicative behaviors in conversational agents and uses it to identify avenues for future research.