Exploring the Trust Influencing Mechanism of Robo-Advisor Service: A Mixed Method Approach

Robo-advisor acceptance: Do gender and generation matter?

Robo-advice technology refers to services offered by a virtual financial advisor based on artificial intelligence. Research on the application of robo-advice technology already highlights the potential benefit in terms of financial inclusion. We analyze the process for adopting robo-advice through the technology acceptance model (TAM), focusing on a highly educated sample and exploring generational and gender differences. We find no significant gender difference in the causality links with adoption, although some structural differences still arise between male and female groups. Further, we find evidence that generational cohorts affect the path to future adoption of robo-advice technology. Indeed, the ease of use is the factor which triggers the adoption by Generation Z and Generation Y, whereas the perceived usefulness of robo-advice technology is the key factor driving Generation X⁺, who need to understand the ultimate purpose of a robo-advice technology tool before adopting it. Overall, the above findings may reflect that, while gender differences are wiped out in a highly educated population, generation effects still matter in the adoption of a robo-advice technology tool.

An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing the Intention to Use Robo-Advisors

Artificial intelligence-based investment services (robo-advisors) are becoming increasingly commercialized. Robo-advisors are expected to expand further due to the enhancement of accessibility to investment for general investors through customized portfolio selection and automated transactions established upon the artificial intelligence-based algorithm. This study comprehensively investigates factors that influence acceptance intention of and resistance to robo-advisors using a combined model of technology acceptance model and innovation resistance model. The model was examined through conducting a choice-based conjoint analysis of 158 users with investment experience and age ranging from 20s to 60s. The independent variables of the research for robo-advisors are transparency, customization, social presence, and user control. The effects of the independent variables on acceptance intention and innovation resistance are analyzed, respectively, through mediator variables of perceived usefulness, perceived complexity, and perceived safety. This study indicates the fundamental factors for the promotion of the domestic robo-advisor market based on the analysis of further advanced overseas robo-advisor markets. The significance of this study derives from providing implications on the direction of development for companies or financial institutions in the sphere of robo-advisors.

Robo-Advising Risk Profiling through Content Analysis for Sustainable Development in the Hong Kong Financial Market

Nowadays, we mainly depend on financial consultants or advisors to conduct risk assessments for individual investors before providing them with any investment advice or recommendations. Individual investors should understand the risk level of their investment choices and their investment decisions should match their risk profile. This process is usually conducted in face-to-face meetings. However, during the recent coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, which has seriously impacted daily life with social distancing, in order to maintain sustainability, contact-free advising, such as robo-advising, becomes more important. The aim of this paper was to assess customers’ risk in regards to investment and identify important risk factors needed to profile individual risk preferences, in order to prepare for robo-advising. Inductive content analysis is applied to classify 180 questions from 20 risk assessment questionnaires, sourced from banks and investment service providers, into different types. Then, the number of types is reduced by collapsing similar areas into broader higher order categories (the important risk factors). This paper also makes specific recommendations for the implementation of risk profiling in robo-advising.

Artificial intelligence for political decision-making in the European Union: Effects on citizens’ perceptions of input, throughput, and output legitimacy

A lack of political legitimacy undermines the ability of the European Union (EU) to resolve major crises and threatens the stability of the system as a whole. By integrating digital data into political processes, the EU seeks to base decision-making increasingly on sound empirical evidence. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to increase political legitimacy by identifying pressing societal issues, forecasting potential policy outcomes, and evaluating policy effectiveness. This paper investigates how citizens’ perceptions of EU input, throughput, and output legitimacy are influenced by three distinct decision-making arrangements: (a) independent human decision-making by EU politicians; (b) independent algorithmic decision-making (ADM) by AI-based systems; and (c) hybrid decision-making (HyDM) by EU politicians and AI-based systems together. The results of a preregistered online experiment (n = 572) suggest that existing EU decision-making arrangements are still perceived as the most participatory and accessible for citizens (input legitimacy). However, regarding the decision-making process itself (throughput legitimacy) and its policy outcomes (output legitimacy), no difference was observed between the status quo and HyDM. Respondents tend to perceive ADM systems as the sole decision-maker to be illegitimate. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for (a) EU legitimacy and (b) data-driven policy-making and outlines (c) avenues for future research.