Bots with Feelings: Should AI Agents Express Positive Emotion in Customer Service?

Forthcoming, Information Systems Research.

37 Pages Posted: 12 Oct 2022

See all articles by Elizabeth Han

Elizabeth Han

McGill University

Dezhi Yin

University of South Florida

Han Zhang

Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business

Date Written: July 23, 2022

Abstract

Customer service employees are generally advised to express positive emotion in their interactions with customers. The rise and maturity of artificial intelligence (AI) powered conversational agents, also known as chatbots, beg the question: should AI agents be equipped with the ability to express positive emotion in customer service? This research explores how, when, and why an AI agent’s expression of positive emotion affects customers’ service evaluations. We argue that AI-expressed positive emotion can influence customers via dual pathways: an affective pathway of emotional contagion and a cognitive pathway of expectation-disconfirmation. We propose that positive emotion expressed by an AI agent (vs. a human employee) is less effective in facilitating service evaluations because of a heightened level of expectation-disconfirmation. We further introduce customers’ relationship norm orientation as a novel individual difference variable that affects their expectations toward the AI agent and moderates the cognitive pathway of expectation-disconfirmation. Results from three laboratory experiments substantiate our claims. By revealing a distinctive impact of positive emotion expressed by an AI agent compared with a human employee, these findings deepen our understanding of customers’ reactions to emotional AIs and offer valuable insights for the deployment of AIs in customer service.

Keywords: emotional artificial intelligence, conversation agent, chatbot , customer service, emotional contagion, expectation-disconfirmation, relationship norm orientation

Suggested Citation

Han, Elizabeth and Yin, Dezhi and Zhang, Han, Bots with Feelings: Should AI Agents Express Positive Emotion in Customer Service? (July 23, 2022). Forthcoming, Information Systems Research., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4225917

Elizabeth Han (Contact Author)

McGill University ( email )

1001 Sherbrooke St W
Montreal, Quebec h3A 1G5

Dezhi Yin

University of South Florida ( email )

Tampa, FL 33620
United States

Han Zhang

Georgia Institute of Technology - Scheller College of Business ( email )

800 West Peachtree St.
Atlanta, GA 30308
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
877
Abstract Views
1,889
Rank
53,943
PlumX Metrics