 Empathic voice assistants: Enhancing consumer responses in voice commerceAlex Mari, Andreina Mandelli and René Algesheimer Journal of Business Research, 2024, vol. 175, issue C Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled voice assistants (VAs) are transforming firm-customer interactions but often come across as lacking empathy. This challenge may cause business managers to question the overall effectiveness of VAs in shopping contexts. Recognizing empathy as a core design element in the next generation of VAs and the limits of scenario-based studies in voice commerce, this article investigates how empathy exhibited by an existing AI agent (Alexa) may alter consumer shopping responses. AI empathy moderates the original structural model bridging functional, relational, and social-emotional dimensions. Findings of an individual-session online experiment show higher intentions to delegate tasks, seek decision assistance, and trust recommendations from AI agents perceived as empathic. In contrast to individual shoppers, families respond better to functional VA attributes such as ease of use when AI empathy is present. The results contribute to the literature on AI empathy and conversational commerce while informing managerial AI design decisions. Keywords: Voice assistant; Voice commerce; Empathy; Artificial intelligence; Voice app (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:175:y:2024:i:c:s0148296324000705 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114566 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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