Conversational Agents with Voice
Investigating the Influence of Social Presence on User Behavior in Microlending Decisions
Our study examines how social cues, such as giving assistance systems (ASs), such as chatbots, human-like characteristics, affect user behavior. By anthropomorphizing ASs with a voice, we discovered that social presence, empathy, and trust increase. However, we contend that social presence can also have adverse effects. Our research shows that a higher degree of social presence leads to a stronger sense of being observed, which contradicts our initial hypothesis and results in reduced investments. We also observed a tendency for users to enjoy the experience more as the feeling of being observed increased. This finding highlights the complexity of creating and designing ASs. Anthropomorphizing through the use of social presence can have both positive and negative impacts on outcome variables. We offer empirical evidence to support our proposal.
| Theoretical model | Design of CA |
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