How does AI agent (vs. IVR system) service failure impact customer purchase behavior: mediating effect of customer involvement

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) agents in customer service has become a prominent area of study, focusing on their influence over consumer behavior. However, there is a noticeable gap in the current literature regarding AI agent service failures during product information consultations and their effects on customer purchase behavior. The present study, grounded in attribution theory, investigates the effects of various types of self-service failures in both Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and AI agents on customer involvement and subsequent purchase behavior. The findings indicate that customers experiencing service failures with AI agents during the consultation stage are more inclined to make purchase behavior after human-led recovery compared to those encountering IVR system failures. Additionally, customer involvement is found to play a pivotal role as a mediator between types of service failures and purchase behavior. The results of this work may offer valuable theoretical and practical insights.

摘要

近年来，将人工智能（AI）代理应用于客户服务领域，并研究其对消费者行为的影响已经成为一个重要的研究领域。然而，目前的文献在探讨产品信息咨询过程中AI代理服务失败以及这种失败对顾客购买行为的影响方面存在研究不足。本研究基于归因理论，研究交互式语音应答（IVR）系统和AI代理中各种自助服务失败对顾客参与及询后购买行为的影响。研究发现，与经历交互式语音应答系统服务失败的顾客相比，在咨询阶段遇到AI代理服务失败的顾客，经过人工恢复服务后，更倾向于做出购买行为。此外，顾客参与在服务失败代理类型和购买行为之间扮演着关键的中介角色。本研究的结果提供了有价值的理论和实践见解。

KEYWORDS:

• AI agent
• IVR system
• service failure
• customer purchase behavior
• mediating effect

关键词:

• 人工智能代理；交互式应答系统；服务失败；客户购买行为；中介效应

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number: #72034001, #71974044], Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number: #YQ2020G004] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant numbers: HIT.OCEF.2022054 and HIT.HSS.DZ201905].