AI Technologies & Value Co-Creation in Luxury Context

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to contribute to the literature on the conceptualization of technology as an operant resource and the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in value co-creation processes. Resource integration and interaction determine such cocreation, however the issue pivots on whether AI is effectively able to co-create value as an operant resource. With an integrated framework based on the Service Science (SS), the Viable Systems Approach (VSA) & the Variety Information Model (VIM), the Authors show how to the various kinds of AI technology corresponds a diverse level of co-creation. Our (conceptual) study, highlights how AI (e.g. chatbot) with its client profiling capacity achieves consonance in a luxury goods context, thus interpreting customer expectations. At the same time, the man-machine virtuous circuit qualifies the shift from AI (a combination of various technologies with cognitive abilities -listening, comprehending, acting, learning and at times speaking -capable of matching human intelligence) to the more potent IA Intelligence Augmentation.

The influence of chatbot humour on consumer evaluations of services

“…These concerns deter some consumers from accepting them (Rese et al, 2020;Um et al, 2020). Moreover, existing chatbots have several technical and perceptual drawbacks such as failure to provide appropriate, context-specific, and semantically correct responses (Bassano et al, 2020;Nuruzzaman & Hussain, 2020), and their interactions can appear "rigid, not intimate or emotive" (Bassano et al, 2020(Bassano et al, , p. 1624. Given these shortcomings, in this study, we propose a chatbot's use of humour in its dialogue with a consumer as a means to enhance service satisfaction.…”

“…Whilst chatbots are seen as merely automated online service agents that lack emotion and responsiveness (Bassano et al, 2020;Go & Sundar, 2019), a sense of humour is typically associated with human characteristics (Chaves & Gerosa, 2019;Tay et al, 2016).…”

“…Chatbots are generally perceived as machine-like, cold, socially inept, untrustworthy, incompetent (Bassano et al, 2020;Go & Sundar, 2019;van Doorn et al, 2017) and unable to provide meaningful and semantically correct responses (Nuruzzaman & Hussain, 2020), resulting in consumers' general preference for human agents over chatbots (Computer Generated Solutions, 2018). Thus, to leverage consumers' experiences with chatbots, marketing managers must determine how to design them in such a way (Sands et al, 2021;Schanke et al, 2021) to enhance service satisfaction (Bock et al, 2020;Wirtz et al, 2018).…”

“…In the service delivery process, chatbots serve as virtual agents responding to customer inquiries 24/7 in place of human staff (Larivière et al, 2017). Since customer engagement through AI offers firms a new avenue to increase value co‐creation with consumers (Bassano et al, 2020; Bock et al, 2020; Čaić et al, 2018), a growing number of firms are expanding the use of chatbots rather quickly, with the overall market size for chatbots worldwide expected to be over US$1.3 billion by 2024 (Global Market Insights, 2019).…”

“…Despite technological advancements that have allowed AI chatbots to provide customized, personalized (Behera et al, 2021; Kumar et al, 2021; Sands et al, 2021), and engaging (Chung et al, 2020) service interactions with consumers, many chatbots fail to meet consumer expectations (Feine, Morana, & Gnewuch, 2019; Sheehan et al, 2020). Chatbots are generally perceived as machine‐like, cold, socially inept, untrustworthy, incompetent (Bassano et al, 2020; Feine, Gnewuch, et al, 2019; Go & Sundar, 2019; van Doorn et al, 2017) and unable to provide meaningful and semantically correct responses (Nuruzzaman & Hussain, 2020), resulting in consumers' general preference for human agents over chatbots (Computer Generated Solutions, 2018). Thus, to leverage consumers' experiences with chatbots, marketing managers must determine how to design them in such a way (Sands et al, 2021; Schanke et al, 2021) to enhance service satisfaction (Bock et al, 2020; Wirtz et al, 2018).…”