Interaction Style of Virtual Shopping Agents: Effects on Social Presence and Older Consumers’ Experience in E-tail Sites

Abstract

A growing stream of research has emphasized the important role played by virtual shopping agents in consumer experience in e-tail environments, particularly in the context of older consumers (Chattaraman et al., 2012). In a recent study, Keeling et al. (2010) found that style of agent communication (task-vs. social-oriented) is an important factor influencing user trust and patronage intention for online shopping. Specifically, the authors found that taskoriented communications is more effective for search goods/services (books), whereas socialoriented communication style contributes more to credence goods/services (insurance). The purpose of the current study was: 1) to examine effectiveness of social-and task-oriented interaction styles for older consumers and 2) to examine the moderating role of gender on the effects of social vs. task-oriented interactional style.Older users experience greater distrust and need greater social support, social presence, and interaction in online transactions than do their younger counterparts (Chattaraman et al., 2012). Relational intelligence has been defined as "knowledge of when and how to use language to achieve social goals" (Bickmore & Cassell, 2001, p. 402). It has been argued that relational conversational strategies that employ social dialogue and small talk go a long way in building trust in agent-based interfaces (Bickmore & Cassell, 2001). The task-oriented functional approach to conversation offers an alternative strategy to the socially-oriented relational approach. Studies have indicated that task-oriented functional dialog requires higher cognitive load than socially-oriented relational dialog (Bickmore & Cassell, 2005). However, an important aspect that remains to be explored is whether gender plays a moderating role on the effects of social-versus task-oriented interactional style. This study hypothesizes the following: Older users will experience greater social presence in the e-tail site for social-rather than task-oriented agent interaction style (H1), and this effect will be mediated by perceptions of the agent's engagement (H2). Social presence will positively influence older consumers' trust (H3a), social support (H3b), and perceived interactivity (H3c) in the e-tail site. Older users will have greater patronage intent for an e-tail site with social rather than task-oriented agent interaction style (H4), and this effect will be moderated by gender such that the effects of interaction style on purchase intent will be stronger for females than males (H5).The virtual agent was created using SitePal and employed in a mock e-tail site modeled similar to Amazon.com. A laboratory experiment was conducted with a 2-condition (social-vs. task-oriented interactions) between-subjects design, manipulated through the use of small talk in context to the task. A total of 114 (male = 54, female = 60) older consumers (61-86 years old, M = 71.2) participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition and performed the task of purchasing a pair of ath...