Emotionality in Task-Oriented Chatbots – The Effect of Emotion Expression on Chatbot Perception

ABSTRACT

Since interactive communication is generally better received than static one, chatbots are widely used in virtually all domains – ranging from business to education and healthcare. Nevertheless, there are still numerous questions concerning user experience that have not been adequately answered. Therefore, we study the effect of emotion expression on chatbot perception. In an experiment we manipulated a task-oriented chatbot by using short positively valenced emotional expressions and emotional pictorial representations (emojis) and investigated the effect of emotionality on trust, satisfaction, enjoyment, and authenticity as perceived by the user. The emotional chatbot was found to be perceived as more trustworthy than the neutral one. Moreover, users were more satisfied and had longer interactions with this chatbot. These results indicate that even slight variations in emotionality lead to significant difference in chatbot perception.

KEYWORDS:

• Chatbots
• emotion expression
• user perception
• human likeness
• satisfaction
• trust

Disclosure Statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ilona Pezenka

Ilona Pezenka is senior researcher at the Department of Communication at FHWien der WKW University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication. Her research focuses on digital methods in marketing and sales with a focus on the service industry; destination and brand image; and psychophysiological measurement methods.

Lili Aunimo

Lili Aunimo is a principal lecturer at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki, Finland. She has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include natural language processing, human-AI interaction and the application of data analysis, machine learning and AI methods in the development of digital services and processes.

Gerald Janous

Gerald Janous is head of the Master´s Programs Marketing & Sales Management and Digital Communication & Marketing at the Department of Communication at FHWien der WKW University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication. His research interests lie in consumer behavior in different markets, market analysis and modelling and the design of chatbots and voice user interfaces.

David Dobrowsky

David Dobrowsky is head of the Bachelor´s Programs Corporate Communication at the Department of Communication at FHWien der WKW University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication. His research interests lie in digital transformation of corporate communication and aspects of data driven marketing and communication.