Conversational Commerce: Factors Driving Purchase Intention on Chatbots in Instant Messaging Apps

Conversational agents like chatbots and voice assistants have gained notable scholarly attention given the rise of integration of messaging apps and shopping apps in e-commerce. However, prior quantitative research on integrating chatbots in Instant Messaging apps for shopping purposes is limited. To bridge this gap, this study used a modified UTAUT2 model to understand the factors influencing the purchase intention to use conversational AI-powered chatbots for shopping in Instant Messaging apps. In addition to conventional UTAUT2 factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and hedonic motivation, our study also examined the impact of variables such as localization, message interactivity, and anthropomorphism of chatbots. Interestingly while anthropomorphism relating to visually appealing bot-like features had a positive influence on purchase intention, visually appealing human-like features had a negative influence on purchase intention. Another interesting finding was the negative moderating influence of localization on the relationship between message interactivity and purchase intention. The findings of this study can contribute to designing more effective conversational chatbots.