Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Özer A. (Yürütücü)
TÜBİTAK Projesi, 2022 - 2023
The Effect of
Robot Integration on Consumer Engagement through Mobile Service Quality and
Attitude- Cross-Cultural Comparison between Turkey and UK
One
of the artificial intelligence-based robot systems is virtual assistants called
chatbots. The use of virtual assistants impacts the service sector and causes a
high level of change (Gummerus, et al., 2019). Such technologies increasingly
appear at the points where the service is provided (Kumar et al., 2016), even
replacing the traditional customer-employee interaction (Marinova et al.,
2017). This situation causes the sector to become technology dominant. Thus, it
is important to understand the determinants of consumer acceptance of robot
assistance. Lu et al. (2019) developed a scale to understand this system’s
determinants. The scale comprises six dimensions to explain consumer acceptance
of robot systems. The dimensions of the new scale are performance efficacy,
intrinsic motivation, anthropomorphism, social influence, facilitating
conditions, and emotions.
Using
mobile applications is also popular both in theory and application in
marketing. Services offered through mobile apps and devices have gained
significant importance in recent years, as consumers can access services faster
(Kaplan and Haenlein, 2019). The use of artificial intelligence-based virtual
assistants has also increased significantly. Such applications have become one
of the most basic features of mobile devices. Some estimations show that the
number of mobile devices using robot systems will exceed eight billion in 2023 (Fernandes and Oliveira,
2021). Thus, these developments require evaluating and managing mobile service
quality provided with virtual assistants.
The
study aims to understand the relationships between virtual assistant
integration, mobile services, and attitudes towards virtual assistants in the
service sector. Thus, how dimensions of virtual assistant integration affect
mobile service quality and attitude will be sought. Another
goal of the study is to explore whether the positive or negative outcome of
service quality and attitude may help provide consumer engagement. Lastly,
we will examine if these variables will influence consumers’ intention to use
virtual assistants. The study also reveals the
mediating effect of mobile service quality and attitude between virtual
assistant integration and consumer engagement. We assume that
relationships in the model may differ according to innovativeness and
familiarity; thus, the study will also analyze the moderating effects of these
variables. While we aim to collect the data from Turkey and England, the data
will enable us to compare the two countries as the literature support different
findings in cross-cultural studies.
Structural
equation modeling will be used to test the model. Prior to testing hypotheses,
preliminary statistics, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and confirmatory
factor analysis will be applied. In the study, multigroup comparisons will
be applied to measure the effect of moderating variables and compare the
relationships for both countries.