Employees' perceptions of chatbots in B2B marketing: Affordances vs. disaffordances
Abstract
We investigate the impacts of chatbots' technical features on employees' perceptions (namely, chatbot effectiveness and discomfort with using chatbots) in the context of B2B marketing. In particular, to capture the technical features of chatbots, we identify three types of chatbot affordances (i.e., automatability, personalization, and availability) and three types of chatbot disaffordances (i.e., limited understanding, lack of emotion, and null decision-making). We show that these types of chatbot affordances and disaffordances are related to chatbot effectiveness and discomfort with using chatbots, which in turn can affect employees' attitudes toward chatbots. We conducted an empirical study via an online survey and collected data from 228 B2B marketing employees. While automatability and personalization enhance chatbot effectiveness, null decision-making increases discomfort with using chatbots. Further, chatbot effectiveness and discomfort with using chatbots both influence employees' attitudes toward chatbots. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.
RAS ID
43335
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
2-1-2022
Volume
101
Funding Information
West Texas A & M University
School
School of Business and Law
Copyright
subscription content
Publisher
Elsevier
Recommended Citation
Lin, X., Shao, B., & Wang, X. (2022). Employees' perceptions of chatbots in B2B marketing: Affordances vs. disaffordances. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.11.016
Comments
Lin, X., Shao, B., & Wang, X. (2022). Employees' perceptions of chatbots in B2B marketing: Affordances vs. disaffordances. Industrial Marketing Management, 101, 45-56.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.11.016