Self-driven or human-assisted? The impact of chatbot service recovery on consumer purchase intentions

Purpose This study aims to investigate the interaction effect between service recovery providers (AI chatbot vs human) and recovery strategies (psychological vs tangible) on consumers’ purchase intentions in the context of chatbot minor service failures. The research further seeks to provide companies with insights to enhance chatbot-based service recovery. Design/methodology/approach Four experiments were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that when chatbots encounter minor service failures, self-recovery using psychological strategies significantly enhances consumer purchase intentions. Conversely, human-mediated recovery is more effective when paired with tangible strategies. Perceptual evaluations of competence play a stronger mediating role than warmth in shaping consumer responses. In case of high task complexity, human-mediated recovery is more effective regardless of whether a psychological or tangible strategy is used. Furthermore, when a highly intelligent chatbot encounters a minor service failure, its self-recovery – whether using psychological or tangible strategies – proves highly effective. Originality/value This study contributes to understanding the role of service recovery in the context of chatbot minor service failures. It examines the effectiveness of chatbot self-recovery and human-mediated recovery strategies (psychological or tangible) on consumer purchase intentions, highlighting the critical mediating role of perceptual competence.