Hey chatbot, why do you treat me like other people? The role of uniqueness neglect in human-chatbot interactions

Resistance to chatbots is a real challenge that companies must overcome, although they (i.e., chatbots) have several advantages. Based on the stereotype content model, this research seeks to understand customer reactions in the context of human-chatbot interactions by integrating the concept of uniqueness neglect as a moderator of customer reactions to the competence of bank chatbots. A sample of 378 respondents was collected in France using the snowball sampling technique, and hypotheses were tested using SmartPLS. We find that chatbot competence does influence customer satisfaction, the latter of which in turn affects both recommendation intention and continuance intention. Further, we find that uniqueness neglect moderates the effect of chatbot competence on satisfaction such that the effect is stronger (weaker) when uniqueness neglect is low (high). We find that warmth does not have a significant moderating effect. This study is among the first attempts to understand customer reactions to interactions with bank chatbots and offers insightful theoretical and managerial implications of use to both academics and practitioners alike.