AI Chatbot, Human, and In‐Between: Examining the Broader Spectrum of Technology‐Human Interactions in Driving Customer‐Brand Relationships Across Experience and Credence Services

ABSTRACT Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have driven companies to incorporate AI chatbots into service encounters. However, research exploring how to balance human and AI interactions in service encounters for brand‐building strategies remains limited. Grounded in social response theory and the attachment‐aversion model of consumer‐brand relationships, this study examines the effect of different service chat agent types (substitution chatbot, augmentation chatbot, and human chat agent) on brand usage intention, with brand‐self distance and consumer brand engagement as mediating mechanisms. Service types (experience vs. credence service) act as boundary conditions moderating the relationship between service chat agents and brand‐self distance. Through two experiments involving actual interactions with three types of service chat agents, the results show that substitution chatbots negatively influence consumers' perceived brand‐self distance, engagement, and usage intention across both service types. For experience services, augmentation chatbots lead to a closer brand‐self distance than human chat agents, enhancing consumer brand engagement and brand usage intention. While for credence services, augmentation chatbots perform comparably to human chat agents. The results offer guidance for service managers and policymakers on optimizing the balance between human and technological inputs to enhance customer‐brand relationships.