How about non-human tour guides? The influence of AI tour guides’ dress and conversation style on the intention of consumers to continue using them

Based on the cognitive fit theory, this study constructs a model to examine the impact mechanism of AI tour guides’ visual and linguistic cues on consumers’ intentions to continue using them. Two experiments are conducted to validate this model. The results showed that when an AI tour guide is dressed formally and informally, a competent and warm conversational style, respectively, enhances consumers’ intention to continue using them. Identity identification and para-social interaction play partial mediating roles and jointly play a chain-mediating role in the above relationships. Additionally, this study also examines the role of conversational form (text vs. voice).