Shaping Brand Attitudes: Comparing the Effects of Marketing Communication Through Voice Assistants and Chatbots
(A2023-113919)

AUTHORS

Hannah Kraemer, University of Applied Sciences Mainz; University of Bamberg; Isabelle Hillebrandt, Mainz University of Applied Sciences; Bjoern Ivens, University of Bamberg; Philipp Rauschnabel, Digital Marketing and Media Innovation

ABSTRACT

Consumers’ attitude towards brands is affected by the communication channels through which brands interact with their consumers. Brand communication via chatbots and voice assistants like Amazon Alexa becomes more popular but is still under-researched, especially regarding the effect on brand attitude. Therefore, we investigated how brand-consumer interaction through voice assistants compares to chatbots’ influences on consumers’ brand attitudes and word of mouth intention in two quantitative online surveys (study 1: n = 108; study 2: n = 399). The study reveals that the influence of chatbots’ and voice assistants’ social presence and task-technology-fit on brand attitude is mediated through hedonic and utilitarian attitudes. Furthermore, word of mouth intention is influenced directly by brand attitude and social presence but not by task-technology-fit. Additionally, when interacting via chatbots, the perception of brands’ warmth and competence mediates the effect on brand attitude.