Personality and personalized chatbots in embarrassing customer service situations

Details

Supervisors

Hazée, Simon

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

This research paper focuses on investigating the influence of personality and personalization in chatbots on customers' feelings of embarrassment during embarrassing customer service encounters. While previous studies have looked into the effects of personality and personalized chatbots in customer service situations, as well as the use of chatbots in embarrassing customer service scenarios, there has been no research investigating the impact of personality and personalized chatbots in embarrassing customer service situations. Therefore, our study aims to bridge this gap in research and shed light on the interplay between personality, personalization, and customer embarrassment within the context of embarrassing customer service encounters. The thesis conducted a between-subject scenario-based experiment to explore this influence. Our findings suggest that only personality affects embarrassment. Specially, we found that extraverted chatbots increase customers feelings of embarrassment. In light of these findings, the research paper concludes by recommending companies to deploy introverted chatbots when dealing with embarrassing customer service situations. As a concluding note, the thesis proposes further research questions, including the exploration of different personalities from the Big Five model in the experiment and an investigation into the role of agency in influencing levels of embarrassment when interacting with chatbots with personalities.