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E-commerce businesses utilise automated text-based dialogue systems (chatbots) to provide pre and post-sale assistance. However, due to technical limitations and repetitive responses, these chatbots often fail to engage spontaneously with customers, resulting in consumer frustration and subsequent brand switching. Therefore, this research investigates the impact of eeriness on consumers’ purchase intention in the presence of human likeness (i.e., appearance, skills, and style). Scenario-based survey was conducted with 355 participants to explore the eeriness impacts on consumers’ purchase intentions based on the uncanny valley effects theory. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares method. Findings reveal that chatbots with a cartoonish appearance increase consumers’ purchase intention by reducing the eerie effect. Consequently, findings also suggest that tailored skills and a warm style may mitigate eeriness and enhance PI under certain conditions, compared to response variety and competent styles. This study extends the Uncanny Valley Theory (UVT) by introducing the concept of ‘botmorphosis’, highlighting how shifts in chatbot appearance, skill, and style jointly shape user perceptions and behaviour in e-commerce contexts. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for developers and digital businesses keen to use chatbots as customer assistants in e-commerce settings to improve the interaction between human and AI.
Abeden et al. (Wed,) studied this question.