Exploring User Attitudes and Brand Loyalty in AI Chatbots: The Roles of Service Quality, Perceived Ethics, and Self-Efficacy

With the growing prevalence of AI technologies, chatbots have become integral to online experiences. While prior research has made considerable progress in understanding factors influencing chatbot adoption, limited attention has been paid to the antecedents of user attitudes and brand loyalty. Grounded in self-efficacy theory and the SERVQUAL framework, this study adopts a SEM-ANN approach to examine: (1) how self-efficacy, system quality (e.g., service quality and social presence), and trust factors (e.g., perceived ethics and credibility) relate to users’ attitudes toward AI chatbots, and (2) how these attitudes subsequently predict brand loyalty. Using survey data from US chatbot users, the study identifies perceived credibility as the strongest predictor of user attitudes, followed by service quality, perceived mastery, perceived ethics, and social presence. Additionally, the relationships between user empowerment, system evaluations, and attitudes toward chatbots differ based on perceived ethics and credibility. Implications for chatbot design and consumer loyalty are discussed.