Comparing the Effects of AI and Human Interviewers in Job Interviews : Focusing on the Mediating Effect of Source Credibility and the Moderating Effect of Task Type

Key Points

• The study investigates how the type of interviewer (AI vs. human) affects candidates' evaluations, mediated by source credibility and moderated by task type.
• Conducted a 2×2 grouped experimental design with 141 university students.
• Analyzed mediating effects of source credibility (expertise, authenticity) on candidates' evaluations.
• Examined moderating effects of task type (factual vs. evaluative) on the impact of interviewer type.
• Human interviewers significantly reduced negative word-of-mouth intentions through authenticity (p<0.05).
• Expertise perceived from human interviewers was stronger in evaluative tasks compared to factual tasks.
• The moderated mediation effect showed that human interviewers reduced negative word-of-mouth more effectively in evaluative tasks than in factual tasks.

Abstract