The moderating effect of the need for interaction with a service employee on purchase intention in chatbots

Due to the advances of AI, the chatbot has replaced several functions once performed by humans. However, despite the growing adoption of chatbots by companies, consumers have held some reservations about using the tool – especially when finalizing purchases. Our study aims to verify the role of brand attachment in the purchase intention, and the moderating effect of the need to interact with service employees (NFI-SE) in these relationships. Using PLS-SEM, the results reveal that TAM and ISS influence satisfaction and purchase intention. In addition, NFI-SE moderates the relationship between satisfaction and brand attachment, and the relationship between satisfaction and purchase intention. Offering the possibility of interaction with human service during the conversation can increase satisfaction and brand attachment, as well as increasing purchase intentions. The absence of an escape mechanism from a robotic interaction to a human interaction can cause frustration in users when not having their needs met.