TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual Customer Service Agents: Using Social Presence and Personalization to Shape Online Service Encounters
AU - Verhagen, T.
AU - van Nes, J.
AU - Feldberg, J.F.M.
AU - van Dolen, W.M.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - By performing tasks traditionally fulfilled by service personnel and having a humanlike appearance, virtual customer service agents bring classical service elements to the web, which may positively influence customer satisfaction through eliciting social responses and feelings of personalization. This paper sheds light on these dynamics by proposing and testing a model drawing upon the theories of implicit personality, social response, emotional contagion, and social interaction. The model proposes friendliness, expertise, and smile as determinants of social presence, personalization, and online service encounter satisfaction. An empirical study confirms the cross-channel applicability of friendliness and expertise as determinants of social presence and personalization. Overall, the study underlines that integration between technology and personal aspects may lead to more social online service encounters. © 2014 International Communication Association.
AB - By performing tasks traditionally fulfilled by service personnel and having a humanlike appearance, virtual customer service agents bring classical service elements to the web, which may positively influence customer satisfaction through eliciting social responses and feelings of personalization. This paper sheds light on these dynamics by proposing and testing a model drawing upon the theories of implicit personality, social response, emotional contagion, and social interaction. The model proposes friendliness, expertise, and smile as determinants of social presence, personalization, and online service encounter satisfaction. An empirical study confirms the cross-channel applicability of friendliness and expertise as determinants of social presence and personalization. Overall, the study underlines that integration between technology and personal aspects may lead to more social online service encounters. © 2014 International Communication Association.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84898037564
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84898037564&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jcc4.12066
DO - 10.1111/jcc4.12066
M3 - Article
SN - 1083-6101
VL - 19
SP - 529
EP - 545
JO - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
JF - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
IS - 3
ER -
