Factors influencing intention to engage in human–chatbot interaction: examining user perceptions and context culture orientation

This study conceptualizes individuals’ context culture orientation as a dispositional communication factor and examines how it affects users’ varying preferences, expectations, and intentions for acceptance when interacting with a chatbot. The results based on an online survey ( N = 304) reveal that context culture orientation moderated the relationship between user perceptions and behavioral intentions pertaining to a new chatbot, ‘Gov.sg.’. Specifically, social aspects of a chatbot (i.e., social presence) were found to have a greater behavioral impact for those who have high-context culture orientation who prefer relational and contextual communication. On the other hand, utility aspects of a chatbot (i.e., performance expectancy) have a greater impact on individuals with low-context culture orientation who prefer explicit, task-oriented communication. The findings suggest context culture orientation is a crucial human factor determining individuals’ expectations for different affordances (e.g., rich, human-like conversations vs. performance and efficiency) of chatbots.