Virtual agents in retail web sites: Benefits of simulated social interaction for older users

This study investigates the benefits of simulated social interaction (social presence) through virtual agents for older users' experience in retail Web sites, particularly with respect to age-related barriers to the adoption of online retailing. In Study 1, through four focus group interviews, we identified six social-psychological barriers to the adoption of online shopping among older users (mean age of 73years). These included barriers relating to perceived risks, trust, social support, familiarity, experience, and search. In Study 2, a laboratory experiment with older users (mean age of 69years) demonstrated that embedding a virtual agent that serves search and navigational/procedural support functions in the online store leads to increased perceived social support, trust, and patronage intention for the online store. Mediational analyses further revealed that the effect of virtual agents: (1) on trust is mediated by perceived social support; and (2) on patronage intentions is mediated in part by trust and perceived risks. The study provides important implications on the design of virtual agents for older users of e-commerce applications, and on building online trust and e-service patronage through virtual agents.

[1]  Kirk L. Wakefield,et al.  Can A Retail Web Site be Social? , 2007 .

[2]  Tor Guimaraes,et al.  Assessing the impact of internet agent on end users' performance , 2005, Decis. Support Syst..

[3]  Soyoung Kim,et al.  Designing nonverbal communication for pedagogical agents: When less is more , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[4]  Leon G. Schiffman,et al.  Cybersenior Mobility: Why Some Older Consumers May Be Adopting the Internet , 2000 .

[5]  Chris Janiszewski,et al.  The Influence of Avatars on Online Consumer Shopping Behavior , 2006 .

[6]  Tara S. Behrend,et al.  Similarity effects in online training: Effects with computerized trainer agents , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[7]  Melvin A. Mottram,et al.  Word-processing training and retraining: effects of adult age, experience, and interface. , 2001, Psychology and aging.

[8]  Xiaoqing Li,et al.  Agent-based consumer learning in e-commerce , 2006, Int. J. Netw. Virtual Organisations.

[9]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[10]  G. Zimet,et al.  The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support , 1988 .

[11]  James Wabby,et al.  The Elderly and the Internet: A Case Study , 2002 .

[12]  Jeremy Harris Lipschultz,et al.  ELDERLY AMERICANS AND THE INTERNET: E-MAIL, TV NEWS, INFORMATION AND ENTERTAINMENT WEBSITES , 2004 .

[13]  Donald F. Cox,et al.  Perceived Risk and Consumer Decision-Making—The Case of Telephone Shopping , 1964 .

[14]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Consumer Trust in an Internet Store: A Cross-Cultural Validation , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[15]  J. Cassell,et al.  Embodied conversational agents , 2000 .

[16]  Marcel Creemers,et al.  Understanding online purchase intentions: contributions from technology and trust perspectives , 2003, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[17]  Charles J. Kacmar,et al.  Developing and Validating Trust Measures for e-Commerce: An Integrative Typology , 2002, Inf. Syst. Res..

[18]  Milena M. Head,et al.  The Impact of Infusing Social Presence in the Web Interface: An Investigation Across Product Types , 2005, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[19]  Arthur D. Fisk,et al.  Designing for Older Adults: Principles and Creative Human Factors Approaches , 2004 .

[20]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Consumer trust in an Internet store , 2000, Inf. Technol. Manag..

[21]  A. Fiore,et al.  Influences of online store perception, shopping enjoyment, and shopping involvement on consumer patronage behavior towards an online retailer☆ , 2007 .

[22]  Craig J Thompson.  Caring Consumers: Gendered Consumption Meanings and the Juggling Lifestyle , 1996 .

[23]  Jacqueline K. Eastman,et al.  The elderly's internet usage: an updated look , 2007 .

[24]  B. Glaser.  Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis: Emergence Vs. Forcing , 1992 .

[25]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[26]  Amy L. Baylor,et al.  Intelligent Agents as Cognitive Tools for Education. , 1999 .

[27]  Sally Harridge-March.  Can the building of trust overcome consumer perceived risk online , 2006 .

[28]  S. Forsythe,et al.  Consumer patronage and risk perceptions in Internet shopping , 2003 .

[29]  Bilge Mutlu,et al.  Designing motivational agents: The role of praise, social comparison, and embodiment in computer feedback , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[30]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[31]  Shankar Ganesan.  Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1994 .

[32]  Rajan Varadarajan,et al.  How Task-Facilitative Interactive Tools Foster Buyers’ Trust in Online Retailers: A Process View of Trust Development in the Electronic Marketplace☆ , 2009 .

[33]  Peg Tyre.  Your health in the 21st century. An Rx for kids--with warnings. , 2005, Newsweek.

[34]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer–Seller Relationships: , 1997 .

[35]  H. Raghav Rao,et al.  On risk, convenience, and Internet shopping behavior , 2000, CACM.

[36]  S. Shumaker,et al.  Toward a Theory of Social Support: Closing Conceptual Gaps , 1984 .

[37]  Juan E. Gilbert,et al.  Arthur: A personalized instructional system , 2002, J. Comput. High. Educ..

[38]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Evaluating Anthropomorphic Product Recommendation Agents: A Social Relationship Perspective to Designing Information Systems , 2009, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[39]  L. Harris,et al.  The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: a study of online service dynamics , 2004 .

[40]  Christina Goulding.  Grounded Theory Methodology and Consumer Behaviour, Procedures, Practice and Pitfalls , 2000 .

[41]  David M. Shannon,et al.  Development of a scale to measure the perceived benefits and risks of online shopping , 2006 .

[42]  Seung-A. Annie Jin,et al.  The effects of incorporating a virtual agent in a computer-aided test designed for stress management education: The mediating role of enjoyment , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[43]  Peter A. Todd,et al.  Consumer Reactions to Electronic Shopping on the World Wide Web , 1996, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[44]  Jeffrey C. Johnson.  Selecting ethnographic informants , 1992 .

[45]  Valerie J. Trifts,et al.  Consumer Decision Making in Online Shopping Environments: The Effects of Interactive Decision Aids , 2000 .

[46]  D. Gefen,et al.  E-commerce: the role of familiarity and trust , 2000 .

[47]  P. Thoits.  Social support as coping assistance. , 1986, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[48]  C. Nass,et al.  Machines and Mindlessness , 2000 .

[49]  S. Dash,et al.  The Role of Consumer Self-Efficacy and Website Social-Presence in Customers' Adoption of B2C Online Shopping , 2008 .

[50]  Chang Liu,et al.  Beyond concern - a privacy-trust-behavioral intention model of electronic commerce , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[51]  Sara J. Czaja,et al.  The impact of aging on access to technology , 2005, ASAC.

[52]  Nicole C. Krämer,et al.  "It doesn't matter what you are!" Explaining social effects of agents and avatars , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[53]  Huei Huang Kuan,et al.  Trust transference in brick and click retailers: An investigation of the before-online-visit phase , 2007, Inf. Manag..

[54]  David Gefen,et al.  Managing User Trust in B2C e-Services , 2003 .

[55]  J. Cho.  The mechanism of trust and distrust formation and their relational outcomes , 2006 .

[56]  Stuart Dillon,et al.  Perceived Risk, the Internet Shopping Experience and Online Purchasing Behavior: A New Zealand Perspective , 2005, J. Glob. Inf. Manag..

[57]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Recommendation Agents for Electronic Commerce: Effects of Explanation Facilities on Trusting Beliefs , 2007, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[58]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Effects of Personalizaion and Familiarity on Trust and Adoption of Recommendation Agents , 2006, MIS Q..

[59]  Paul A. Pavlou,et al.  Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce: Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model , 2003, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[60]  R. Iyer,et al.  The elderly's uses and attitudes towards the Internet , 2004 .

[61]  Jacqueline K. Eastman,et al.  The Elderly and Their Attitudes Toward the Internet: The Impact on Internet Use, Purchase, and Comparison Shopping , 2006 .

[62]  W. Johnson,et al.  Task-oriented collaboration with embodied agents in virtual worlds , 2001 .

[63]  Dianne Cyr,et al.  The role of social presence in establishing loyalty in e-Service environments , 2007, Interact. Comput..

[64]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Online Consumer Trust and Live Help Interfaces: The Effects of Text-to-Speech Voice and Three-Dimensional Avatars , 2005, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[65]  Shailey Minocha,et al.  Usability beyond the website: An empirically-grounded e-commerce evaluation instrument for the total customer experience , 2006, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[66]  Clifford Nass,et al.  The media equation - how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places , 1996 .

[67]  Panagiotis Kanellis,et al.  Trust and relationship building in electronic commerce , 2001, Internet Res..

[68]  Justine Cassell,et al.  External manifestations of trustworthiness in the interface , 2000, CACM.

[69]  Norm Archer,et al.  A buyer behaviour framework for the development and design of software agents in e-commerce , 2000, Internet Res..

[70]  S. Tan.  Strategies for reducing consumers’ risk aversion in Internet shopping , 1999 .

[71]  Valerie Woods,et al.  Psychological barriers to Internet usage among older adults in the UK , 2005, Medical informatics and the Internet in medicine (Print).

[72]  Han Yi,et al.  Trust and e-commerce: a study of consumer perceptions , 2003, Electron. Commer. Res. Appl..