They are automated programs that offer support and assistance to humans in making purchases and seeking information by communicating through text ( Przegalinska et al., 2019 Ashfaq et al., 2020).

Under these circumstances, chatbots constitute a prominent AI system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of chatbots in many industries, which, in turn, has encouraged customers to utilize online platforms. In recent years, the burgeoning reliance on chatbots has culminated in technological improvement ( Huang and Rust, 2018). Innovative technologies, such as chatbots, AI, and robotics, are disrupting the customer management systems of industries ( Bowen and Morosan, 2018 Tussyadiah, 2020). Technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) are considered a game-changer in many industries ( Pillai and Sivathanu, 2020), and the interface between businesses and customers are becoming increasingly technology-driven rather than human-driven ( Larivière et al., 2017). Rapidly improving digital technologies have changed the nature of services, customer experiences, and their relationships with companies ( Van Doorn et al., 2017). The findings of this study can serve as a priori research to empirically prove the effectiveness of chatbots with emotion words. Customer satisfaction positively impacts repurchase intention and positive word-of-mouth for both groups. Responsiveness did not have an impact on customer satisfaction for both groups. However, empathy and interactivity positively affect customer satisfaction only for chatbots with emotion words. The results showed that the assurance and reliability of chatbots positively impact customer satisfaction for both groups. The theoretical basis of the study was the SERVQUAL theory, which is widely used in measuring and managing service quality in various industries. A total of 380 responses were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis. An online survey was conducted for 2 weeks in May 2021. This study sought to examine the effect of the quality of chatbot services on customer satisfaction, repurchase intention, and positive word-of-mouth by comparing two groups, namely chatbots with and without emotion words.

School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.

Chatbot service