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Live support by chatbots with artificial intelligence: A future research agenda

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Abstract

This research uses a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol to investigate the utility of artificially intelligent (AI) conversational chatbots in service business settings. The findings shed light on key theoretical underpinnings focussed on human–computer interactions and clarify the benefits and costs of using responsive chatbot technologies. This contribution implies that, for the time being, works are still in progress for interactive, anthropomorphic chatbots to mimic human customer services agents’ verbal, vocal and visual cues, when they respond to online queries. In conclusion it puts forward plausible research avenues in this promising area of study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Editor-in-Chief Professor Sang M. Lee and Professor Carlos Flavian who was one of the guest editors of a special issue entitled “Implementing Industry 4.0 Technologies in Services: Challenges and Reinventions in Service Business”. They appreciated their suggestions and the critical remarks of their reviewers. They also express their gratitude to Prof. Edward Carl Malthouse (from Northwestern University) for sharing his constructive feedback on this article, prior to its publication by Springer's Service Business.

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  1. Department of Corporate Communication, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, 2080, Malta

    Mark Anthony Camilleri

  2. The Business School, University of Edinburgh, Bucchleuch Place, Edinburgh, Mid-Lothian, EH8 9JS, Scotland, UK

    Mark Anthony Camilleri

  3. Department of Management, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Ciro Troise

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Camilleri, M.A., Troise, C. Live support by chatbots with artificial intelligence: A future research agenda. Serv Bus 17, 61–80 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-022-00513-9

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