Conversational agents and charitable behavioral intentions: The roles of modality, communication style, and perceived anthropomorphism

Abstract

Conversational agents (CAs) are increasingly utilized by organizations for fundraising and volunteer recruitment. Yet, little is understood about how voice-based CAs could serve these purposes optimally. This experimental study therefore compares voice-based CAs against text-based ones in terms of their ability to foster users’ intentions to make charitable contributions, and investigates the potential mediation of such effects by two dimensions of user-perceived anthropomorphism. Additionally, it examines how a CA’s communication style moderates these effects. It found that, when a voice-based CA employed a formal communication style, mindless anthropomorphism was a significant mediator of its positive association with charitable behavioral intentions. Conversely, when employing an informal communication style, a text-based CA elicited significantly higher levels of mindful anthropomorphism, and also was positively linked to charitable behavioral intentions. These findings expand our theoretical understanding of how CA modalities influence people’s moral responses toward computers; how this effect could be impaired, or strengthened, by different communication styles; and the underlying mechanisms of two dimensions of anthropomorphism. Practical implications are also discussed.