Trust in Digital Voice Assistants: A Fundamental Determinant for Companies’ and Customers’ Engagement in Voice Commerce

Voice shopping, i.e., shopping via conversational interactions with digital voice assistants, is currently on the rise but still in its infancy in Germany. In the context of voice commerce, companies may utilize digital voice assistants as an additional communication and distribution channel. However, users’ entry into voice shopping is crucially determined by their adoption of digital voice assistants. In this context, privacy concerns are the primary challenge for the dissemination and acceptance of digital voice assistants impeding the advancement of voice shopping. Similar to the past emergence of electronic commerce, trust seems to be the ultimate and decisive factor for the willingness to use digital voice assistants and engage in voice-based interactions and transactions. We set up a model by combining the typology of trust with the established technology acceptance model applied to the context of digital voice assistants. In an empirical study, we test our model and found that, e.g., trust reduces perceived privacy risks and positively influences users’ attitudes and intentions towards and subsequently use of digital voice assistants. We found various routes of trust in the use of digital voice assistants as a necessary condition for users’ adoption. Our results provide insights into important antecedents for the dissemination of digital voice assistants and subsequently for the adoption of voice commerce into companies’ business models.