The power of emojis: Enhancing the willingness to adopt chatbot recommendations

Chatbots have become an integral component of online services in the tourism industry. Emojis, which act as crucial nonverbal cues, have gained widespread attention because of their unique role in enhancing the emotional expression of chatbots. However, the impact of emoji use by chatbots on consumers’ willingness to adopt recommendations has yet to receive sufficient scholarly attention. On the basis of the emotion as social information (EASI) model, this study conducts three online experiments to explore the mechanisms by which emoji use by chatbots influences the willingness to adopt recommendations within the context of tourism services. The findings from the three studies indicate that (1) compared with chatbots that do not use emojis, those that incorporate emojis significantly enhance consumers’ willingness to adopt recommendations; (2) empathy and trust serve as mediators in this relationship; and (3) relationship norm orientation and identity disclosure moderate both the main effect and the mediating effects. This study contributes to the literature on emoji use in chatbots and provides practical insights for tourism companies in the design and deployment of chatbots.