Artificial intelligence Attributes & socio psychological factors Influencing the usage of chatbot in Sri Lankan Systemically important banks

Abstract

The research investigates the impact of artificial intelligence attributes (Perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, perceived animacy) and socio-psychological factors (perceived emotional awareness of chatbot and perceived social presence) on the usage of chatbots in Systemically important banks in Sri Lanka. In the positivism realm, deductive approach was followed using survey strategy and a mono-method to collect cross sectional data to investigate perceived anthropomorphism (PAT), perceived intelligence (PI), perceived animacy (PA), perceived emotional awareness of chatbot (PEA), and perceived social presence (PSP) were investigated as factors of usage of chatbots. The data was analyzed through SPSS. The findings revealed that perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, perceived emotional awareness, and perceived social presence predicted the usage of chatbots significantly and positively, while perceived animacy was non-significant. The results help banks develop chatbots that are highly intelligent and anthropomorphic, with emotional awareness and social presence to improve client happiness and adoption rates. Since perceived animacy was non-significant, banks may focus on emotional and functional components rather than realistic animations to boost the efficacy of digital services. This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA), Theory of Mind (TOM), and Social Presence Theory (SPT) as core theories and uses the TAM, UTAUT models as foundations for our research. In updating human-computer interaction models in banking settings, this study goes beyond the SPT, TOM, and CASA theories by showing that perceived and socioemotional factors, rather than animacy, which is not a crucial factor, form the basis of usage of chatbots.