Humanizing Chatbots for Political Campaigns: How Do Voters Respond to Feasibility and Desirability Appeals from Political Chatbots?

• Published in: Interacting with computers Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 40 - 48
• Main Authors: Kim, Yunju, Lee, Heejun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 23.06.2023
• ISSN: 0953-5438; 1873-7951
• DOI: 10.1093/iwc/iwad024

Informed by the construal level theory (CLT) and accounting for anthropomorphism, we investigated the effectiveness of political chatbots in influencing voting intentions. This study employed a three-way analysis of variance test with a 2 (anthropomorphism: anthropomorphism vs. non-anthropomorphism) × 2 (message type: feasibility vs. desirability appeal) × 2 (political ideology: conservatives vs. liberals) between-subjects experiment (n = 360). The findings reveal that participants showed higher voting intention after conversing with a highly anthropomorphic chatbot (vs. non-anthropomorphic chatbot) and when the chatbot delivered desirability (vs. feasibility) appeals. Participants also exhibited a higher voting intention when the chatbot was less anthropomorphic and it delivered feasibility (vs. desirability) messages. Moreover, we identified the three-way interaction effects of anthropomorphism, message appeal type and political ideology on voting intention. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.