Uncovering the role of virtual agents in co-creation contexts An application to the online wine business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the roles of virtual agents in a virtual co-creation context by exploring their influence on online trust. An empirical study is conducted in the French online wine business to analyse the impacts of different dimensions of virtual agents on generat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc Vol. 56; no. 6; pp. 1232 - 1246
Main Authors Castellano, Sylvaine, Khelladi, Insaf, Charlemagne, Justine, Susini, Jean-Paul
Format Journal Article Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published London Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2018
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Emerald
Subjects
Business administration
Collaboration
Consumers
Consumption
Customers
Humanities and Social Sciences
Innovations
Internet
Product development
Purchase intention
Roles
Studies
Success
Trust
Wines
Wine
Perceived risk
Virtual agents
Co-creation
Online trust
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Summary:Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the roles of virtual agents in a virtual co-creation context by exploring their influence on online trust. An empirical study is conducted in the French online wine business to analyse the impacts of different dimensions of virtual agents on generating online trust. Design/methodology/approach Primary data were collected through a questionnaire targeting French online wine shoppers. Findings The results demonstrate a positive effect of the utility and hedonic functions of virtual agents on online trust. The findings also confirm the moderating role of the perceived risk. Research limitations/implications The authors’ convenience sample shows a bias towards a lack of familiarity with virtual agents. Practical implications Wine business actors need to consider their customers’ profiles in order to better adapt virtual agents’ functionality and hence improve their customers’ level of online trust while reducing their risk perception. Additionally, understanding virtual agents’ roles can help identify the underlying mechanisms that emerge in a co-creation process. Originality/value The study contributes to a better understanding of the human dimension of co-creation by examining the different roles of virtual agents as sources of customers’ online trust.
ISSN:0025-1747
1758-6070
DOI:10.1108/MD-04-2017-0444