Appreciation vs. apology: Research on the influence mechanism of chatbot service recovery based on politeness theory

• Published in: Journal of retailing and consumer services Vol. 73; p. 103323
• Main Authors: Song, Mengmeng, Zhang, Huixian, Xing, Xinyu, Duan, Yucong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2023
• Subjects: Chatbot; Face concern; Politeness strategy; Post-recovery satisfaction; Time pressure; Time pressure; Chatbot; Post-recovery satisfaction; Politeness strategy; Face concern
• ISSN: 0969-6989; 1873-1384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103323

Failures in human-chatbot interactions are becoming inevitable such as failure of chatbots to maintain contextual awareness. Thus, an effective service recovery strategy is essential for e-commerce enterprises to restore customers and resolve their complaints. Therefore, based on politeness theory, this study explores the fundamental mechanism and boundary conditions for a chatbot politeness strategy (appreciation vs. apology) on consumers' post-recovery satisfaction using four scenario-based experiments. The results indicate that establishing a good human-chatbot relationship (appreciation) is a more effective recovery strategy than admitting the chatbot's limited competence (apology) in redressing service failures; face concern mediates the effect of the politeness strategy on post-recovery satisfaction; and time pressure plays a moderating role in the effect of the politeness strategy on face concern and post-recovery satisfaction. This study extends the research of politeness theory and face concern in the field of chatbot marketing, and provide practical guidance for e-commerce enterprises to deal effectively with chatbot failure. •Based on politeness theory, this study explores the effect of chatbot politeness strategies (appreciation vs. apology) on consumers' post-recovery satisfaction. The politeness theory is innovatively introduced into the human-computer interaction service recovery field, which expands the application scope of the politeness theory.•This study focuses on human-chatbot interaction failure and proposes a new idea of chatbot appreciation for service recovery. This study verifies that establishing a good human-chatbot relationship (appreciation) enhances consumers' post-recovery satisfaction more than admitting the chatbot's limited competence (apology), which adds a new research perspective to the study of chatbot service recovery.•This study introduces time pressure as a situational variable into the study of politeness strategy on post-recovery satisfaction. The findings enrich the boundary conditions of chatbot service recovery.