Consumer and Chatbots – A New Level of Interaction: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to synthesize the scientific activity to date on the use of chatbots in market practice. Emphasis is placed on the issues of resulting consumer satisfaction. The cognitive purpose of the article is also to identify future directions of research on chatbots in a scientific and business perspective. The article presents a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of publications published in Scopus and Web of Science databases conducted with the Bibiometrix package in the R environment. In the further part of the article, the analysis of secondary data - mentions of chatbots published on websites- is presented with the help of Brand24 software. A systematic review of the literature indicated the dominance of US, Chinese and UK publications. This raises the assumption that research on consumers and their satisfaction resulting from interactions with chatbots may overlook cultural or linguistic aspects, which are essential for further developing chatbots' anthropomorphic features, their level of social acceptance, or technological anxiety. The analysis conducted with the help of Brand24 software showed a relatively large number of mentions of chatbots. It is important that researchers on the title issue are also an important voice in the social discourse. Academic research on chatbots and their better understanding can help in implementing and accepting social acceptance. The article addresses an important and timely research issue. In light of the research results obtained, it can be concluded that still few scientific publications have been undertaken in this area.