The Impact of social-psychological factors on the behavioural intention to use chatbots of systematically important banks in Sri Lanka: perceived trust in technology as a mediator

Abstract

The study investigates the influence of socio-psychological variables like Perceived Social Presence (PSP), perceived emotional awareness of chatbot (PEA) and explores the mediating role of Perceived trust in technology (PTT) on the Behavioral intention to use Chatbots (BIUC) in systematically important Sri Lankan banks. A deductive approach, within the positivist paradigm, was employed to collect cross-sectional data through a structured survey questionnaire. Data was collected through a survey questionnaire and analyzed through SPSS and Smart PLS. The findings suggested perceived social presence, perceived emotional awareness of chatbot as positive predictors of behavioral intention to use Chatbots. The findings help banks to develop more socially present and emotionally aware chatbots to serve their customers. The research examines how Perceived trust in technology mediates between socio-physiological and behavioral intention to use chatbots based on the theoretical model, Social Presence Theory, Theory of Mind as theories, and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) as the basis for our study. These findings can assist app developers, marketers, and strategists in increasing behavioral intention to use Chatbots through Socio-Psychological factors with Perceived trust in technology.