Customers still wanted a human after a chatbot fixed their complaint, a 200-person study suggests

Later studies point to ways of improving acceptance. Studies with 75 professionals and 300 online consumers found that faster response time significantly increased chatbot acceptance, and a fourth study of 160 university students found that early, user-initiated handovers to a human were preferred over delayed ones or those triggered by frustration.

The authors conclude that efficient handling can coexist with relational disengagement, and they offer guidance for designing hybrid service systems that combine chatbots and human agents.

The research was published in the Journal of Consumer Behaviour in June 2026. It spans four pre-registered studies using student, professional and online consumer samples, combining between-subjects designs with discrete-choice experiments.

Beyond chatbot versus human preference, the experiments tested chatbot attributes including response speed, autonomy and escalation dynamics. Speed emerged as a significant factor in whether consumers accepted a chatbot.

In the handover study, participants favoured transfers to a human that they initiated early over delayed handovers or ones triggered by their own frustration. The authors say this points to hybrid service designs and extends justice and coping theory beyond human-centred assumptions.