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TRUVACE RECORD VERSION
record: TRV-2026-2660
version: 1
kind: certified
reason: Certified into the record
timestamp: 2026-11-12T16:57:33.760776Z
status: published
lens: p_space
sector: science
headline: AI Chatbots Versus Human Agents for Customer Service: A Social Belonging Perspective
dek: ABSTRACT Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly transformed customer service, leading to the widespread adoption of AI‐driven chatbots. Despite these advances, consumers consistently prefer human agents over AI chatbots, as documented in both academic research and industry reports. This research proposes a Social Belonging Perspective to explain this phenomenon. We conducted three online experiments involving 587 participants and one study based on real‐world social media data. Our findings indicated that inte…
gain_title: (none)
problem_title: In three online experiments with 587 participants plus a social media data study, interactions with AI customer service chatbots produced weaker purchase intentions than interactions with human agents, with a lower sense of belonging as the mechanism.
trace_subject: (none)
gain_reading: (none)
gain_evidence: (none)
problem_reading: In three online experiments with 587 participants plus a social media data study, interactions with AI customer service chatbots produced weaker purchase intentions than interactions with human agents, with a lower sense of belonging as the mechanism.
problem_evidence: interactions with AI chatbots generated weaker purchase intentions than interactions with human agents | Sense of belonging constituted a central mechanism underlying these consumer responses
quick_read: A peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of Consumer Behaviour reports that customers who dealt with AI chatbots in customer service showed weaker purchase intentions than those who dealt with human agents. The finding comes from three online experiments with 587 participants and one study of real-world social media data.

The authors say a weaker sense of belonging explains the gap. They propose a Social Belonging Perspective to account for why consumers consistently prefer human agents over chatbots, a preference they say is documented in academic research and industry reports.

The effect also varied with context: incidental social experiences that evoke different levels of belonging, and individuals' chronic social connectedness, shaped how people responded. That suggests the penalty for chatbots is not uniform across customers.
limitation: 
tag: Evidence-backed problem
key_points: Three online experiments involved 587 participants in total. | One additional study used real-world social media data alongside the experiments. | Interactions with AI chatbots generated weaker purchase intentions than interactions with human agents. | Sense of belonging was identified as a central mechanism behind the difference. | Incidental social experiences that raise or lower belonging shaped consumer responses. | Individuals' chronic social connectedness also shaped how they responded.
rundown: The research tests why consumers prefer human agents to AI chatbots in customer service. The authors propose a Social Belonging Perspective: dealing with a human supports a sense of belonging that a chatbot does not, and this affects willingness to buy.

The evidence combines three online experiments with 587 participants and one study using real-world social media data. Purchase intentions were weaker after chatbot interactions than after human-agent interactions.

Both situational and personal factors moderated the effect. Incidental social experiences that evoke varying levels of belonging, and people's chronic social connectedness, shaped responses, which the authors take as strong support for their perspective.
sources:
- peer_reviewed | Journal of Consumer Behaviour | https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.70231 | 2026-08-23
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