From Stranger to Someone: How Naming Creates Closeness and Buffers Chatbot Service Failure

ABSTRACT Chatbot service failures have become increasingly common across service settings, reducing consumers' willingness to reuse these technologies. This research examines whether naming behavior can preserve reuse intention following chatbot service failure. Across four experiments and a content analysis of naming texts, we find that consumers exhibit higher reuse intention toward chatbots they name themselves than toward chatbots they do not name. By comparing consumer‐assigned, firm‐assigned, and unnamed c…