Trustworthy Virtual Advisors and Enjoyable Interactions: Designing for Expressiveness and Transparency

Online virtual advisors have enjoyed an increased research attention and widespread use in the lastseveral years. In investigating the determinants of their adoption, the majority of extant research hasfocused on a set of utilitarian variables that address some outcomes from their use. In contrast, thisstudy focuses on users’ perceptions of these virtual advisors as interaction partners, and on beliefsusers form during these interactions. Specifically, we propose and test for the effects of perceivedadvisor expressiveness and transparency on perceptions of their trustworthiness and interactionenjoyment. The latter two constructs are further proposed to act as antecedents to users’ reuseintentions. The results of an experimental study lend support to the proposed model, and highlight theimportance of designing social and trustworthy advisors and enjoyable interactions