Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Management

How Verbal and Appearance Cues Shape Customer Evaluations of AI Service Agents

---

Abstract

Fashion retailers increasingly use AI chatbots with diverse looks and personalities to assist customers. Advances in technology enable these AI agents to learn social language nuances and display facial expressions and gestures. Drawing from the CASA paradigm and information richness theory, this study examines how verbal (language tone) and non-verbal (appearance) elements influence customers' perceptions and intentions to use AI services. A 2 (AI agent appearance: professional vs. not professional) x 2 (AI chat language tone: professional vs. casual) online experiment showed that appearance and tone independently increased intention to use AI agents via perceived professionalism, humanlikeness, and social presence, supporting the serial mediation model. Further, the serial mediation effect of tone was significant only when the avatar appeared less professional.

Keywords: AI chatbot, social presence, Humalikeness, CASA, Information richness theory

How to Cite:

Im, H. & Ha, S., (2025) “How Verbal and Appearance Cues Shape Customer Evaluations of AI Service Agents”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 81(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.18687