Artificial intelligence empowered conversational agents: A systematic literature review and research agenda

Abstract

Consumer research on conversational agents (CAs) has been growing. To illustrate and map out research in this field, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of published work indexed in the Clarivate Web of Science and Elsevier Scopus databases. Four dominant topical areas were identified through bibliographic coupling. They are 1) consumers’ trust in CAs; 2) Natural Language Processing (NLP) in developing and designing CAs; 3) communication with CAs; 4) impact of CAs on value creation and the value of CAs for business. We leverage these findings to provide an updated synopsis of extant scientific work. Moreover, we draw a framework whereby we identify the: 1) drivers of and motivators for adoption and engagement with CAs; and 2) the outcomes of CA adoption for both users and organizations. Finally, we leverage the framework to develop an agenda for future research.