The role of social proof in electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on trust and adoption of AI-powered chatbots

Abstract

Digital consumer reviews are crucial in building trust and the adoption process of new products. Building on this, this study examined how electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in the form of online reviews affects consumer trust and adoption intention for AI-powered chatbots and whether there is a difference to non-AI products. For this purpose, a between-subject experiment was chosen (n=326), in which participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (positive vs. negative review valence combined with AI chatbot vs. non-AI app). After the participants were exposed to a large number of reviews in one of these scenarios, it was measured how the participants' trust and adoption intention behaved. A moderated mediation analysis was conducted with trust as a mediator and product type as a moderator. The results show that eWOM valence promotes trust, which in turn has a positive effect on the adoption intention. These findings indicate that trust fully mediates the effect of eWOM valence on the adoption intention. Furthermore, the effect of eWOM on trust and adoption did not differ between the AI and non-AI conditions. These results further contribute to the theory of eWOM, technology adoption, and social proof by providing practical and theoretical implications for how to increase trust in AI products and consequently adoption intention.

Date of Award	7 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa de Almeida (Supervisor)