Consumers’ decision confidence and decision satisfaction with generative AI chatbots: the role of initial trust and perceived information quality

Generative AI (GenAI) chatbots provide consumers with a personalized and flexible interface to search for product information and can assist them with shopping tasks. While studies have begun examining the role of GenAI chatbots for shopping tasks, they tend to emphasize generic consumer adoption rather than how consumers actually interact with them. To address this gap, the present study investigates consumers’ interaction with generative AI chatbots for shopping tasks. Specifically, the study develops a research model that links consumers’ initial trust in GenAI chatbots to assessment of the chatbots’ information quality, conceptualized along dimensions of comprehensiveness, credibility, and timeliness, which, in turn, are linked to consumers’ decision confidence and decision satisfaction. Data were collected from participants tasked with making a purchase decision using GenAI chatbots. Analysis of the data confirms hypothesized relationships. Initial trust is positively associated with all three dimensions of perceived information quality, with perceived credibility showing the strongest relationship. Likewise, all three dimensions of perceived information quality are positively associated with consumers’ decision confidence, with perceived timeliness showing the strongest relationship. Finally, decision confidence is positively associated with decision satisfaction. Together, the findings contribute to the literature by explicating consumers’ interaction with GenAI chatbots for shopping tasks.