Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Versus Human Agents in Customer Satisfaction: The Role of Warmth and Competence.

This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and human agents affect customer satisfaction and retention by applying the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), focusing on warmth and competence as mediators, with transactional and relational exchanges as moderators. Using two datasets—a real-world retail investment firm’s 887 chat transcripts and a controlled experiment with 989 participants—the study finds that AI chatbots demonstrate higher competence in transactional, efficiency-driven interactions, while human agents exhibit greater warmth in relational, trust-building exchanges. Both warmth and competence positively influence customer satisfaction, which in turn enhances retention, but their effects vary depending on the exchange type. The research suggests that businesses should strategically deploy AI chatbots for high-volume, transactional tasks and human agents for relational interactions to optimize customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty.