Indices for Virtual Service Agent Design: Cross-Cultural Evaluation

Sammanfattning: While localization helps to create websites and mobile apps for specific target markets, not as much attention was devoted to the area of affective virtual service agents. The situation is changing due to advances in affective computing and artificial intelligence. Virtual service agents have the potential to change the way how people interact with information technology by transforming control method from physical gestures to natural language conversation. By having human-like characteristics, the agents can transform impersonal service experience to personal and make an emotional impression on the user or customer. Such message can take different forms and interpretations, depending on national culture and other context. Qualitative data from interviews with experts were used to identify differences in how they are viewed in Sweden and Japan. A survey was then used to quantify the differences using a sample of participants, who were asked to rate the likability and trustworthiness of agents with varying ethnicity, gender and age. The impact of visible visual attributes on their trustworthiness and likability is analysed on a familiar example with virtual service agents at an airport. It was found that each group favours their familiar communication style and recommendations on virtual service agent localization are given.