"Hi! How can I help you today?": investigating the quality of chatbots-millennials relationship within the fashion industry

Purpose Chatbots represent one of the most relevant trends within the communication settings and the management of relationships with consumers. New generations, such as millennials are favourable to interact with chatbots instead of human service assistants as they recognise the benefit linked to the technological advancements. Based on these premises, the paper intends to investigate what are the main factors affecting the quality of millennials-chatbots relationships and the new generations' attitude and intention of using them within a specific industry such as the fashion one. Design/methodology/approach In order to achieve the aim, an online survey based on Likert-scale items from previous research has been implemented to test developed hypotheses. Construct reliability and discriminant validity of the hypothetical research model has been tested. Additionally, a partial least square analysis technique has been used with a bootstrapping technique for evaluating the significance level of path analysis. Findings A total of 191 responses have been collected. Most of millennials have familiarity with the concept of chatbot (52.4%). Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of chatbots positively influence the attitude towards using them by millennials. Attitude towards using chatbots positively influence the behavioural intention to use chatbots. Finally, also perceived trust and perceived risk affect the behavioural intention to use chatbots. Research limitations/implications This study enriches the stream of research focused on investigating the acceptance of new technologies and their use for the development of high-quality relationships with customers. This study presents some limitations: the research model has been tested by using a convenient sample; then the study has been tailored for investigating millennials' perceptions in a specific industry; finally, the study focused on relational variables as determinants of using chatbots. Practical implications This study provides professionals operating in the fashion industry with practical and managerial insights relating to the perceptions collected among a precise customer cluster represented by millennials. Originality/value The paper investigates millennials' perceptions about chatbots within a specific industry related to the fashion system. Additionally, the paper explores at what extent relational variables such as trust and risk could affect the quality of millennials-chatbots relationship.