The effect of need for cognition on user effort with voicebot and chatbot interactions

Voice interfaces are considered a more natural and effective means for people to interact with computer systems (Batish, 2018). However, whilst there has been a huge increase in Voice interfaces being created by technology providers, for example, Google (Kinsella, 2019), Amazon (About Amazon, 2018) and Facebook (Jee, 2019), there has been very little research done to determine if people actually do find voice interfaces easier to use (Piccolo, Mensio & Alani, 2019). Individual preferences in cognitive styles, such as Need for Cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), have not been taken into account. This research aimed to examine whether Need for Cognition influences individuals to find it easier to interact over a voice interface than a chatbot interface. Participants’ (N=51) Need for Cognition was measured before interacting with a voicebot and chatbot, and Customer Effort Score (Dixon, Freeman & Toman, 2010) was measured immediately after those interactions. The results showed no significant evidence of voicebots being considered easier to use. The findings are discussed in the context of user understanding and heuristics of voice interfaces, and suggestions for future research are made.