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For users, it may be hard to distinguish whether they are communicating with a human or a chatbot. This brings ethical issues, as users have the right to know who or what they are interacting with (European Commission in Regulatory framework proposal on artificial intelligence. <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu\/en\/policies\/regulatory-framework-ai\">https:\/\/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu\/en\/policies\/regulatory-framework-ai<\/jats:ext-link>, 2022). One of the solutions is to include a disclosure at the start of the interaction (e.g., \u201cthis is a chatbot\u201d). However, companies are reluctant to use disclosures, as consumers may perceive artificial agents as less knowledgeable and empathetic than their human counterparts (Luo et al. in Market Sci 38(6):937\u2013947, 2019). The current mixed methods study, combining qualitative interviews (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20098) and a quantitative experiment (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009194), delves into users\u2019 responses to a disclosed vs. undisclosed customer service chatbot, focusing on source orientation, anthropomorphism, and social presence. The qualitative interviews reveal that it is the willingness to help the customer and the friendly tone of voice that matters to the users, regardless of the artificial status of the customer care representative. The experiment did not show significant effects of the disclosure (vs. non-disclosure). Implications for research, legislators and businesses are discussed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-023-01818-7","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,5]],"date-time":"2024-01-05T16:02:27Z","timestamp":1704470547000},"page":"2947-2960","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Understanding users\u2019 responses to disclosed vs. undisclosed customer service chatbots: a mixed methods study"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6904-6515","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Margot J.","family":"van der Goot","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6741-0747","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathalie","family":"Koubayov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3950-3524","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eva A.","family":"van Reijmersdal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"1818_CR1","unstructured":"Amazon Mechanical Turk (2021) Qualifications and worker task quality: happenings at MTurk. 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