Gender Representation in Chatbot Design: Implications for User Experience

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the influence of gender of a chatbot and gender of users on the User Experience, along the dimensions of warmth/friendliness, competence, trust, human-likeness user satisfaction and helpfulness. When interacting with a chatbot, users often categorize the chatbot as female, gender-neutral or male, relying on stereotypes of offline human interactions. Current studies mostly compare only male and female. “Neutral” is often omitted, just as the context it takes place in and the device used, which might play a role. An experiment was done in which participants had dialogues with 3 chatbots with different genders (female-neutral-male) in different contexts (healthcare, financial, e-commerce). After each dialogue (with the same chatbot) participants filled out a questionnaire gauging their experiences. Results showed no significant results as consequence of the manipulations. Nevertheless, some trends are observed, some patterns point at a neutral chatbot being more appreciated, and that perhaps the device it took place plays a role. A follow-up study will take place in which differences in chatbot gender are more strongly operationalized, with more natural interactions in more realistic settings and with many more participants.