Interaction Modality and Trust: Investigating System-Driven Conversational Recommendation and Faceted Search

Abstract

This work adopts an interdisciplinary approach to investigate how interactions with conversational recommender systems (CRSs) can foster user trust, compared to faceted search interfaces commonly used in e-commerce. We present an empirical comparison between a system-driven CRS and a functionally equivalent faceted search system, isolating the effect of interaction modality through a between-participants user study (N = 144). Although perceived explainability was strongly associated with trust and anthropomorphism was weakly associated with trust across both conditions, no significant differences between conditions emerged in trust, perceived explainability, or anthropomorphism. In contrast, CRS users reported significantly lower perceived control. This difference reflects a design trade-off: the system-driven structure constrained user actions in order to ensure safe dialogue. Our results suggest that designers must balance the benefits of structured guidance against the agency cost of delegating control to the system.