Naim Zierau
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Zierau
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Naim
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naim.zierau@unisg.ch
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+41 71 224 3237

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  • Publication
    The Role of AI-Based Artifacts’ Voice Capabilities for Agency Attribution
    ( 2023-07-04)
    Anuschka Schmitt
    ;
    Naim Zierau
    ;
    Andreas Janson
    ;
    Jan Marco Leimeister
    The pervasiveness and increasing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI)-based artifacts within private, organizational, and social realms change how humans interact with machines. Theorizing about the way humans perceive AI-based artifacts is crucial to understanding why and to what extent humans deem these as competent for, i.e., decision-making, yet has traditionally taken a modality-agnostic view. In this paper, we theorize about a particular case of interaction, namely that of voice-based interaction with AI-based artifacts. The capabilities and perceived naturalness of such artifacts, fueled by continuous advances in natural language processing, induce users to deem an artifact as able to act autonomously in a goal-oriented manner. We argue that there is a positive direct relationship between the voice capabilities of an artifact and users’ agency attribution, ultimately obscuring the artifact’s true nature and competencies. This relationship is further moderated by an artifact’s actual agency, uncertainty, and user characteristics.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS)
    Volume: 24
    Issue: 4
    URL: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jais_preprints/99/
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/117368
  • Publication
    Understanding the Design Elements Affecting User Acceptance of Intelligent Agents: Past, Present and Future
    (Springer Science + Business Media, 2022-01-04)
    Elshan, Edona
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Engel, Christian
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    Intelligent agents (IAs) are permeating both business and society. However, interacting with IAs poses challenges moving beyond technological limitations towards the human-computer interface. Thus, the knowledgebase related to interaction with IAs has grown exponentially but remains segregated and impedes the advancement of the field. Therefore, we conduct a systematic literature review to integrate empirical knowledge on user interaction with IAs. This is the first paper to examine 107 Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction papers and identified 389 relationships between design elements and user acceptance of IAs. Along the independent and dependent variables of these relationships, we span a research space model encompassing empirical research on designing for IA user acceptance. Further we contribute to theory, by presenting a research agenda along the dimensions of the research space, which shall be useful to both researchers and practitioners. This complements the past and present knowledge on designing for IA user acceptance with potential pathways into the future of IAs.
    Type: journal article
    Journal: Information Systems Frontiers
    Volume: 24
    Issue: 3
    URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10796-021-10230-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10796-021-10230-9
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/109098
    Scopus© Citations 29
  • Publication
    How Conversational Agents Relieve Teams from Innovation Blockages
    ( 2022-08-09)
    Elshan, Edona
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    Innovation is one of the most important antecedents of a company's competitive advantage and long-term survival. Prior research has alluded to teamwork being a primary driver of a firm's innovation capacity. Still, many firms struggle with providing an environment that supports innovation teams in working efficiently together. Thereby, a team's failure can be attributed to several factors, such as inefficient working methods or a lack of internal communication that leads to so-called innovation blockages. There are a number of approaches that are targeted at supporting teams to overcome innovation blockages, but they mainly focus on the collaboration process and rarely consider the needs and potentials of individual team members. In this paper, we argue that Conversational Agents (CAs) can efficiently support teams in overcoming innovation blockages by enhancing collaborative work practices and, specifically, by facilitating the contribution of each individual team member. To that end, we design a CA as a team facilitator that provides nudges to reduce innovation blocking actions according to requirements we systematically derived from scientific literature and practice. Based on a rigorous evaluation, we demonstrate the potential of CAs to reduce the frequency of innovation blockages. The research implications for the development and deployment of CAs as team facilitators are explored.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM)
    DOI: 10.5465/AMBPP.2022.15648abstract
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/108399
  • Publication
    “I Will Follow You!” – How Recommendation Modality Impacts Processing Fluency and Purchase Intention
    ( 2022-12-09)
    Schwede, Melanie
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Hammerschmidt, Maik
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    Although conversational agents (CA) are increasingly used for providing purchase recommendations, important design questions remain. Across two experiments we examine with a novel fluency mechanism how recommendation modality (speech vs. text) shapes recommendation evaluation (persuasiveness and risk), the intention to follow the recommendation, and how modality interacts with the style of recommendation explanation (verbal vs. numerical). Findings provide robust evidence that text-based CAs outperform speech-based CAs in terms of processing fluency and consumer responses. They show that numerical explanations increase processing fluency and purchase intention of both recommendation modalities. The results underline the importance of processing fluency for the decision to follow a recommendation and highlight that processing fluency can be actively shaped through design decisions in terms of implementing the right modality and aligning it with the optimal explanation style. For practice, we offer actionable implications on how to make effective sales agents out of CAs.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/107996
  • Publication
    Alexa, are you still there? Understanding the Habitual Use of AI-Based Voice Assistants
    ( 2021-12)
    Grünenfelder, Janay Ilya
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    Voice assistants are a novel class of information systems that fundamentally change human–computer interaction. Although these assistants are widespread, the utilization of these information systems is oftentimes only considered on a surface level by individuals. In addition, prior research has focused predominantly on initial use instead of looking deeper into post-adoption and habit formation. In consequence, this paper reviews how the notion of habit has been conceptualized in relation to biographical utilization of voice assistants and presents findings based on a qualitative study approach. From a perspective of post-adoption users, the study suggests that existing habits persist, and new habits hardly ever form in the context of voice assistant utilization. This paper outlines four key factors that help explain voice assistant utilization behavior and furthermore provides practical implications that help to ensure continued voice assistant use in the future.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/109668
  • Publication
    Voice as a Contemporary Frontier of Interaction Design
    ( 2021)
    Schmitt, Anuschka
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    Voice assistants’ increasingly nuanced and natural communication bears new opportunities for user experiences and task automation, while challenging existing patterns of human-computer interaction. A fragmented research field, as well as constant technological advancements, impede a common apprehension of prevalent design features of voice-based interfaces. As part of this study, 86 papers across domains are systematically identified and analysed to arrive at a common understanding of voice assistants. The review highlights perceptual differences to other human-computer interfaces and points out relevant auditory cues. Key findings regarding those cues’ impact on user perception and behaviour are discussed along with the three design strategies 1) personification, 2) individualization and 3) contextualization. Avenues for future research are lastly deducted. Our results provide relevant opportunities to researchers and designers alike to advance the design and deployment of voice assistants.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS)
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/111309
  • Publication
    Female by Default? – Exploring the Effect of Voice Assistant Gender and Pitch on Trait and Trust Attribution
    ( 2021-05)
    Tolmeijer, Suzanne
    ;
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Wahdatehagh, Jalil
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    ;
    Bernstein, Abraham
    Gendered voice based on pitch is a prevalent design element in many contemporary Voice Assistants (VAs) but has shown to strengthen harmful stereotypes. Interestingly, there is a dearth of research that systematically analyses user perceptions of different voice genders in VAs. This study investigates gender-stereotyping across two different tasks by analyzing the influence of pitch (low, high) and gender (women, men) on stereotypical trait ascription and trust formation in an exploratory online experiment with 234 participants. Additionally, we deploy a gender-ambiguous voice to compare against gendered voices. Our findings indicate that implicit stereotyping occurs for VAs. Moreover, we can show that there are no significant differences in trust formed towards a gender-ambiguous voice versus gendered voices, which highlights their potential for commercial usage.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
    DOI: 10.1145/3411763.3451623
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/110453
    Scopus© Citations 28
  • Publication
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/110733
  • Publication
    A Review of the Empirical Literature on Conversational Agents and Future Research Directions
    ( 2020)
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Elshan, Edona
    ;
    Visini, Camillo
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    The knowledge base related to user interaction with conversational agents (CAs) has grown dramatically but remains segregated. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review to investigate user interaction with CAs. We examined 107 papers published in outlets related to IS and HCI research. Then, we coded for design elements and user interaction outcomes, and isolated 7 significant determinants of these outcomes, as well as 42 themes with inconsistent evidence, providing grounds for future research. Building upon the insights from the analysis, we propose a research agenda to guide future research surrounding user interaction with CAs. Ultimately, we aim to contribute to the body of knowledge of IS and HCI in general and user interaction with CA in particular by indicating how developed a research field is regarding the number and content of the respective contributions. Furthermore, practitioners benefit from a structured overview related to CA design effects.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/113192
  • Publication
    The Anatomy of User Experience with Conversational Agents: A Taxonomy and Propositions of Service Clues
    ( 2020)
    Zierau, Naim
    ;
    Wambsganss, Thiemo
    ;
    Janson, Andreas
    ;
    Schöbel, Sofia
    ;
    Leimeister, Jan Marco
    Conversational agents (CAs) represent a paradigm shift in regards to how humans use information systems. Although CAs have recently attracted considerable research interest, there is still limited shared knowledge about the distinctive characteristics of CAs from a user experience-based perspective. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify CA characteristics from existing research. Building on classifications from service experience theory, we develop a taxonomy that classifies CA characteristics into three major categories (i.e. functional, mechanic, humanic clues). Subsequently, we evaluate the usefulness of the taxonomy by interviewing six domain experts. Based on this categorization and the reviewed literature, we derive three propositions that link these categories to specific user experience dimensions. Our results support researchers and practitioners by providing deeper insights into service design with CAs and support them in systematizing and synthesizing research on the effects of specific CA characteristics from a user experience-based perspective.
    Type: conference paper
    Journal: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/113193