Sectoral Adoption of Chatbots for Customer Service in India: A Consumer-Based Empirical Study
Author : Sriradha Datta Chaudhuri, Dr. Sarbani Mitra and Dr. Tanima Ray
Abstract :
Customer service operations in India are undergoing a paradigm shift due to the rapid developments in the realm of advancement of artificial intelligence. Among the various applications of artificial intelligence, chatbots have emerged as an important tool for automating customer interactions and improving service efficiency. Despite their increasing adoption, the extent of chatbot usage varies considerably across industries due to differences in service characteristics and technological readiness. The present study examines the extent of chatbot usage across six major industrial sectors in India, namely banking & financial services, e-commerce, education, telecommunication, healthcare and lastly hospitality & tourism. The paper also examines the impact of demographic variables. These include gender, age, education, occupation, income and location of residence, on usage of chatbots in the different sectors. Primary data was gathered through a structured questionnaire administered to 657 respondents who had experience interacting with digital customer service systems. Cochran’s Q test was used to examine differences in chatbot usage across sectors. The results reveal statistically significant variations in chatbot adoption across industries. E-commerce and banking & financial services sectors demonstrate the highest levels of chatbot interaction, while healthcare and hospitality and tourism sectors exhibit comparatively lower levels of usage. The findings highlight the role of industry characteristics such as digital transaction intensity and service complexity in shaping chatbot adoption. The study is an attempt to add to the growing body of research on AI-enabled service technologies. At the same time it seeks to provides managerial insights for organizations for effective implementation of chatbot systems in customer service operations.
Keywords :
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Chatbot Adoption, Conversational Agents, Customer Service Systems, Service Automation, Digital Customer Interaction, Industry Sector Analysis, Technology Adoption, AI-enabled Services, Emerging Markets.
