Frontiers in Communication (Jun 2023)
The prospect of digital human communication for organizational purposes
Abstract
IntroductionThere has been a great deal of excitement and discussion about the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to improve business processes by providing more effective delivery options in cost-effective ways. One such way for many companies is the use of chatbots (AI tools to talk to customers) as their first line of customer service communication. Using digital human technology (AI with a digital human) such as a chatbot to improve communication engagement is increasing in many companies. Digital human communication has advantages over other communication modes, such as being available at any time for employees to consume and always having correctly, vetted information to share. Even though digital human technology offers great promise for organizational communication, the potential utility will be impacted by how employees perceive communication. For example, in-person conversations with business leaders or human resources may not be readily available, creating a positive perception of the communication availability of digital humans. However, if employees have a negative bias toward digital human communication, they may not perceive it as an effective source of communication.MethodThis experimental exploratory study was conducted to better understand the satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of digital human communication. It was assessed by using mixed methods across three groups of respondents. One group heard a company announcement in person, the second group read the same announcement in the form of an email, and the last group heard the message from an AI-generated digital human. The digital human created was the same as the in person human and the words were exactly the same. After the communication, the respondents took a survey assessing their satisfaction and perception of the communication modality they received.ResultsIt was found that users were satisfied with all 3 modes of communication, but the email was the most effective tool for most aspects of communication, even surpassing the human one for most aspects of satisfaction and effectiveness. Additionally, there was no perceived difference in organizational support for the 3 groups.DiscussionWhen subjects are exposed to something new, they immediately make an appraisal based on their perception of the usability and gain of that interaction which impacts their willingness to accept new technologies. As per our study, firms can start using Digital humans for communication for corporate announcements and even better would be an interactive digital human.
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