Do parasocial relationships and the quality of communication with AI shopping chatbots determine middle‐aged women consumers' continuance usage intentions?

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) assistants, or chatbots, have become widely used on several retailers' websites. Effective interaction and communication with AI chatbots can deliver a better consumer experience by assisting with decision‐making, ultimately supporting purchase intentions. Based on parasocial theory, this study focuses on how interactions with AI shopping chatbots impact consumers' perceptions of communication quality, satisfaction, and continuance usage intentions. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) was employed to assess the proposed research model using data from 184 Korean middle‐aged women who shop online. Participants completed the shopping process with the assistance of an AI shopping chatbot and responded to survey items about their experiences. In particular, the findings reveal the structural process whereby a consumer's parasocial relationship with an AI shopping chatbot ultimately increases continuance usage intentions through perceived communication quality and satisfaction. The results indicate that a parasocial relationship positively influences communication quality with the chatbot, which in turn increases satisfaction and continuance usage intentions. These findings provide marketers with theoretical and practical guidance for enhancing consumer experiences in the online shopping environment.