Chatbot research in the fields of business and information systems: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis

Purpose Chatbots are increasingly embodied in business and IS contexts to enhance customer and user experience. Despite wide interest in chatbots among business and IS academics, surprisingly, there are no current comprehensive reviews to reveal the knowledge structure of chatbot research in such areas. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a mixed-method approach that combines systematic review and bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive synthesis of chatbot research. The sample was obtained in December 2023 after searching across six databases: EBSCOhost, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Computer Society Digital Library. Findings This study reveals the major trend in publication trends, countries, article performance and cluster distribution of chatbot research. We also identify the key themes of chatbot research, which mainly focus on how users interact with chatbots and their consequences, such as users’ cognition and behavior. Moreover, several important research agendas have been discussed to address some limitations in the current chatbot research in business and IS fields. Originality/value The present review is one of the first attempts to systematically reveal the ongoing knowledge map of chatbots in business and IS fields, which makes important contributions and provides useful resources for future chatbot research and practice.