Effects of Home Voice Assistants’ Autonomy on Instrusiveness and Usefulness: Direct, Indirect, and Moderating Effects of Interactivity

This research investigates whether interactivity of home voice assistants can reduce the consumer's perceptions of intrusiveness when using these products because of their autonomy. To do so, the authors applied structural equation modeling to 607 questionnaires. The results show that autonomy has a quadratic effect on intrusiveness and usefulness, being more intense for high levels of autonomy. Interactivity reduces intrusiveness both directly and indirectly through brand trust, and interactivity has a positive effect on usefulness. Furthermore, interactivity moderates the effect of autonomy on intrusiveness. These results lead to interesting managerial implications, such as the inclusion of interactive characteristics in smart products to enable consumers to control and communicate with them.