Digital dialogues: Measuring the impact of chatbots on human communication

The utilization of chatbots has become integral to the daily operations of businesses across various sectors owing to advancements in technology. This AI-driven tool has become ubiquitous with almost every service industry leveraging its capabilities. This study aims to effectively explore the practical applications of chatbots. The primary aim of the study was to determine the perceived beneficial use of chatbots by respondents. Toward this aim, a survey was conducted, structured questionnaires were distributed to 200 respondents, and the results of the study were compiled after gathering the data. Through factor analysis, significant factors were identified and categorized into three groups: reliability, functionality, credibility, user friendliness, communication initiation, conveyance, handling, understanding, guiding users, clarity, and informativeness. A structural equation model (SEM) named Reliable, Understanding, Clear Communicating, Handling queries appropriately with chatbots (RUCHC) was constructed, demonstrating a good fit with all significant values such as CFI, GFI, AGFI, NFI, IFI, TLI, and RMSEA. The study's findings embarked on the effective and value-added use of chatbots as perceived by respondents. Generally, chatbots were observed as reliable, clear, error-free, appropriate in terms of design, utility, timely responding, and in several ways observed in the contemporary research work.