Impact of AI Chatbot Service Quality on Brand Loyalty Mediated by Customer Satisfaction in Generation Z Shopee Users in Medan

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has driven e-commerce platforms to adopt AI Chatbots to enhance customer service efficiency; however, the performance of this technology is frequently challenged by high user expectations. This study aims to empirically test and analyze the impact of AI Chatbot service quality on brand loyalty, and to prove the mediating role of customer satisfaction among Generation Z Shopee users in Medan City. This quantitative explanatory study collected primary data through an online structured Likert-scale questionnaire. The sample size is determined to be 385 respondents using the Lemeshow formula alongside a purposive sampling technique. Data analysis was conducted using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach with SmartPLS software. The structural testing (bootstrapping) results prove that AI Chatbot service quality has a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction also has a positive and significant effect on brand loyalty. Directly, AI Chatbot service quality positively impacts brand loyalty. Furthermore, customer satisfaction is proven to significantly mediate the relationship between AI Chatbot service quality and brand loyalty. This study concludes that a responsive and accurate virtual agent does not merely function as an operational support tool but acts as an essential strategic asset that triggers user expectation confirmation, which ultimately transforms a short-term digital interaction experience into a long-term behavioral commitment.