From Usability to Happiness: Examining the Mediating Role of Flow Experience in Chatbot-Assisted Online Shopping

AI chatbots are increasingly used by the retailers as a digital marketing tool, helpful to determine the behavioral outcomes of consumers in the form of purchase intentions or buying behavior. The study investigates the impact of chatbot usability on purchase-related happiness in the online retail shopping context, while taking flow experience as a mediator. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, the study has conceptualized chatbot usability as stimulus, flow experience as organism, and purchase-related happiness as emotional response of consumers. Data was collected from online customers having an online shopping experience with chatbot interaction. The sample selection was made using a purposive sampling technique to ensure the relevant sample was selected for the study, since the application of chatbots is at an infancy stage in Pakistan and a limited number of the population has chatbot exposure and buying experience using chatbots. The analysis was performed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that chatbot usability positively influences purchase-related happiness directly and via flow experience. These results confirm the significant positive impact of chatbot usability on purchase-related happiness and also the significant positive mediating impact of flow experience between chatbot usability and purchase-related happiness. The current study advances chatbot usability and purchase-related happiness literature. It also highlights the importance of designing usable chatbots to enhance the affective buying experience of online buyers.   Keywords: Chatbot Usability, Flow Experience, Purchase-related Happiness, Stimulus-Organism-Response