Understanding Context: Adjusting Chatbots Design for Construction Suppliers

Sammanfattning

As the use of chatbots expands in sectors such as education and customer service, researchers are showing increasing interest in understanding how the chatbot design influences interaction preferences and user acceptance. One target group that has been overlooked in this discussion are professionals. As their context often requires efficiency and accurate information, the current design of chatbots might be insufficient in completing their demands. This study therefore explores professionals’ current way of gathering information, and what expectations and needs they have for chatbots to uphold the same efficiency. A literature review was conducted to map existing theories, opinions and experiences on the topic. The literature presented commonly applied functions in chatbots used in private sectors. In collaboration with Lindab, these functions were then explored with their stakeholders through qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews and evaluations of ChatGPT. Using a thematic analysis, four design implications were identified. Results demonstrate that professionals in the construction supply industry would use chatbots primarily as tools to find product-specific information. Further, they value transparency and accurate information over anthropomorphic features and efficiency. The findings indicate the importance of designing chatbots in a task-oriented way rather than implementing relationship-building features to facilitate professionals’ information seeking process in increasingly digitalised work environments.