Do People Trust Female more than Male as a Voice Assistant?

Abstract

The process of human-computer interaction invariably involves voice assistants (VAs) whose gender is a key factor in shaping user perceptions. Existing research into the gender effect of VAs’ voice on perceived credibility of the VAs remains ambiguous and inconclusive. The present study extends literature in this area with a systematic testing of the mediation effect of anthropomorphism, social presence, and the sense of enjoyment in this relationship. An online experiment randomly assigned 120 participants to either a male or female VA voice condition for health-related information. Results show that compared to a male voice, VAs with a female voice are perceived with a higher level of anthropomorphism, which in turn increases perceived credibility of the information. Both theoretical and practical implications of this study were discussed.