Not with the bot! The relevance of trust to explain the acceptance of chatbots by insurance customers

Industry 4.0 is reshaping the insurance sector, with chatbots enabling policyholders to manage policies and interact with insurers. This study analyzes policyholders’ attitudes toward using conversational bots for tasks such as claims reporting, and examines how perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust explain attitude and behavioral intention to use chatbots. Using a structured survey of policyholders and a TAM-based structural model, we find low acceptance of chatbots for insurance procedures. The proposed model shows good fit and predictive capability. While perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use matter, trust has the largest impact, directly influencing attitude and indirectly shaping perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The findings underscore the importance of building trust, alongside improving chatbot utility and usability, to reduce customer reluctance.