Enhancing digital service communication strategies

Purpose- Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this study aims to explore how digital service communication strategies affected customers' e-service agent use intentions through perceived warmth and competence.Design/methodology/approach - Lambda 2 x 2 scenario-based experiment was conducted to test the proposed relationships.Findings- Findings indicated when a high-authority conversation party was engaged in digital service communications, customers showed higher e-service agent use intentions through perceived warmth and competence in an emoji-presence conversation style.Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to explore the effects of digital service communication strategies on customers' internal and behavioral responses.