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The purpose of this paper is to classify live chat service users in the banking industry and provide relevant descriptive information on each group to be able to suggest appropriate strategies to managers.

A total of 682 panelists from a large Canadian polling firm self-administer a web-based questionnaire. Respondents are users of financial sector live chat services. Two-step cluster analysis was performed.

Four groups emerge from the analysis. Young frequent users (Group 1) attach dominant importance to speed of service, whereas computer users (Group 3) and conservative users (Group 4) who avail themselves of live chat services via computer focus on ease of use.

This study, which details four groups of live chat service users in the banking industry, enables managers to better adapt their strategies to the different market segments with a view to providing customers with better quality service and enhancing their experience.

The study presents the first live chat service classification to detail user profiles and examine differences at the before, during and after phases of the user experience. Findings enrich the body of academic literature in the service sector, in particular literature focusing on customer service in the banking industry. The paper also provides an interesting managerial framework for the implementation of successful, segment-specific strategies.

By adopting a social presence theory perspective, this study aims investigate the influence of perceived usefulness of live chat services and of their unique human attributes on customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the context of online travel shopping.

Based on a cross-sectional survey research involving 8 travel provider websites and 631 travel consumers, this work applies structural equation modelling to analyse the data.

The results illustrate that the perceived usefulness from the communication with a human live chat assistant positively influences customer attitudes and trust towards the website as well as increasing purchase intention. The findings further illustrate the role of the human social cues conveyed by live chat facilities, namely, human warmth, human assurance, human attentiveness and human customised content in positively moderating this effect.

The study is limited to specific human attributes. Future research could investigate the role of other human characteristics as well as assess the ability of artificial intelligent powered chatbots in replicating the human elements outlined in this research.

The study provides a unique contribution to the travel literature by offering empirical insights and conceptual clarity into the usefulness of human operated live chat communication on travellers’ attitudes, trust towards the website and purchase intentions.

Live chat e-service provides a communication platform for online customers to make information inquiries and receive instantaneous assistance from a service representative. It is important for organizations to explore ways to improve their live chat e-service. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new organization–customer communication model (Schema Resonance Model), explicate how schema resonance can be achieved in live chat e-service, and investigate the impact of schema resonance on live chat e-service effectiveness, efficiency, customer satisfaction and intention of continued use.

A post-test only, between-subjects experiment was conducted. A total of 409 participants completed the experiment sessions, and 389 of these participants were used in the analysis.

Research results suggest schema resonance could improve the time efficiency of the live chat e-service while maintaining e-service effectiveness. Schema resonance could increase customer satisfaction with the overall e-service, the communication approach used by the representative and the information provided.

Because a convenience sample was used in the experiment, results cannot be generalized to all live chat e-service users. Future research should include observation of real-world organization–customer live chat e-service sessions.

Organizations can consider applying the Schema Resonance Model in live chat e-service practices to enhance customer satisfaction and increase representatives’ service productivity.

This research proposes and tests a new organization–customer communication model to explore how organizations can improve live chat e-service in response to customers’ information inquiries.

In recent years, numerous banks have introduced live chat systems to their mobile banking (m-banking) applications to help customers address problems that arise while using m-banking. However, few researchers have investigated bank customers' perceptions of live chat in the context of m-banking, known as mobile chat. The present study attempts to fill this research gap and identify potential factors affecting bank customers' intention and attitude toward using mobile chat from the perspective of functional and expected advantages.

A research model was developed integrating three technological characteristics of mobile chat (mobility, reachability and convenience) identified from the mobile service and self-service technology literature with user beliefs involving performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions specified by the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. The proposed model was evaluated using data collected from a field survey of 268 customers with experience in Internet or m-banking at an international bank in Taiwan. The mediating effects of attitude on the relationship between intention and its predictors were also measured.

The results suggest that reachability and convenience influence performance expectancy whereas effort expectancy is affected by all the technological characteristics. Additionally, customers' intention is determined by attitude, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions whereas their attitude depends on the three constructs of user beliefs.

The development of user behavioral research in intelligent customer engagement is lacking in the m-banking literature. This study sheds light on Internet banking and m-banking customers' viewpoints and the salient determinants of their intention and attitude toward using mobile chat. Therefore, the findings allow a broader understanding of customer engagement applications in the banking sector.

The research findings would help banks not only better understand how to deploy useful mobile applications for improving the effectiveness of their mobile service development but also develop adequate mobile strategies to engage with customers more intelligently.

This research provides valuable insight into the relationship between the adoption of intelligent customer engagement tools and the improvement of customer support performance in the context of m-banking. Moreover, this study is among the first to identify the potential mobile technological factors that might affect bank customer expectations from mobile chat applications.

This article details the implementation of a live online chat service which was suddenly necessitated by the worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The approaches used to train chat operators during this time inform both current and future training initiatives toward continuous improvement in this academic library setting.

Chat transcripts from the period of March 2020–April 2021 serve as the dataset for this study.

In bringing a live chat service online during a global pandemic, chat transcripts from this period reveal 19.3% of all chat interactions related directly to COVID-19. The transcripts also reveal the types of questions, whether reference or directional, and these, combined with staffing patterns, indicate that staff were addressing reference questions more often than librarians. In addition, 25.2% of all transactions, whether by staff or librarians, resulted in tickets or referrals to hand off the question to a subject or functional specialist. These findings help to inform targeted face-to-face refresher training for chat operators.

While bringing a live chat service online is certainly not novel, the impetus behind the quick setup was. This unusual circumstance allowed for an in-depth look at the nature of chat and its training requirements and limitations due to campus stay-at-home orders. It also provided a new understanding that influenced subsequent face-to-face trainings.

The University of Nevada, Reno Library offers a general‐information “Chat with us” service through the university Web site in conjunction with the “Ask a librarian” service available through library Web pages. A study of 826 transcripts for the first academic year revealed that 80 percent of chat sessions originated from the university page. The majority of visitors were prospective students with questions related to admissions. Most of the chat operators believe the library should continue providing the university‐wide service. While university offices possess the information to answer many of the questions, librarians are skillful and patient when determining visitors' information needs, and were able to supply appropriate resources. Librarians were proactive in contacting university offices on behalf of chat visitors and provided e‐mail addresses, phone numbers, and URLs as needed. The continued collection and analysis of chat transcripts will help to determine the direction of library and university chat services.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of co‐browse in live chat, customers' question types, referral to subject experts, and patrons' usage patterns as experienced in the virtual reference (VR) chat reference services at Texas A&M University Libraries.

Chat transcripts from 2005 to 2007 were sampled and analyzed by peer reviewers. Statistical data in that period were also examined. A set of methods and a pilot study were created to define the measurement components such as question types, expert handling, and co‐browsing.

Co‐browsing is used in 38 percent of the sampled chat sessions. The Texas A&M University live chat service group considers co‐browsing a useful feature. Of questions received on VR, 84 percent are reference questions. Only 8.7 percent of the total questions or 10 percent of the reference questions need to be answered by subject experts. The use of VR increases dramatically in the past two years at the Texas A&M University. The findings also reveal users' logon patterns over weekdays and weekends.

The study contributes and advances understanding in the role VR plays in a large academic library and the role co‐browsing plays in VR services. The study also provides a comprehensive method for transcript and usage data analysis. It is believed that a similar methodology may be replicated elsewhere by other institutions engaging similar services or evaluation.

To better respond to user needs for personalized information services in the context of academic libraries, this study aims at developing a prototype to provide mobile curation services by using the concept of content curation.

This study used a mobile application software development process, which consisted of five phases: user and organizational requirements, architecture design, navigation design, page design and implementation and usability testing. Usability testing was conducted with a total of 20 college students by online surveys at a university.

Meta-analysis identified key user needs: diversification of services, more personalized services, active communication with librarians, quality improvement of information and interface improvement. User and organizational requirements derived four main service modules – namely, Curation Services, Live Chat, My Page and My Log. Usability testing regarding ease of use, perceived usefulness and satisfaction indicated that participants were satisfied with the prototype.

The study extends the discussion of quality academic library services by introducing the concept of content curation that uses the advantages of mobile technologies to overcome existing limitations in library services insufficient for meeting individual user needs.

Although many studies have discussed mobile library services, few studies have focused on developing a system for such services. The model developed in the study fills the research gap. Above all, the key modules specified by the prototype – Curation Services, Live Chat, My Page and My Log services – are expected to improve existing research and learning support services currently offered by academic libraries.

The development of self-service technologies, while intended to better serve customers by offering them autonomy, has created situations in which individuals may require additional help. The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of chat as an assistance channel, to identify its perceived role in a customer service environment.

In all, 23 semi-structured interviews held with both chat and non-chat users assessed perceptions of chat in an assistance encounter. A thematic analysis was used.

The findings highlight a paradoxical perception of chat in a customer assistance context. On the one hand, customers perceive live chat as mainly beneficial in a customer service context, alleviating embarrassment, perceived threats and potential dissatisfaction linked to assistance requests. On the other hand, the elusive nature of a chat conversation interlocutor (human or artificial) adversely affects how customers interpret assistance from companies.

This research underscores the perceived threats of assistance encounters and shows the ambivalent role of chat in such a context. It also highlights chat’s specific features that make it a relevant medium for assistance requests.

This study helps companies better understand customers’ perceptions of assistance requests and chat in that context. Companies can use the findings to develop better ways to address assistance needs and offer transparent and fully personalized human chat to provide an inclusive service.

This paper highlights the ambivalent role of chat as an assistance channel, easing assistance requests but also entailing a potential negative spillover effect, when negative chat perceptions of an artificial interlocutor have consequences.

This article aims to detail the incorporation of student assistants into a newly implemented chat service. It details the approaches used for training students and developing the chat repertoire.

This article reviews the existing literature on the topics of student assistants participating in library reference services and peer-to-peer engagement. It then details the first step of the transition process used for moving primary chat monitoring responsibility to library student assistants and away from staff and librarians as it existed previously.

Incorporating student assistants into the chat rotation was beneficial to the libraries and to the students participating in the chat service. While librarians and staff enjoyed help in covering the hours, student assistants learned research skills on the job that would potentially assist them in completing their course assignments.

Utilizing student assistants in library chat services is becoming increasingly popular with budget cuts and the scheduling demands that continue to grow for librarians and library staff. This article provides context for incorporating students and shows the value that the students receive via their participation in a chat service.