The influence of live customer service on consumers' likelihood of disclosing personal information

Live customer service has been used by many e-commerce brands as a method to gain consumers personal information. Previous research has found that live service agents have a positive influence on consumer perceived service quality and trust. This research aims to examine if certain type of live customer service generate better website and brand perceptions from the consumer and ultimately help in gaining consumer personal information. Results of this experimental design show that avatar selection and exposure did not significantly differ for service quality, trust, attitudes, purchase intention, and likelihood of disclosing personal information. It was also found that customers have a significant likelihood of selecting agents of the same gender.