The Power of AI-Enabled Chatbots as an Organizational Social Listening Tool

This chapter explores the potential of AI-enabled social chatbots as a listening agent for organizations. Informed by a comprehensive review of literature in public relations, computer-mediated communication, and human-machine communication, this chapter presents a holistic framework to theorize how organizations can effectively harness the power of social chatbots for organizational listening. We further discuss how listening via social chatbots may influence public relations effectiveness. In particular, we propose that chatbots’ social conversation characterized by social presence and conversational human voice can enhance perceived organizational listening, which in turn improves perceptual and relational outcomes of perceived organizational transparency, corporate characters, as well as organization-public relationships. We conclude our chapter with strategic implications for organizations’ communication practices.