  Despite the rising interest in chatbots, deployment has been slow in the
retail sector. In the absence of comparative cross sector research on the user
acceptance of chatbots in retail, we present a model and a research framework
that proposes customer and chatbot antecedents using trust and customer
satisfaction as relationship mediators and word of mouth and expectation of
continuity as relationship outcomes. In determining our framework, we
assimilate constructs from different models and theories overarching user
experience with chatbots, technology acceptance and relationship marketing and
propose a selection of 11 constructs as antecedents. Furthermore, we suggest
retail sectors as one of our 4 moderators. Eventually, we provide insight into
our current activities that is expected to identify which factors impact
relationship outcomes to which extent across different retail sectors.
