Stefan MoranaUniversität des Saarlandes | UKS · Digital Transformation and Information Systems
Stefan Morana
Professor
About
97
Publications
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Introduction
http://www.chatbotresearch.org for the latest news on our chatbot research!
Additional affiliations
March 2020 - May 2020
Saarland University
Position
- Professor (Assistant)
November 2015 - February 2020
February 2012 - December 2015
Education
March 2012 - November 2015
September 2007 - May 2010
September 2004 - August 2007
Publications
Publications (97)
The idea of interacting with computers through natural language dates back to the 1960s, but recent technological advances have led to a renewed interest in conversational agents such as chatbots or digital assistants. In the customer service context, conversational agents promise to create a fast, convenient, and cost-effective channel for communi...
Process knowledge is a vital prerequisite for employees to execute organizational processes successfully in the course of their daily work. However, the lack of process knowledge, especially of novice users, and the need for support pose a challenge to employers. Inspired by research on spatial knowledge and navigation, we conceptualize three proce...
Conversational agents (CAs) are software-based systems designed to interact with humans using natural language and have attracted considerable research interest in recent years. Following the Computers Are Social Actors paradigm, many studies have shown that humans react socially to CAs when they display social cues such as small talk, gender, age,...
Conversational agents (CAs), described as software with which humans interact through natural language, have increasingly attracted interest in both academia and practice, due to improved capabilities driven by advances in artificial intelligence and, specifically, natural language processing. CAs are used in contexts like people's private life, ed...
Data is ubiquitous in today’s digitized society. However, access to and literacy in handling data plays a pivotal role in determining who can benefit from it and who can use—or potentially misuse—it. To combat inequalities and address issues such as misinformation, it is essential to enable citizens to effectively access and understand data within...
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Abstract
This study presents a systematic literature review to understand the applications, benefits, and challenges of digital assistants (DAs) in production and logistics tasks. Our conceptual framework covers three dimensions: information management, collaborative operations, and knowledge transfer. We evaluate hu...
The increasing need for organ donations remains a worldwide challenge as transplant waiting lists grow and donation rates persist at constant levels. The increasing popularity of conversational agents (CAs) has prompted new strategies for educating and persuading individuals to adjust their cognitive and behavioral beliefs and become donors. Howeve...
Donating blood is a selfless act that impacts public welfare, potentially saving human lives. However, blood shortage is a rising worldwide issue due to increased demand. Thus, finding ways to animate and motivate potential donors to donate blood is paramount. In this context, conversational agents (CAs) offer a promising approach to educating , pr...
To leverage the complementary strengths of humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in online service encounters, firms have begun to use hybrid service agents: combinations of AI agents (e.g., chatbots) and human agents (e.g., service employees) behind a single interface. However, it is unclear whether firms should be transparent about behind-the-s...
Just-in-time delivery, shorter product life cycles, demographic changes, and the Covid-19 pandemic have driven the industrial application of collaborative robots in warehouses. These robots work alongside humans, increasing their productivity and relieving them of repetitive or strenuous tasks. However, human workers can be reluctant to collaborate...
Die Lagerhaltung ist in vielen Unternehmen sehr arbeits- und kostenintensiv. Die Digitalisierung und Automatisierung von manuellen Lagerprozessen können die Effizienz steigern, Kosten senken und Mitarbeitende entlasten. Dabei finden kollaborative Roboter, die sich Arbeitsaufgaben mit Mitarbeitenden teilen, zunehmend Anwendung in Lagerhäusern. Der u...
User input is essential for the successful development of question-and-answer (QA) chatbots. Therefore, interactive development systems are emerging that allow developers to involve test-users in the QA chatbot development process. Although the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach have been demonstrated, there is a lack of knowledge on ho...
Zusammenfassung
Der Einsatz von Sprachassistenten (Alltagsbeispiele sind Alexa von Amazon, Siri von Apple oder der Chatbot von Hellofresh) hat auch im Gesundheitswesen Einzug gehalten. Ein aktuelles Beispiel ist der WhatsApp Chatbot der WHO, welcher Nutzer:innen über COVID-19 aufklärt. Sprachassistenten haben die Fähigkeit, Patienten und Patientinn...
Background
Mental disorders in adolescence and young adulthood are major public health concerns. Digital tools such as text-based conversational agents (ie, chatbots) are a promising technology for facilitating mental health assessment. However, the human-like interaction style of chatbots may induce potential biases, such as socially desirable res...
Car-sharing services promise environmentally sustainable and cost-efficient alternatives to private car ownership, contributing to more environmentally sustainable mobility. However, the challenge of balancing vehicle supply and demand needs to be addressed for further improvement of the service. Currently, employees must relocate vehicles from low...
Research has shown that employing social cues (e.g., name, human-like avatar) in chatbot design enhances users’ social presence perceptions and their chatbot usage intentions. However, the picture is less clear for the social cue of chatbot response time. While some researchers argue that instant responses make chatbots appear unhuman-like, others...
Contact-tracing apps represent an algorithm-based technology with significant potential to help address the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating swift case isolation. However, low adoption rates have prevented these apps from tapping their full potential. A key barrier to adoption has been citizens' uncertainty surrounding contact-tracing apps. In thi...
In the human interaction with CAs, research has shown that elements of persuasive system design, such as praise, are perceived differently when compared to traditional graphical interfaces. In this experimental study, we will extend our knowledge regarding the relation of persuasiveness (namely dialog support), anthropomorphically designed CAs, and...
Conversational agents (CAs) are rapidly changing the way humans and computers interact. Through developments in natural language processing, CAs are increasingly capable of conducting human-like conversations with users. Furthermore, human-like features (e.g., having a name or an avatar) lead to positive user reactions as if they were interacting w...
To facilitate a synchronous communication with website users, numerous organizations have started implementing live chats on their websites. The current study asks whether and when the mere presence of live chats affects website users' disclosure of personal information on a website. The findings of two empirical studies reveal that the mere presen...
Contact-tracing apps are considered one of the core information technologies to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they need to be adopted broadly to be effective. In this study, we apply the concept of algorithmic transparency (AT) to contact-tracing apps and hypothesize that users prefer apps with a high level of disclosur...
Order picking is a key task in almost all supply chains and has a significant effect on operational efficiency of warehouses. Although most companies still rely on manual order picking, research on diverse possibilities to automate order picking tasks or support human order pickers with technology is increasing rapidly.
This paper conceptualises O...
Die Einführung neuer Technologien im Zuge von Industrie 4.0 verspricht umfangreiche Effizienz- und Qualitätssteigerungen. Jedoch verändert die Einführung neuer Technologien auch die Arbeitsumgebung für die Beschäftigten. Wird dies vernachlässigt, kann es zu nicht antizipierten negativen Auswirkungen auf das Gesamtsystem kommen. Eine ganzheitliche S...
Information dashboards are a critical capability in contemporary business intelligence & analytics systems. Despite coming with strong potential to support better decision making, the huge amount of information provided challenges their users when they perform data exploration tasks. Accordingly, dashboard users face difficulties in managing their...
Conversational agents (CAs) are rapidly changing the way humans and computers interact. Through developments in natural language processing, CAs are increasingly capable of conducting human-like conversations with users. Furthermore, human-like features (e.g., having a name or an avatar) lead to positive user reactions as if they were interacting w...
In the human interaction with CAs, research has shown that elements of persuasive system design, such as praise, are perceived differently when compared to traditional graphical interfaces.
In this experimental study, we will extend our knowledge regarding the relation of persuasiveness (namely dialog support), anthropomorphically designed CAs, an...
Domain experts with their special knowledge and understanding of a specific field are critical in the development of chatbots. However, engaging domain experts in the chatbot development is time-consuming and cumbersome because developers lack adequate systems. We address this problem by proposing three design principles for interactive chatbot dev...
a) Problem faced: Organizations specify the processes to be followed to standardize employees' work and improve their process execution. Users' lack of process knowledge is a challenge in this context. Em-ployees' process knowledge is a necessary prerequisite for proper process execution and a critical factor in successful process standardization ,...
Developing successful chatbots is a non-trivial endeavor. In particular, the creation of high-quality natural language responses for chatbots remains a challenging and time-consuming task that often depends on high-quality training data and deep domain knowledge. As a consequence, it is essential to engage experts in the chatbot response developmen...
Robo-advisors promise to offer professional financial advice to private households at low cost. However, the automation of financial advisory processes to fully-digitalized services often goes hand in hand with a loss of human contact and lack of trust. Especially in an investment context, customers demand a human involved to ensure the trustworthi...
Chatbots sind softwarebasierte Systeme, die mittels natürlicher Sprache mit Menschen interagieren. Viele Unternehmen setzen zunehmend auf Chatbots, um Kunden bei der Suche nach Informationen über Produkte oder Dienstleistungen und bei der Durchführung einfacher Prozesse zu unterstützen. Nichtsdestotrotz ist die Akzeptanz von Chatbots bei vielen Nut...
Purpose
This article reports the results from a panel discussion held at the 2019 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) on the use of technology-based autonomous agents in collaborative work.
Design/methodology/approach
The panelists (Drs Izak Benbasat, Paul Benjamin Lowry, Stefan Morana, and Stefan Seidel) presented ideas related to a...
A recent UNESCO report reveals that most popular voice-based conversational agents are designed to be female. In addition, it outlines the potentially harmful effects this can have on society. However, the report focuses primarily on voice-based conversational agents and the analysis did not include chatbots (i.e., text-based conversational agents)...
Social cues (e.g., gender, age) are important design features of chatbots. However, choosing a social cue design is challenging. Although much research has empirically investigated social cues, chatbot engineers have difficulties to access this knowledge. Descriptive knowledge is usually embedded in research articles and difficult to apply as presc...
Conversational agents currently attract strong interest for technology-based service provision due to increased capabilities driven by advances in machine learning and natural language processing. The interaction via natural language in combination with a human-like design promises service that is always available, fast, and with a consistent quali...
Purpose: This article reports the results from a panel discussion held at the 2019 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) on the use of technology-based autonomous agents in collaborative work. Approach: The panelists (Drs. presented ideas related to affective and cognitive implications of using autonomous technology-based agents in term...
This article summarizes the panel discussion at the International Conference on Wirtschafts-informatik in March 2019 in Siegen (WI 2019) and presents different perspectives on AI-based digital assistants. It sheds light on (1) application areas, opportunities, and threats as well as (2) the BISE community’s roles in the field of AI-based digital as...
Purpose: This article reports the results from a panel discussion held at the 2019 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) on the use of technology-based autonomous agents in collaborative work.
Approach: The panelists (Drs. Izak Benbasat, Paul Benjamin Lowry, Stefan Morana, and Stefan Seidel) presented ideas related to affective and cog...
In Design Science Research (DSR) it is important to build on descriptive (Ω) and prescriptive (Λ) state-of-the-art knowledge in order to provide a solid grounding. However, existing knowledge is typically made available via scientific publications. This leads to two challenges: first, scholars have to manually extract relevant knowledge pieces from...
Design science research (DSR) aims to deliver innovative solutions for real-world problems. DSR produces Information Systems (IS) artifacts and design knowledge describing means-end relationships between problem and solution spaces. A key success factor of any DSR research endeavor is an appropriate understanding and description of the underlying p...
Chatbots are software-based systems designed to interact with humans using text-based natural language and have attracted considerable interest in online service encounters. In this context, service providers face the challenge of measuring chatbot service encounter satisfaction (CSES), as most approaches are limited to post-interaction surveys tha...
Chatbots have attracted considerable interest in recent years. A key design challenge to increase their adoption is to make the interaction with them feel natural and human-like. Therefore, it is suggested to incorporate social cues in the chatbot design. Drawing on the Computers are Social Actors paradigm and the "uncanny valley" hypothesis, we st...
User assistance systems are often invoked automatically based on simple triggers (e.g., the assistant pops up after the user has been idle for some time) or they require users to invoke them manually. Both invocation modes have their weaknesses. Therefore, we argue that, ideally, the assistance should be invoked intelligently based on the users’ ac...
The information systems (IS) field contains a rich body of knowledge on approaches, methods, and frameworks that supports researchers in conducting design science research (DSR). It also contains some consensus about the key elements of DSR projects—such as problem identification, design, implementation, evaluation, and abstraction of design knowle...
Forecasting with high uncertainty and long-time horizons still challenges researchers and practitioners. A widely adopted method in knowledge sharing and forecasting based on experts is the Delphi method and its offspring, the Real-Time Delphi. While the traditional Delphi method already is intensely investigated, the Real-Time Delphi is still evol...
Like all research projects, researchers should carefully plan and manage
design projects to ensure valid and meaningful research outcomes. In this
paper, we present the Design Canvas concept implemented in the MyDesignProcess.
com platform. The Design Canvas captures the most important dimensions
of a design project and displays them at a glance. I...
Fraud and Manipulation are recently observed problems in prediction markets. While research regarding the detection and the effect of manipulation on forecasting accuracy exists, it does merely regarding the prevention of this phenomena. In an Action Design Research project, we implemented and evaluated four design elements to prevent fraud and man...
A key challenge in designing conversational user interfaces is to make the conversation between the user and the system feel natural and human-like. In order to increase perceived humanness, many systems with conversational user interfaces (e.g., chatbots) use response delays to simu-late the time it would take humans to respond to a message. Howev...
User assistance systems can help practitioners making decision for logistical problems, for example those arising in healthcare. Optimisation approaches included in such a system to determine an (optimal) solution often need to address more than one and often conflicting objectives leading to a number of alternative solutions of similar quality. Th...
Reducing and shifting energy consumption could contribute significantly to a more sustainable use of energy in households. Studies have shown that the provision of feedback can encourage consumers to use energy more sustainably. While there is wide variety of energy feedback solutions ranging from in-home displays to mobile applications, there is a...
Health care is a domain characterized by low and slow adoption of IS compared to other domains, such as manufacturing or avionics. It seems to be promising to transfer existing (design) knowledge and solutions from these domains to the HIS context to increase effectiveness of HIS by, for example, improving usability of HIS and accessibility to assi...
Nutzerassistenz unterstützt Anwender dabei, ihre Aufgaben unter Verwendung von Informationstechnologie besser auszuführen. In der Vergangenheit haben sich Assistenzfunktionen im Wesentlichen auf die von Anwendern explizit eingeforderten textuellen Hilfefunktionen beschränkt. Die rasante Entwicklung der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie bi...
User assistance systems are often invoked automatically based on simple triggers (e.g., the assistant pops up after the user has been idle for some time) or they require users to invoke them manually. Both invocation modes have their weaknesses. Therefore, we argue that, ideally, the assistance should be invoked intelligently based on the users’ ac...
Researchers and survey designers face the challenge of low data quality as web surveys are often not compelling. Thus, participants’ engagement declines while completing a survey resulting in partici-pants tend to apply satisficing behavior (e.g. speeding, straightlining)in order to complete the questionnaire or even break-off the completion of the...
The design of user interface is known to influence the users’ attention while they are interacting with applications such as Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A) dashboards. BI&A dashboards are considered as critical be-cause they contain a lot of compressed information and managers only spend a little time to process the provided information...
Design Science Research (DSR) is now an accepted research paradigm in the Information Systems
(IS) field, aiming at developing purposeful IT artifacts and knowledge about the design of IT artifacts. A rich body
of knowledge on approaches, methods, and frameworks supports researchers in conducting DSR projects. While
methodological guidance is abund...
Guidance design features in information systems are used to help people in decision-making, problem solving, and task execution. Various information systems instantiate guidance design features, which have specifically been researched in the field of decision support systems for decades. However, due to the lack of a common conceptualization, it is...
Wissensmanagement ist eine komplexe Aufgabe, welche oftmals von existierenden Wissensmanagementsystemen nur unzureichend unterstützt wird. Insbesondere in Projekten, in welchen Projektmitarbeiter meist einen heterogenen Hintergrund haben und nur für eine begrenzte Zeit zusammenarbeiten, ist das Wissensmanagement eine große Herausforderung. Projektw...
For decades, IS researchers have discussed the reliability of subjective measurements to assess actual artifact usage. Especially in experimental settings, as in the design science context for instance, the participants’ usage data of the evaluated artifact represents an important point of analysis. However, collecting objective usage data, (i.e. l...
Many Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems worldwide handle emergency rescues as well as patient transports and dispatchers need to assign ambulances to incidents manually throughout the day. The management of the complex system together with the manual assignments can easily create stress for and pressure on the dispatchers. Mathematical algorit...
The nature of information system provision has changed as the business models of software firms are continually changing towards software-as-a service and platform-as-a-service solutions. Involving end users in a continuous development of such information systems promises to increase the overall system’s success. The conceptualization and actual re...
Nach ihrer Fertigstellung wurde die ProjectWorld in einem Soft-Launch-Verfahren bei der Movilitas eingeführt. Zu Beginn erhielt eine kleine, ausgewählte Gruppe von Mitarbeitern einen Zugang zur ProjectWorld, um diese vor der Einführung in einer kompletten Abteilung zu testen. Die Gruppe bestand aus einem Geschäftsführer, einem Projektmanager sowie...