New USF study: Chatbot empathy can worsen customer reactions
The findings, published today in MISQ Quarterly, challenge the push to make AI more emotionally intelligent
image: Dezhi Yin, University of South Florida Muma College of Business
Credit: USF
Key takeaways:
- Empathy isn’t always effective in AI. Human empathy can calm frustrated customers, but similar responses from chatbots can trigger negative reactions and reduce trust.
- ‘Emotional’ AI can feel intrusive, and customers may become uncomfortable when a nonhuman system appears to recognize or mirror their emotions.
- The findings challenge a core assumption in AI design, suggesting that dialing back emotional cues may improve customer experience.
A PDF of the full journal article is available upon request or by clicking here
TAMPA, Fla. (April 20, 2026) – When a service encounter goes south, customers expect empathy. Hearing an employee say, “I share your frustration,” can calm tensions and rebuild trust.
But new research from the University of South Florida suggests that when a chatbot tries the same tactic, it can backfire.
The study, published today in MIS Quarterly, finds that empathetic responses from AI-powered service chatbots can unintentionally worsen customer reactions.
“Empathy from a chatbot can feel intrusive and undermine trust,” said co-author Dezhi Yin, associate professor of information systems at the USF Muma College of Business.
Across three experiments — including interactions with a live large language model-based chatbot — the researchers examined how customers respond when chatbots acknowledge and mirror users’ negative emotions.
Instead of soothing customers, these empathetic chatbot messages often triggered psychological reactance, a negative emotional response that occurs when people feel their sense of control is threatened or their boundaries are crossed.
Customers reacted negatively to the idea that a nonhuman system could recognize and respond to their emotions. That discomfort made the chatbot seem less competent and reduced overall perceptions of service quality and customer satisfaction.
The findings suggest that customers hold different expectations for humans and artificial intelligence, particularly around emotional awareness. Making chatbots more humanlike is not always the right strategy, especially in sensitive service recovery situations.
Co-authors include Elizabeth Han of McGill University and Han Zhang of Hong Kong Baptist University.
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About the University of South Florida
The University of South Florida is a top-ranked research university serving approximately 50,000 students from across the globe at campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and USF Health. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report recognized USF with its highest overall ranking in university history, as a top 50 public university for the seventh consecutive year and as one of the top 15 best values among all public universities in the nation. U.S. News also ranks the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine as the No. 1 medical school in Florida and in the highest tier nationwide. USF is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group that includes only the top 3% of universities in the U.S. With an all-time high of $750 million in research funding in 2025 and as a top 20 public university for producing U.S. patents, USF uses innovation to transform lives and shape a better future. The university generates an annual economic impact of nearly $10 billion for the state of Florida. USF’s Division I athletics teams compete in the American Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.