From Buttons to Bots

Exploring the Impact of Enhanced Features in Voting Advice Applications on Desktops and Smartphones

Dados Bibliográficos

ID17537016
AutoresChristine Liebrecht (0000-0002-6621-2212, Tilburg University, the Netherlands, autor correspondente), Naomi Kamoen (0000-0002-8719-2417, Tilburg University, the Netherlands), Rieke Van Lieshout (0009-0002-7494-6838, Radboud University Nijmegen and Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
Ano2026
Data de publicação2026-03-19
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCommunication Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0093-6502 • E-ISSN: 1552-3810
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00936502261425713
OpenAlexW7138943693
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas30

Voters using Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) often struggle with comprehension, leading to satisficing behavior. Conversational Agent VAAs (CAVAAs) aim to improve understanding by allowing users to ask a chatbot comprehension questions. While early research shows positive effects, studies have only compared CAVAAs to basic VAAs, not to enhanced VAAs (VAA+s) with clickable information buttons. Current study compares four versions: a basic VAA, a VAA+, a CAVAA, and a CAVAA+, tested on desktop (Study 1) and smartphone (Study 2). Results show that all three information-rich versions reduce non-directional answers and positively impact political and tool evaluation measures, suggesting that added information, regardless of format, improves response quality and user experience. Interestingly, users request more information in the enhanced web-based VAA+ than via the chatbot. We discuss these and other findings in the paper

Advice (programming) · Ask price · Chatbot · Comprehension · Quality (philosophy) · Satisficing · Voting · AI in Service Interactions · Multi-Agent Systems and Negotiation · Spreadsheets and End-User Computing