Robots are the next wave in service technology; however, this advanced technology is not perfect. This research examines how social perceptions regarding the warmth and competence of service robots ...influence consumer reactions to service failures and recovery efforts by robots. We argue that humanoid (vs. nonhumanoid) service robots are more strongly associated with warmth (whereas competence does not differ). This tendency to expect greater warmth from humanoid robots has important consequences for service firms: (i) consumers are more dissatisfied due to lack of warmth following a process failure caused by a humanoid (vs. nonhumanoid; Study 1); (ii) humanoids (but not nonhumanoids) can recover a service failure by themselves via sincere apology, restoring perceptions of warmth (Study 2A); (iii) humanoids (but not nonhumanoids) can also effectively provide explanations as a recovery tactic (Study 2B); and, importantly, (iv) human intervention can be used to mitigate dissatisfaction following inadequate recovery by a nonhumanoid robot (Study 3), supporting the notion of human-robot collaboration. Taken together, this research offers theoretical implications for robot anthropomorphism and practical implications for firms employing service robots.
Implementing health protocols, wearing masks, and maintaining physical distance in the service facilities are necessary during this Covid-19 pandemic. So, we need a health appeal message in the ...service industry to discipline consumer behavior. This study examines the effects of anthropomorphic persuasive appeal on consumer protective behavior. This study consists of two studies and used an experimental method. The results showed that the anthropomorphic persuasive message made consumers feel more fear, understand the message more easily, and perceive that the object had more power. The effect of messages on protective behavior is significantly mediated by fear. Meanwhile, ease of understanding and power are not significant mediations. Study 2 which focuses on the application in service facilities also shows that anthropomorphic appeal can influence protective behavior. These results indicate that the emotional aspect, in this case, the fear of consumers, has more influence on protective behavior.
The rise of humanoid robots in hospitality services accelerates the need to understand related consumer reactions. Four scenario-based experiments, building on social presence and social cognition ...theories, examine how humanoid robots (vs. self-service machines) shape consumer service perceptions vis-à-vis concurrent presence/absence of human staff. The influence of consumers' need for human interaction and technology readiness is also examined. We find that anthropomorphizing service robots positively affects expected service quality, first-visit intention, willingness to pay, as well as increasing warmth/competence inferences. However, these effects are contingent on the absence of human frontline staff, explained by viewing anthropomorphism as a relative concept. Humanoid robots increase psychological risk, but this poses no threat to expected service quality when consumers' need for human interaction is controlled for. Additionally, we show that a humanoid robot's effect on expected service quality is positive for all but low technology readiness levels. Further implications for theory/practice are discussed.
In this study, we examine how two message appeals—feasibility vs. desirability—and anthropomorphism jointly shape the effectiveness of environmental persuasion. The findings of Study 1 showed that ...the feasibility appeal was more effective than the desirability appeal in an ad promoting recycling. In Study 2, we found that this effect was moderated by anthropomorphic imagery in the ad. That is, the desirability appeal was more effective than the feasibility appeal when the ad featured a reusable cup with a smiley face and first-person copy, whereas the feasibility appeal was more effective than the desirability appeal when the ad featured a reusable cup with no smiley face and third-person copy. Theoretical and practical implications for sustainability marketing strategies are discussed.
Thriving attention has been paid to the process and concept of anthropomorphism in marketing literature, as the concept is considered to be a precursor of positive marketing outcomes. However, prior ...studies have not clarified the position or role of inductive reasoning and anthropomorphism or explained the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumers' individual dispositions. This paper aims to delve into the relationship between consumer psychological and dispositional motivational traits for a given product advertisement that has been personified and imbued with human body features. Building on the literature, a conceptual model has been proposed in which the psychological process-agent knowledge and dispositional motivation to meet social needs have been taken as independent variables positively related to one another and also related individually to the two distinct dimensions of anthropomorphism (i) physical anthropomorphism and (ii) anthropomorphic thinking. Furthermore, it was empirically tested if these two dimensions and these independent variables are linked in a sequential manner. The results show that the need for belonging is positively associated with agent knowledge acquisition, physical anthropomorphism, and anthropomorphic thinking for a given stimulus. Similarly, agent knowledge induced by a humanized stimulus was also positively associated with the two dimensions of anthropomorphism. Furthermore, the two dimensions had a positive relationship with one another. Finally, the need for belonging is also positively associated with agent knowledge and two dimensions of anthropomorphism in a sequential manner. Findings indicate that marketers need to take into account dispositional and psychological factors which might ultimately affect their anthropomorphic inferences in order to induce anthropomorphic thinking because of which positive marketing outcomes take place.
Digital assistant is a recent advancement benefited through data-driven innovation. Though digital assistants have become an integral member of user conversations, but there is no theory that relates ...user perception towards this AI powered technology. The purpose of the research is to investigate the role of technology attitude and AI attributes in enhancing purchase intention through digital assistants. A conceptual model is proposed after identifying three major AI factors namely, perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence, and perceived animacy. To test the model, the study employed structural equation modeling using 440 sample. The results indicated that perceived anthropomorphism plays the most significant role in building a positive attitude and purchase intention through digital assistants. Though the study is built using technology-related variables, the hypotheses are proposed based on various psychology-related theories such as uncanny valley theory, the theory of mind, developmental psychology, and cognitive psychology theory. The study’s theoretical contributions are discussed within the scope of these theories. Besides the theoretical contribution, the study also offers illuminating practical implications for developers and marketers’ benefit.
AI-based smart healthcare services are emerging as promising tools to improve efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare service delivery. This study aimed to examine the roles of trust and three ...AI-specific characteristics (i.e., personalization, loss of privacy, anthropomorphism) in public acceptance of smart healthcare services based on an extended Technology Acceptance Model. The model's validity was confirmed using a partial least squares structural equation modeling technique based on data collected from 769 survey samples. Multigroup analyses were conducted to determine whether the path coefficients differed by gender, age, and usage experience. The results showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and the three AI-specific characteristics were important determinants of public acceptance of smart healthcare services, whose roles were fully or partially mediated by trust. Trust, perceived usefulness, and personalization directly determined behavioral intention to use smart healthcare services. The relationships among antecedent factors and behavioral intention to use smart healthcare services were also moderated by gender, age, and usage experience. The study demonstrated the critical roles of personalization, loss of privacy, and anthropomorphism in shaping public trust and acceptance of smart healthcare services. The results offer important theoretical and practical implications for the design and implementation of such services.
•The present study investigated factors affecting public acceptance of smart healthcare services.•Personalization, loss of privacy, and anthropomorphism were verified as important antecedents of user acceptance behavior.•The effects of personalization, loss of privacy, and anthropomorphism on user acceptance behavior were mediated by trust.•Gender, age, and usage experience could moderate the relationships among antecedent factors and acceptance behavior.
Humanoid robots should play an increasing role in hospitality and tourism services. Anthropomorphic - human like - characteristics seem critical component to consumers accepting robotic service ...(rService). This conceptual manuscript advances rService research by drawing on services marketing, Human Robot Interaction (HRI) and the Uncanny Valley Theory to explore anthropomorphic characteristics' range, role and impact on rService experiences. The paper proposes eleven robot capabilities that influence anthropomorphism and consequently shape HRI, three Uncanny Valley marketing outcomes, theoretical concepts, and a rich future research agenda. Hospitality and tourism literature and examples highlight the service context's importance when researching, adopting, implementing and marketing rServices.
As with other businesses, tourist companies are taking advantage of modern technologies. Chatbots are a recent technology that hotels, travel agencies, and airline companies are adopting. Despite ...this industry-wide implementation, there is no evidence about the factors that explain why consumers are willing to interact with chatbots. This work proposes a model to explain chatbot usage intention. The model and its hypotheses were tested by structural equations with the PLS technique. The study was conducted on a sample of 476 individuals who had travelled on vacation in the previous 12 months. The study reveals that the intentions behind using chatbots are directly influenced by the following factors: the chatbots’ expected performance, the habit of using chatbots, the hedonic component in using them, the predisposition to using self-service technologies, the social influences, and the fact that the chatbot behaves like a human. The inconvenience and problems related to communicating with the chatbot were found to have a negative influence. Lastly, the possibility that chatbots could replace jobs had a surprisingly positive influence, and not a negative one.
Several hospitality brands changed their logos to reinforce the importance of social distancing in reducing the risk of virus infection. Since social distancing is a polarizing topic, this research ...intends to understand consumers' attitudes towards social distancing and their response to branding change by hospitality brands. Study 1 creates and validates a multiple-item scale to examine consumers' attitudes towards social distancing, which is then adopted for two subsequent studies. Study 2 tests consumers' awareness and perceived brand anthropomorphism during a sensitive situation like a global pandemic and the impact of perceived brand anthropomorphism on brand love and brand defense. Study 3 tests the proposed model in study 2 across two customer segments, i.e. those in favor of social distancing and its effectiveness and those against it. Results indicate that brand anthropomorphism and brand love have a significantly positive impact on brand defense. Additionally, these relationships differ for consumers who favor or oppose social distancing. Our research contributes to the hospitality branding literature by studying relatively understudied branding constructs in an unprecedented context and offers insights for hospitality branding and marketing managers.
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