In the near future, it is expected that we humans will receive an increasing part of various services from robots. Many observers, and several existing studies, indicate that we react more positively ...if our robots have humanlike attributes and capabilities, and the present study examines one such capability: theory of mind. It has to do with the ability to impute mental states to others, which is essential for human-to-human interaction (including interactions in service settings). More specifically, the present study examines the effects of perceptions of service robots' theory of mind capabilities in human-to-robot interactions when the main downstream variable is perceived service quality. Several mediators are also examined. To this end, two empirical studies comprising human-to-robot interactions in a domestic setting were conducted. Both studies indicate that a service robot with more as opposed to less perceived theory of mind enhances perceived service quality, and that this effect is mediated by perceived humanness and perceived usefulness in relation to the robot. It may be argued that a robot's theory of mind capability can also be seen as creepy, which may reduce perceived service quality, because a competent mind reader can create serious harm to others. In the present study, however, robotic theory of mind capabilities did not influence creepiness perceptions.
Service robots are expected to become increasingly common. As their capabilities become more advanced, it is also expected that they would be involved in tasks for which a human user would want to ...know why they do what they are doing. One way to accomplish this is to program robots so that they verbalize (i.e., they are thinking aloud) while they are providing service. This ability is likely to be particularly useful for tasks that involve behavioral norms. The present study used an experimental design to manipulate the level of a robot's ability to verbalize motivations for its behavior (low vs. high) while it was asked by a human to carry out a task with moral implications. The results show that robot verbalizing contributed positively to satisfaction with the robot's performance, and that this impact was mediated by understandability, perceived morality and intellectual stimulation.
•Service robots powered by AI are expected to become increasingly common.•For most people, however, it is hard to understand how AI makes decisions, which can mitigate the adoption of service robots.•Explainable AI (XAI) has been discussed as a possible solution: a robot can be made to verbalize what it is doing.•An experimental design was used to manipulate the level of a robot’s ability to verbalize motivations for its behavior.•The results show that robot verbalizing contributed positively to satisfaction with the robot’s performance.
Customers have since long received service from various machines, and this development is expected to accelerate when AI‐powered synthetic agents—such as chatbots and embodied service robots—become ...more common. Existing research on customers' interactions with service machines is typically focused on perceptions of machine attributes when the machine is busy. However, many machines are idle for a considerable time (i.e., they are not used), and little is known about consumer perceptions of machine idleness—despite the fact that idle machine behavior can contribute to the user experience, too. In the present study, it is assumed that (a) idleness and busyness represent differently valenced states in a human‐to‐human context (i.e., idleness is more negatively charged than busyness for most humans). It is also assumed that (b) anthropomorphism can occur in relation to a service machine, and that (c) beliefs about idleness and busyness from a human‐to‐human context can carry over and inform views of machines' minds. Three experiments were conducted to explore these assumptions, and they show that an idle service machine is attributed less positively charged mind states than a busy service machine. The results also show that such attribution activities affect the overall evaluation of the service machine.
Service robots sharing the same environments with humans are typically designed to have various humanlike features, because perceptions of robots as humanlike make them more acceptable to human ...users. This study examines one human characteristic that has hitherto been unexplored in studies of humans' perceptions of robots: a self-recognition ability. For (adult) humans, self-recognition is typically uncomplicated and effortless, yet it is of fundamental importance for social interaction, and therefore it was assumed that perceptions of robotic self-recognition abilities would be used for inferences about other robot attributes. A between-subjects experiment, in which a domestic service robot's ability to recognize itself was manipulated (low vs. high), showed that high self-recognition boosted perceptions of the quality of the service delivered by the robot, and that this effect was mediated by perceptions of the robot as having a capacity for learning and having theory of mind.
A frequently made assumption – supported in a large number of empirical studies – is that customer satisfaction stemming from a service encounter influences the customer's subsequent word-of-mouth ...activities. The present study re-examines this association with respect to both human service employees and service robots (which are expected to become more common in service encounters in the near future). First, it is assumed that the customer's attribution of theory of mind to a service agent is an important source of information for the formation of a satisfaction assessment. Indeed, it is assumed that the agent's theory of mind is a prerequisite for understanding the customer's needs. Second, in contrast to many existing studies, word-of-mouth is captured in terms of the valence of what customers actually say (as opposed to various forms of intentions to engage in word-of-mouth, which represent a dominant contemporary operationalization of word-of-mouth). A between-subjects experiment was conducted in which a service agent's identity (service robot vs. human) and service performance (poor vs. good) were the manipulated factors. The results show that both these factors influenced attribution of theory of mind to the agent, and that attribution of theory of mind enhanced customer satisfaction. The results also show that customer satisfaction affected word-of-mouth content in a valence-congruent way.
Purpose
This study aims to examine humans’ reactions to service robots’ display of warmth in robot-to-robot interactions – a setting in which humans’ impressions of a service robot will not only be ...based on what this robot does in relation to humans, but also on what it does to other robots.
Design/methodology/approach
Service robot display of warmth was manipulated in an experimental setting in such a way that a service robot A expressed low versus high levels of warmth in relation to another service robot B.
Findings
The results indicate that a high level of warmth expressed by robot A vis-à-vis robot B boosted humans’ overall evaluations of A, and that this influence was mediated by the perceived humanness and the perceived happiness of A.
Originality/value
Numerous studies have examined humans’ reactions when they interact with a service robot or other synthetic agents that provide service. Future service encounters, however, will comprise also multi-robot systems, which means that there will be many opportunities for humans to be exposed to robot-to-robot interactions. Yet, this setting has hitherto rarely been examined in the service literature.
Consumer-related studies comprise to an increasing extent moderator variables, presumably because researchers have become convinced by scholars who over the years have argued that moderators can ...produce a more complete understanding of theoretical phenomena and can provide practitioners with higher levels of precision. However, many studies with moderators are characterized by imperfections. To improve the state of the art, this study presents a selection of such imperfections and offers recommendations for researchers who consider including moderator variables in their projects.
In this study, an experiment was used to examine the effects of employee norm-violations in the service encounter with respect to what was considered appropriate behavior (e.g., social distancing) ...during the 2020 corona pandemic. The participants were exposed to a grocery store employee whose behavior was manipulated (norm-violating vs. norm-confirming). Norm-violating behavior resulted in lower perceived employee warmth, lower perceived employee competence, higher disgust, and more dehumanization of the employee. These responses mediated the impact of employee behavior on customer satisfaction, so that satisfaction was attenuated when norms were violated. The mediators, however, typically also instill a hostile, avoidance-seeking mindset for those who are subject to norm-violations, which is likely to result in problems when transgressors are to be persuaded to change their behaviors.
PurposeService robots are expected to become increasingly common, but the ways in which they can move around in an environment with humans, collect and store data about humans and share such data ...produce a potential for privacy violations. In human-to-human contexts, such violations are transgression of norms to which humans typically react negatively. This study examines if similar reactions occur when the transgressor is a robot. The main dependent variable was the overall evaluation of the robot.Design/methodology/approachService robot privacy violations were manipulated in a between-subjects experiment in which a human user interacted with an embodied humanoid robot in an office environment.FindingsThe results show that the robot's violations of human privacy attenuated the overall evaluation of the robot and that this effect was sequentially mediated by perceived robot morality and perceived robot humanness. Given that a similar reaction pattern would be expected when humans violate other humans' privacy, the present study offers evidence in support of the notion that humanlike non-humans can elicit responses similar to those elicited by real humans.Practical implicationsThe results imply that designers of service robots and managers in firms using such robots for providing service to employees should be concerned with restricting the potential for robots' privacy violation activities if the goal is to increase the acceptance of service robots in the habitat of humans.Originality/valueTo date, few empirical studies have examined reactions to service robots that violate privacy norms.
The present study examines employee proactivity (i.e., the employee initiates face-to-face contact with the customer on the floor of the store) and its impact on customer satisfaction. Two empirical ...studies (one survey and one field experiment) were conducted in a grocery retailing context. Both studies showed that employee proactivity boosted customer satisfaction. Moreover, the impact of employee proactivity on satisfaction was sequentially mediated by perceived employee effort and perceived employee performance. In relation to previous studies showing that many characteristics and behaviors of the employee in the service encounter influence the customer, the present study contributes by adding that the way in which the service encounter begins is causally potent, too.
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