New Publication: Customer Comfort During Service Robot Interactions
How can we ensure that customers feel comfortable during robot-enabled services? Because why would they otherwise keep using them? With our latest empirical study published in Service Business, we investigate whether human-like service robots make customers feel more or less comfortable. In addition, we investigate to what extent the answer to this question depends on whether the service robot makes a mistake.
Based on an online experiment, we gain interesting insights. First, we find that customers feel more comfortable interacting with human-like rather than machine-like service robots. The underlying reason for this positive effect of human-likeness lies in the fact that customers more easily build rapport with human-like service robots. We further demonstrate that this positive effect of human-likeness disappears in case the service robot makes a mistake in the service delivery. Therefore, based on our study, human-like service robots appear to be preferred as long as the service robot does not make a mistake – otherwise, human-like and machine-like service robots produce similar outcomes.
As an Open Access publication, you can download and read the full article for free: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-022-00499-4.
Becker, M., Mahr, D. & Odekerken-Schröder, G. (2022). Customer comfort during service robot interactions. Service Business, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-022-00499-4
Also read
-
Carroll Webers receives royal honour and MUMC+ honorary medal at farewell
During his farewell lecture, Professor of ophthalmology Carroll Webers received a royal honour and the MUMC+ honorary medal.
-
40 years of ROA: an institute that grows with its people
Ter gelegenheid van het 40‑jarig jubileum van ROA spraken we met collega’s uit het hele instituut. In deze interviews blikken zij terug op de ontwikkeling, impact en toekomst van ROA. Ze delen hun ervaringen, inzichten en herinneringen aan vier decennia onderzoek naar onderwijs en arbeidsmarkt.
-
Why More Isn't Always Better: What Business Networks Really Mean for Innovation
When it comes to business partnerships and new products, the connections you can't see may matter more than the ones you can. In innovation policy and strategy alike, the message has been consistent: connect more, partner more, collaborate more. But what if that instinct is only half right?
