Nature of the publicationJournal article
Title of the publicationService Robots Rising: How Humanoid Robots Influence Service Experiences and Elicit Compensatory Consumer Responses
Journal name/Book publisherJournal of Marketing Research
DOIdoi.org
Abstract

Interactions between consumers and humanoid service robots (HSRs; i.e., robots with a human-like morphology such as a face, arms, and legs) will soon be part of routine marketplace experiences. It is unclear, however, whether these humanoid robots (compared with human employees) will trigger positive or negative consequences for consumers and companies. Seven experimental studies reveal that consumers display compensatory responses when they interact with an HSR rather than a human employee (e.g., they favor purchasing status goods, seek social affiliation, and order and eat more food). The authors investigate the underlying process driving these effects, and they find that HSRs elicit greater consumer discomfort (i.e., eeriness and a threat to human identity), which in turn results in the enhancement of compensatory consumption. Moreover, this research identifies boundary conditions of the effects such that the compensatory responses that HSRs elicit are (1) mitigated when consumer-perceived social belongingness is high, (2) attenuated when food is perceived as more healthful, and (3) buffered when the robot is machinized (rather than anthropomorphized).

Author #1Martin Mende
Affiliation Author #1Florida State University
Author #2Maura L. Scott
Affiliation Author #2Florida State University
Author #3Jenny van Doorn
Affiliation Author #3University of Groningen
Author #4Dhruv Grewal
Affiliation Author #4Babson College
Author #5Ilana Shanks
Affiliation Author #5Stony Brook University