Artificial Intelligence and Robots in the Service Encounter

Paluch, Stefanie; Wirtz, Jochen

doi:10.15358/2511-8676-2020-1-3

Cited by 41 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This may explain the lack of a significant relationship between the service robots' hedonic value and customer repatronage, contrary to the findings of our scenario-based experiment. Contemporary service scholars postulate that service robots will be able to deliver cognitively complex service tasks and low emotional service tasks (Lu et al , 2020; Paluch and Wirtz, 2020; Wirtz et al , 2018). Building on these insights, we encourage future service scholars to develop field studies to further disentangle the service triad and the link between service robot hedonic value, customer repatronage intentions and FLE interaction quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The service triad: an empirical study of service robots, customers and frontline employees

Odekerken‐Schröder

Mennens

Steins

et al. 2021

JOSM

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PurposeRecent service studies suggest focusing on the service triad consisting of technology-customer-frontline employee (FLE). This study empirically investigates the role of service robots in this service triad, with the aim to understand the augmentation or substitution role of service robots in driving utilitarian and hedonic value and ultimately customer repatronage.Design/methodology/approachIn study 1, field data are collected from customers (n = 108) who interacted with a service robot and FLE in a fast casual dining restaurant. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test hypotheses about the impact of service robots' anthropomorphism, social presence, value perceptions and augmentation opportunities in the service triad. In study 2, empirical data from a scenario-based experimental design (n = 361) complement the field study by further scrutinizing the interplay between the service robot and FLEs within the service triad.FindingsThe study provides three important contributions. First, the authors provide empirical evidence for the interplay between different actors in the “customer-FLE-technology” service triad resulting in customer repatronage. Second, the empirical findings advance the service management literature by unraveling the relationship between anthropomorphism and social presence and their effect on perceived value in the service triad. And third, the study identifies utilitarian value of service robots as a driver of customer repatronage in fast casual dining restaurants.Practical implicationsThe results help service managers, service robot engineers and designers, and policy makers to better understand the implications of anthropomorphism, and how the utilitarian value of service robots can offer the potential for augmentation or substitution roles in the service triad.Originality/valueBuilding on existing conceptual and laboratory studies on service robots, this is one of the first field studies on the service triad consisting of service robots – customers – frontline employees. The empirical study on service triads provides evidence for the potential of FLEs to augment service robots that exhibit lower levels of functional performance to achieve customer repatronage. FLEs can do this by demonstrating a high willingness to help and having excellent interactions with customers. This finding advocates the joint service delivery by FLE – service robot teams in situations where service robot technology is not fully optimized.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The service triad: an empirical study of service robots, customers and frontline employees

Odekerken‐Schröder

Mennens

Steins

et al. 2021

JOSM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While reviewing technical limitations of voice assistants and the occurrences that lead to malfunctions, participants identified "multiple device conflict" and "dependence on Wi-Fi" as reasons that significantly influence interactions with voice speakers. Scholars [36,40] agree that privacy is still a major concern associated with voice assistants. It has unsurprisingly been the most frequently named disadvantage of voice assistants, reflected in this study by almost all participants, primarily from a personal data point of view.…”

Section: Guests' Attitudes To In-room Voice Assistants In Hotelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, such studies are often focused on the implications of the technology in private households rather than hotel spaces. The existing literature [12,25,31,36,38,40] on AI and automation in hospitality prioritise more established and widely accepted technologies and does not investigate voice assistants in detail. Studies dedicated to the adoption of voice-based assistants by hotels are very limited [15,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-room Voice-Based AI Digital Assistants Transforming On-Site Hotel Services and Guests’ Experiences

Buhalis

Moldavska

2021

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021

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Voice-based artificial intelligence (AI) devices transform human-computer bidirectional interactions with new touchpoints. Despite the recent release of purpose-developed in-room voice assistants for hotels, they have not been widely deployed by hospitality companies. There is limited research on the phenomenon of voice-based digital assistants and a research gap in their adoption by hotels for automating workflows and enhancing guests’ experiences. This study analysed the role of voice devices for mediating interactions between hotels and guests from both the hospitality technology providers’ and guests’ perspectives. This was done by the means of inductive qualitative research using 28 semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that benefits associated with the application of voice-based digital assistants in hospitality outweigh the drawbacks for both hotels and guests. The paper proposes a model which illustrates the essence of speech-based interactions between hotels and guests via voice assistants. This concept contributes to human-computer interactions in the hotel industry.

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“…There are numerous ways in which service robots and artificial intelligence can be employed. Another way to think about it is that artificial intelligence automates business processes, where algorithms perform tasks that humans have predetermined, without further human intervention [19].…”

Section: Service Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, a service robot should perform autonomous navigation, object recognition, person detection, recognition, and tracking tasks [33]. Airport service robots can provide directions, handle simple questions, and ship packages [19]. Safety robots have been developed to ensure that customers are safe.…”

Section: Service Robots At Airportsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of COVID-19 on Airline Transportation Services: A Study on Service Robot Usage Intention

Meidutė‐Kavaliauskienė

Yıldız

Çiğdem

et al. 2021

Sustainability

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Robots have started to be used in the service sector as well as in the manufacturing industry. The use of service robots in airport services, tourism, and hospital services also brings many advantages. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing physical contact and providing hygiene are essential benefits of service robots. For this purpose, the effect of COVID-19 fear on perceived trust in service robots and the intention to use them at airports was investigated in this study. For analysis, data were collected from 730 participants from 64 different countries, by questionnaire. The data were analyzed with the SPSS and AMOS package programs. As a result of the structural equation model analysis, it was determined that COVID-19 fear affects perceived trust in service robots and the intention to use them positively, and perceived trust also affects the intention to use service robots positively. In addition, as a result of the Process Macro analysis, it was found that perceived trust has a high mediating effect on the effect of COVID-19 fear on the intention to use. The research results show that people’s attitudes towards COVID-19 shape the perception of robot usage in air transport services.

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Artificial Intelligence and Robots in the Service Encounter

Cited by 41 publications

References 15 publications

The service triad: an empirical study of service robots, customers and frontline employees

The service triad: an empirical study of service robots, customers and frontline employees

In-room Voice-Based AI Digital Assistants Transforming On-Site Hotel Services and Guests’ Experiences

The Effect of COVID-19 on Airline Transportation Services: A Study on Service Robot Usage Intention

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