Effects of human-robot interaction type on customer tolerance of humanoid robot service failure

ABSTRACT

The impact of robot service failure on customer retention is well-recognized, with a growing focus on effective robot recovery strategies. Despite this, the formation of human-robot relationships during interactions is not well understood. This research explores the impact of human-robot interaction types on customer tolerance toward humanoid robot service failures. Employing three scenario-based experimental studies, we demonstrate that customers generate the highest tolerance for robot service failures within companionate relationships, followed by assistive relationships, and instrumental relationships. In addition, this research confirms the mediating role of psychological distance and identifies the moderating role of service context in the relationship between the human-robot interaction relationships and customer tolerance through psychological distance. The findings offer insights for enhancing marketing strategies and the development of human-robot interaction paradigms.

摘要

机器人服务故障对客户忠诚度的影响已得到广泛认可, 人们越来越关注有效的机器人恢复策略. 尽管如此, 在互动过程中人与机器人关系的形成还没有得到很好的理解. 本研究探讨了人机交互类型对客户对人形机器人服务故障容忍度的影响. 通过三项基于场景的实验研究, 我们证明了客户在伴侣关系中对机器人服务失败的容忍度最高, 其次是辅助关系和工具关系. 此外, 本研究还证实了心理距离的中介作用, 并通过心理距离确定了服务情境在人机互动关系和客户容忍度之间的调节作用. 这些发现为加强营销策略和发展人机互动模式提供了见解.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-robot interaction relationship
• customer tolerance
• service failure
• humanoid robot
• service context

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2024.2379263