This study examined the effects of service recovery entities (i.e., robot-generated text, robot-generated voice, and human service employee) on recovery satisfaction through the mediation of perceived sincerity. This study also tested the moderating role of the need for human interaction. The results of this study suggest that people perceive service recovery provided by a human to be more sincere than that provided by a service robot, thereby leading to higher levels of satisfaction. Moreover, this effect is stronger for those with a stronger need for human interaction. However, differences in perceived sincerity and recovery satisfaction were not identified between the use of service robots generating either text or a voice to express an apology. This study contributes to the theoretical discussion on ways to enhance customer experiences in robot service environments and provides insights that can guide service management in the hospitality and tourism industry.

这项研究研究了服务恢复实体（即，机器人生成的文本，机器人生成的语音和人工服务员工）通过感知诚意的中介对恢复满意度的影响。这项研究还测试了人类互动需求的调节作用。这项研究的结果表明，人们认为人提供的服务恢复比服务机器人提供的服务更真诚，从而导致更高的满意度。而且，对于那些更需要人际互动的人来说，这种效果更强。但是，在使用生成文字或语音来表达道歉的服务机器人之间，并没有发现感知到的诚意和恢复满意度之间的差异。