ABSTRACT

In view of the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) – powered applications in service organizations, this paper draws on service profit chain theory and proposes these applications as a service product for employees (referred to as internal customers) and customers. The outcome of which is to examine the influence of AI service quality on internal and external customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction and engagement are modeled as mediators, whereas emotional intelligence (EI) is a moderator in AI – customer loyalty relationships. Two studies were undertaken with employees and customers in Australian-based hotels to examine these relationships. The results show that AI service quality is significantly related to internal and external customer satisfaction and engagement. Both internal and external customer engagement have significant effects on customer loyalty and play a significant mediation role in the service quality – customer loyalty relationship. EI has only a significant moderation effect on the relationship between AI service quality and customer engagement for internal and external customers. Discussion and implications of the research findings are provided for researchers and practitioners.

摘要

鉴于人工智能 (AI) 应用在服务组织中的盛行，本文借鉴服务利润链理论，提出将这些应用作为面向员工（称为内部客户）和客户的服务产品。其结果是检查人工智能服务质量对内部和外部客户忠诚度的影响。客户满意度和参与度被建模为调解者，而情商 (EI) 是 AI 中的调解者——客户忠诚度关系。对澳大利亚酒店的员工和客户进行了两项研究，以检验这些关系。结果表明，人工智能服务质量与内部和外部客户满意度和参与度显着相关。内部和外部客户参与对客户忠诚度都有显着影响，并在服务质量——客户忠诚度关系中发挥重要的中介作用。EI 对内部和外部客户的 AI 服务质量与客户参与度之间的关系只有显着的调节作用。为研究人员和从业人员提供了研究结果的讨论和影响。