ABSTRACT

Service robots provide operational benefits to restaurants, but the mechanism through which novel robotic services optimize customer experience given appropriate robots’ dependence on human employees remains unclear. To fill this gap, this study adopts the transmission model of customer inspiration and identifies customer value cocreation processes in robotic services. Combined evidence from two online experiments and a field experiment demonstrates that robotic service novelty has a positive effect on customer cocreation intention via customer inspiration. Robotic task interdependence, which reflects the extent to which a robot relies on human employees to complete its tasks, attenuates the relationship between robotic service novelty and customer cocreation intention through decreased customer inspiration. These findings offer insights into marketing strategies for robotic services that provide enhanced customer experiences.

摘要

服务机器人为餐厅提供运营优势，但鉴于机器人对人类员工的适当依赖，新型机器人服务优化客户体验的机制仍不清楚。为了填补这一空白，本研究采用客户灵感传递模型，识别机器人服务中的客户价值共创过程。来自两个在线实验和一个现场实验的综合证据表明，机器人服务新颖性通过客户灵感对客户共创意图产生积极影响。机器人任务相互依赖反映了机器人对人类员工完成任务的依赖程度，通过减少客户灵感来减弱机器人服务新颖性与客户共创意图之间的关系。