The use of digital employees (DEs)—chatbots powered by artificial intelligence (AI)—is becoming increasingly common in the service industry. However, it is unclear whether collaborations between the human employee (HE) and DE can influence customer outcomes, and what the mechanisms behind such outcomes are. This research proposes and tests a theoretical model that explains how the communication of HE-DE collaboration in the form of interdependent behavioral cues can influence customer evaluations of the service they received from such a team. Five experimental studies involving a total of 1403 participants demonstrate that making HE-DE collaboration visible to customers during the service encounter can reinforce their perception of HE-DE team cohesiveness and service process fluency, driving satisfaction. The communication of coordination and team goal cues are two strong stimulants that strengthen such impressions. Further, this research also reveals that the HE-DE collaboration (vs. augmentation or substitution) appeals to customers thanks to their perception of a transparent process, which is induced through collaborative cues. This research provides theoretical implications for a transparent collaborative process between HE and DE and practical advice for firms seeking to integrate DE into their organizations’ workflows.

中文翻译：

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工作的未来：了解服务中人类和数字员工之间协作的有效性

数字员工 (DE)（由人工智能 (AI) 驱动的聊天机器人）的使用在服务行业中变得越来越普遍。然而，尚不清楚人类员工 (HE) 和 DE 之间的协作是否会影响客户结果，以及这些结果背后的机制是什么。本研究提出并测试了一个理论模型，该模型解释了 HE-DE 协作以相互依赖的行为线索的形式进行的沟通如何影响客户对他们从这样的团队获得的服务的评价。涉及 1403 名参与者的五项实验研究表明，在服务过程中让客户看到 HE-DE 的协作可以增强他们对 HE-DE 团队凝聚力和服务流程流畅性的感知，从而提高满意度。协调沟通和团队目标线索是强化这种印象的两种强兴奋剂。此外，这项研究还表明，HE-DE 协作（相对于增强或替代）对客户很有吸引力，因为他们认为透明的流程是通过协作线索诱导的。这项研究为 HE 和 DE 之间透明的协作流程提供了理论启示，并为寻求将 DE 整合到其组织工作流程中的公司提供了实用建议。