The hospitality industry is increasingly using service robots to assist customers with problem-solving. However, customers’ responses to assistance from service robots are not always consistent. In six studies, we investigated whether and how the experience of social exclusion affects customers’ preference for service robots versus human assistance in addressing service problems. The results showed that experiencing social exclusion heightened customers’ independent problem-solving tendency, leading to an increased preference for assistance from service robots (vs. human staff). Moreover, this difference diminishes among customers with a high level of independent self-construal, hedonic consumption goals, or strong tie-strength with human staff. These findings expand our understanding of factors shaping customer responses to service robots and contribute to the growing body of research on social exclusion. They also provide practical insights for managers seeking to effectively leverage service robots to meet customer needs.

中文翻译：

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偏好服务机器人或人类工作人员的帮助？社会排斥体验的影响


酒店业越来越多地使用服务机器人来帮助客户解决问题。然而，客户对服务机器人帮助的反应并不总是一致的。在六项研究中，我们调查了社会排斥的经历是否以及如何影响客户在解决服务问题时对服务机器人的偏好，而不是人工协助。结果表明，经历社会排斥会增强客户独立解决问题的倾向，导致客户更倾向于服务机器人（而不是人类员工）的帮助。此外，这种差异在具有高度独立自我建构、享乐消费目标或与人类员工紧密联系的客户中会缩小。这些发现扩大了我们对影响客户对服务机器人反应的因素的理解，并为不断增长的社会排斥研究做出了贡献。它们还为寻求有效利用服务机器人来满足客户需求的管理人员提供了实用的见解。