... reported in McCollough et al. (2000) to test the robustness of the original findings in today's service environment. Second, given the increasing prevalence of service robots in service research and business practice, we aim to extend the original work by exploring potential differences...

... and tests a novel research model that links the working relationships between human frontline staff and humanoid social robots (HSRs) to customers’ perceptions of realistic threat and trust, and, consequently, their intention to use service robots in retail stores. In addition, the paper tests...

... and examines how service firms can use smart technologies, such as intelligent automation (IA), artificial intelligence (AI), and service robots, to improve their customer experience (CX). Design/methodology/approach This conceptual article draws insights from the literature on healthy aging in consumer...

...Ilana Shanks; Martin Mende; Jenny Van Doorn; Nicole J. Hess; Maura L. Scott; Dhruv Grewal Purpose Despite extensive research on the design and adoption of service robots, their efficiency—specifically, the impact on costs, revenues and profitability—has received limited attention. This essay seeks...

...Chelsea Phillips; Gaby Odekerken-Schröder; Rebekah Russell-Bennett; Mark Steins; Dominik Mahr; Kate Letheren Purpose Previous research has not considered the impact on human frontline employees (FLEs) of altered employee–customer relationships in the presence of a service robot (i.e. an intrusion...

...Yangjun Tu; Wei Liu; Zhi Yang Purpose This research empirically investigates how service employees' ratings of technology readiness (TRI), negative attitudes towards robots (NARS), Big Five personality traits (BFI) and emotional demands (ED) affect their willingness to work with service robots...

...Dewi Tojib; Rahul Sujan; Junzhao Ma; Yelena Tsarenko Purpose Service robots are gradually becoming more anthropomorphic and intelligent. This research aims to investigate how anthropomorphic service robots with different levels of intelligence affect their human counterparts. Design/methodology...

...Kim Willems; Nanouk Verhulst; Laurens De Gauquier; Malaika Brengman Purpose Service robots have increasingly been utilized in retail settings, yet empirical research on how frontline employees (FLEs) might deal with this new reality remains scarce. This mixed-methods study aims to examine how FLEs...

... of labor, such as service robots. Critics however often point out that service robots lack emotional communication capabilities without which they cannot be expected to truly replace human employees and fill the emerging labor market gaps. Here, a research agenda for the investigation of the role...

...Arne De Keyser; Werner H. Kunz Purpose Service robots are now an integral part of people's living and working environment, making service robots one of the hot topics for service researchers today. Against that background, the paper reviews the recent service robot literature following a Theory...

...Jeroen Schepers; Sandra Streukens Purpose Although consumers feel that the move toward service robots in the frontline so far was driven by firms' strive to replace human service agents and realize cost savings accordingly, the COVID-19 pandemic has led customers to appreciate frontline robots...

...Valentina Pitardi; Jochen Wirtz; Stefanie Paluch; Werner H. Kunz Purpose Extant research mainly focused on potentially negative customer responses to service robots. In contrast, this study is one of the first to explore a service context where service robots are likely to be the preferred service...

...Daniel Belanche; Luis V. Casaló; Carlos Flavián; Jeroen Schepers Purpose Service robots are taking over the organizational frontline. Despite a recent surge in studies on this topic, extant works are predominantly conceptual in nature. The purpose of this paper is to provide valuable empirical...

... like artificial intelligence (AI), mobile, cloud, big data and biometrics will bring opportunities for a wide range of innovations that have the potential to dramatically change service industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential role service robots will play in the future...