Table III Further research agenda for... | Emerald Publishing

Table III

Further research agenda for service research

Future research topics	Research questions
Micro-level perspective
Service tasks, sRAM and robot design	How will the dimensions of cognitive and emotional-social complexity influence robot design? Which additional dimensions would be critical for effective service robot design (e.g. the role of digital density and physical complexity; c.f., Bolton et al., 2018) and should be included in sRAM? How should service robots be designed to achieve needs congruency (Wirtz and Mattila, 2001) and role congruency (Soloman et al., 1985; Giebelhausen et al., 2014) in terms of their social-emotional (incl., humanness, social interactivity and social presence) and relational elements (incl., trust and rapport) in sRAM to achieve high degrees of customer acceptance and use? What are the service and industry characteristics that potentially moderate the impact of drivers of customer acceptance of service robots? Beyond the physical and virtual nature of service objects, what drives whether physical or virtual robots are preferred, and how can the more cost-effective virtual robots (e.g. holographs rather than physical robots at information counters) be designed to achieve greater consumer acceptance? What consumer and context factors determine the optimal level of humanoid appearance and social skills for service robots? How will technology adoption by organizations and customers change in general given the enhanced capabilities of robotics and AI (c.f., Larivière et al., 2017)? How can service robots be effectively integrated into the servicescape? What will the new servicescape look like in a robot-dominated service environment?
Customer-service robot interaction	What determines the customer perceptions of the humanness, social interactivity and social presence of service robots? How do customers interpret robot-displayed surface emotions? How do the many robot design dimensions relate to customer responses? For example, initial research shows that people prefer non-verbal behaviors of robots to be humanlike rather than robot-specific (Rosenthal-von der Pütten et al., 2018). Issues of robot gender and personality are likely to impact consumer responses (Belk, 2017), and preferences may depend on context-dependent stereotypes. For example, extrovert female robots were preferred in healthcare tasks and introvert male robots in security roles (Tay et al., 2014) The uncanny valley theory needs further exploration and refinement (Wang et al. 2015) with regards to its causes and outcomes, and its boundary conditions. Which role do individual customer characteristics (e.g. need for control, technology anxiety, and situational involvement) play? Which service types and customer segments desire rapport with a robot? How can the service robot-customer interface be designed to be as easy, convenient, flexible and error tolerant as the interaction between service employees and customers? What drives customer trust and rapport with service robots? How can and should service robots be designed so that customers perceive them to be “on their side”, to be empowered, to allow (calculated) rule-bending, manage exceptions and handle service recoveries? How will customers adjust their expectations over time regarding their own roles and those of service robots? What will determine role congruence in service robot encounters? How will consumers respond to robot-displayed surface-acted emotions in the long run? Will such displays continue to have a positive impact or will they be ignored as the typical friendly face on an ATM screen?
Customer concerns	What drives a consumer’s initial mistrust of robots and how can it be overcome? Given consumers’ propensity for algorithm aversion, what will determine customers’ acceptance robots for complex cognitive-analytical tasks? That is, how can algorithm aversion be mitigated (e.g. Dietvorst et al., 2014, 2016)? How can consumer privacy be guarded and privacy concerns be mitigated given the constant observation of customers (e.g. through biometrics), the pervasive capturing of customer data, and the connectedness of service robots to large databases including CRM systems? What are the alternative theoretical approaches to explain consumer acceptance and satisfaction with robotic services?
Dehumanization and social deprivation	Will prolonged interactions of humans (esp. vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly) with service robots dehumanize human relationships? For example, what will children learn from robots that cannot show deeply felt joy in the children’s achievements and never truly lose their temper? What will the impact be on people’s well-being and psychology if a large proportion of daily service will be delivered in a highly predictable and standardized manner without deviations from service scripts and without human touch? Will service robots be designed to heterogeneity to avoid customer boredom? Will the introduction of sex robots and their potential influence on gender relationships see the potential dehumanization of very intimate encounters? Will service robots ever be able to have genuine emotions and thereby become authentic companions for humans, and what will the impact be for the human race as we know it?
Service robot and employee interaction	High emotional and cognitive service tasks will be delivered by service employee-robot teams. How can service robots effectively be integrated into such teams? What are the drivers of success and failure for such teams? What dimensions determine employee and customer acceptance of such service delivery systems? What will the work ecosystem look like for employees in such systems (c.f., Subramony et al., 2018)?
Meso-level perspective
Competitive advantage and service robots	Given that the hardware and much of the software of service robots will be provided by third-party vendors, how can organizations build a competitive edge on the knowledgebase, knowledge organization and application? Where is the scope to build a competitive advantage in the application of service robots and related AI for the individual organization, and how can organizations own and project this advantage? How will be the role of “large armies” of service employees in building competitive advantage be reduced? Will the impact be that a smaller group of employees becomes even more important for developing an organization’s competitive advantage? Will other factors gain in importance in developing a competitive edge, and if yes, which ones (c.f., Wirtz and Ehret, 2018)?
Economics of service robots and winner-take-it-all markets	What will be the economics of robot and AI vendors and deploying organizations? How strong will economies of scale, scope, and network effects be, and will they drive consolidation of industries to the extent that competitive intensity is reduced and lead to ‘winner-take-it-all markets? What mechanisms may be necessary and effective in making sure that cost savings due to economies of scale, scope and network effects are eventually transferred to customers so that they can benefit from lower prices and increased standards of living? How can regulation ensure that robot manufacturers, developers, and programmers cannot create monopolies or oligopolies in specific industries and contexts which would negatively impact deploying service organizations and their customers?
Investment, innovation and liability regimes	How can liability regimes surrounded the use of service robots to be designed so that they uphold ethical standards of safety and security for stakeholders but are also not too strict as this would reduce the investment of companies due to the potential liability implications?
Macro-level perspective
Service robots and employment	How can training systems be designed to help current generations of frontline employees obtain the necessary skills to stay competitive? How to make sure that sufficient (re-)training opportunities will be offered especially to low-skilled employees? How can governments equip current and future generations of employees with valuable skills that are not at risk of being made redundant by service robots? As it is unlikely that all low-skilled service workers can be up-skilled or re-skilled, what will happen to the ones whose skills will not be in demand anymore and who cannot learn new skills? Can governments provide their citizens with an improved safety net (e.g. a universal basic income)? How, in a labor-light economy, can people still live fulfilling and dignified lives if these are not centered around work anymore? How would taxation, social safety, and education have to be rethought? How could or should the wealth created by robots, AI and automation be shared?
Service robots and inequality within and across societies	How can equitable access to robot technology be achieved so that parts of society and the world economy are not left behind? How can developing economies increase their skills base and participate in a robot-driven world? How can the trend toward greater inequality be arrested or reversed that, if unchecked, will be accelerated by robotics, so that our societies are not turning into a modern form of feudalism?

Future research topics	Research questions
Micro-level perspective
Service tasks, sRAM and robot design	How will the dimensions of cognitive and emotional-social complexity influence robot design? Which additional dimensions would be critical for effective service robot design (e.g. the role of digital density and physical complexity; c.f., Bolton et al., 2018) and should be included in sRAM?How should service robots be designed to achieve needs congruency (Wirtz and Mattila, 2001) and role congruency (Soloman et al., 1985; Giebelhausen et al., 2014) in terms of their social-emotional (incl., humanness, social interactivity and social presence) and relational elements (incl., trust and rapport) in sRAM to achieve high degrees of customer acceptance and use? What are the service and industry characteristics that potentially moderate the impact of drivers of customer acceptance of service robots?Beyond the physical and virtual nature of service objects, what drives whether physical or virtual robots are preferred, and how can the more cost-effective virtual robots (e.g. holographs rather than physical robots at information counters) be designed to achieve greater consumer acceptance?What consumer and context factors determine the optimal level of humanoid appearance and social skills for service robots?How will technology adoption by organizations and customers change in general given the enhanced capabilities of robotics and AI (c.f., Larivière et al., 2017)?How can service robots be effectively integrated into the servicescape? What will the new servicescape look like in a robot-dominated service environment?
Customer-service robot interaction	What determines the customer perceptions of the humanness, social interactivity and social presence of service robots? How do customers interpret robot-displayed surface emotions? How do the many robot design dimensions relate to customer responses? For example, initial research shows that people prefer non-verbal behaviors of robots to be humanlike rather than robot-specific (Rosenthal-von der Pütten et al., 2018). Issues of robot gender and personality are likely to impact consumer responses (Belk, 2017), and preferences may depend on context-dependent stereotypes. For example, extrovert female robots were preferred in healthcare tasks and introvert male robots in security roles (Tay et al., 2014)The uncanny valley theory needs further exploration and refinement (Wang et al. 2015) with regards to its causes and outcomes, and its boundary conditions.Which role do individual customer characteristics (e.g. need for control, technology anxiety, and situational involvement) play? Which service types and customer segments desire rapport with a robot?How can the service robot-customer interface be designed to be as easy, convenient, flexible and error tolerant as the interaction between service employees and customers?What drives customer trust and rapport with service robots?How can and should service robots be designed so that customers perceive them to be “on their side”, to be empowered, to allow (calculated) rule-bending, manage exceptions and handle service recoveries?How will customers adjust their expectations over time regarding their own roles and those of service robots? What will determine role congruence in service robot encounters?How will consumers respond to robot-displayed surface-acted emotions in the long run? Will such displays continue to have a positive impact or will they be ignored as the typical friendly face on an ATM screen?
Customer concerns	What drives a consumer’s initial mistrust of robots and how can it be overcome?Given consumers’ propensity for algorithm aversion, what will determine customers’ acceptance robots for complex cognitive-analytical tasks? That is, how can algorithm aversion be mitigated (e.g. Dietvorst et al., 2014, 2016)?How can consumer privacy be guarded and privacy concerns be mitigated given the constant observation of customers (e.g. through biometrics), the pervasive capturing of customer data, and the connectedness of service robots to large databases including CRM systems?What are the alternative theoretical approaches to explain consumer acceptance and satisfaction with robotic services?
Dehumanization and social deprivation	Will prolonged interactions of humans (esp. vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly) with service robots dehumanize human relationships? For example, what will children learn from robots that cannot show deeply felt joy in the children’s achievements and never truly lose their temper?What will the impact be on people’s well-being and psychology if a large proportion of daily service will be delivered in a highly predictable and standardized manner without deviations from service scripts and without human touch? Will service robots be designed to heterogeneity to avoid customer boredom?Will the introduction of sex robots and their potential influence on gender relationships see the potential dehumanization of very intimate encounters?Will service robots ever be able to have genuine emotions and thereby become authentic companions for humans, and what will the impact be for the human race as we know it?
Service robot and employee interaction	High emotional and cognitive service tasks will be delivered by service employee-robot teams. How can service robots effectively be integrated into such teams? What are the drivers of success and failure for such teams? What dimensions determine employee and customer acceptance of such service delivery systems? What will the work ecosystem look like for employees in such systems (c.f., Subramony et al., 2018)?
Meso-level perspective
Competitive advantage and service robots	Given that the hardware and much of the software of service robots will be provided by third-party vendors, how can organizations build a competitive edge on the knowledgebase, knowledge organization and application? Where is the scope to build a competitive advantage in the application of service robots and related AI for the individual organization, and how can organizations own and project this advantage?How will be the role of “large armies” of service employees in building competitive advantage be reduced? Will the impact be that a smaller group of employees becomes even more important for developing an organization’s competitive advantage? Will other factors gain in importance in developing a competitive edge, and if yes, which ones (c.f., Wirtz and Ehret, 2018)?
Economics of service robots and winner-take-it-all markets	What will be the economics of robot and AI vendors and deploying organizations? How strong will economies of scale, scope, and network effects be, and will they drive consolidation of industries to the extent that competitive intensity is reduced and lead to ‘winner-take-it-all markets?What mechanisms may be necessary and effective in making sure that cost savings due to economies of scale, scope and network effects are eventually transferred to customers so that they can benefit from lower prices and increased standards of living?How can regulation ensure that robot manufacturers, developers, and programmers cannot create monopolies or oligopolies in specific industries and contexts which would negatively impact deploying service organizations and their customers?
Investment, innovation and liability regimes	How can liability regimes surrounded the use of service robots to be designed so that they uphold ethical standards of safety and security for stakeholders but are also not too strict as this would reduce the investment of companies due to the potential liability implications?
Macro-level perspective
Service robots and employment	How can training systems be designed to help current generations of frontline employees obtain the necessary skills to stay competitive? How to make sure that sufficient (re-)training opportunities will be offered especially to low-skilled employees?How can governments equip current and future generations of employees with valuable skills that are not at risk of being made redundant by service robots?As it is unlikely that all low-skilled service workers can be up-skilled or re-skilled, what will happen to the ones whose skills will not be in demand anymore and who cannot learn new skills? Can governments provide their citizens with an improved safety net (e.g. a universal basic income)?How, in a labor-light economy, can people still live fulfilling and dignified lives if these are not centered around work anymore? How would taxation, social safety, and education have to be rethought? How could or should the wealth created by robots, AI and automation be shared?
Service robots and inequality within and across societies	How can equitable access to robot technology be achieved so that parts of society and the world economy are not left behind? How can developing economies increase their skills base and participate in a robot-driven world?How can the trend toward greater inequality be arrested or reversed that, if unchecked, will be accelerated by robotics, so that our societies are not turning into a modern form of feudalism?