Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Volume
198
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
64578
Abstract
Although service providers increasingly adopt social robots, much remains to be learned about what influences customers' experiences with robots. To address this issue, this study investigates the relationships among customer equity drivers (i.e., value equity, brand equity and relationship equity), trust in social robots, and trust in service providers. Specifically, we hypothesize that customer equity drivers influence trust in social robots and trust in service providers. We also propose that customer equity drivers influence customer experience quality in the context of social robots and that trust in social robots and trust in service providers mediate these relationships. The study used a two-stage hybrid partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM)-artificial neural network (ANN) analysis to examine the proposed relationships. Findings show that while all the customer equity drivers influence trust in service providers, only brand and relationship equity influence trust in social robots. Results also suggest that trust in service providers mediates the relationship between customer equity drivers and customer experience quality. In addition, we find that consumers' trust in service providers helps generate trust in social robots. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
DOI
10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123032
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Roy, S. K., Singh, G., Sadeque, S., & Gruner, R. L. (2024). Customer experience quality with social robots: Does trust matter?. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 198, article 123032. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123032