Customer’s social cognition in service recovery satisfaction with human vs robot agent

Abstract

Purpose

Service failures evoke negative customer emotions, which human agents respond to through emotional labor. In turn, customers empathize with the human agent, providing a satisfying service recovery experience. However, robot agents could replace human agents and replicate emotional labor strategies. This study addresses whether customers empathize with apologetic robot agents and how it would affect the service recovery experience.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on emotional labor, social cognition and justice theory, two online scenario-based experiments (N1 = 411; N2 = 253) were designed in which customers watched a video simulating an interaction with a human or a robot agent during a service recovery procedure.

Findings

Study 1 shows that robot agents handle emotionally driven service recovery interactions and prompt desirable postrecovery behaviors (e.g. brand loyalty). Study 2 identifies customers’ empathy and compassion as mediators, explaining the effect of normative empathic display on customers' perceptions of interactional justice and behavioral intentions.

Practical implications

Robot agents are reliable substitutes for human agents in handling service recovery procedures. Customers can empathize with robot agents, leading to satisfying service experiences.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates customers’ capacity to empathize with robot agents during a service recovery procedure. It is also the first application in service research of the EmpaToM experimental procedure from social neuroscience to explore the social cognition dynamic between customers and service agents at the service encounter.

Citation

Lajante, M. and Dohm, N.C. (2024), "Customer’s social cognition in service recovery satisfaction with human vs robot agent", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-07-2024-0098