The Effects of Chatbot Recovery Strategies and Anthropomorphic Image Type on Service Recovery Satisfaction: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Warmth and Competence

The widespread adoption of chatbots enables companies to provide customer service at low cost and with high efficiency. However, the inherent limitations of chatbots often lead to service failures, highlighting the necessity of effective recovery strategies. Nevertheless, the optimal approaches for chatbots to implement self-recovery strategies remain unclear. Drawing on the Computers As Social Actors (CASA) paradigm and the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), this study investigates the interactive effects of recovery strategies (emotional recovery strategy vs. informational recovery strategy) and anthropomorphic image types (warm image vs. competent image) on service recovery satisfaction. It also examines the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying these effects. Based on two offline experiments with university students (Study 1: n = 162; Study 2: n = 350), the results show that a match between a chatbot’s emotional recovery strategy and a warm image (or an informational recovery strategy and a competent image) enhances service recovery satisfaction. Perceived warmth and perceived competence are found to mediate these effects. The findings further reveal that time pressure moderates the interactive effect. These findings advance the theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of chatbot self-recovery strategies on service recovery satisfaction, while offering practical implications for optimizing service recovery strategies and enhancing customer experience.