Being friendly and competent: Service robots' proactive behavior facilitates customer value co-creation

The rapid expansion and integration of robots in the service industry have transformed the way services are delivered. With service robots increasingly replacing frontline human staff, the dynamics of service encounters have shifted from human-to-human to human-to-robot interactions, thereby significantly impacting the process of value co-creation. The active involvement of customers in co-creating value with these robots becomes crucial for the successful implementation of robotic services. Drawing upon social perception theory, we investigate the influence of service robots' proactivity on customers' willingness to engage in value co-creation and delve into the underlying mechanisms. Three studies were conducted across diverse service settings, each involving different service robots. Consistently, the findings demonstrate that customers display a greater inclination to co-create value with proactive service robots. The proactive behavior exhibited by these robots substantially enhances customers' perceptions of warmth and competence. Importantly, these effects are observed across various service scenarios and customer segments, including both premium and regular customers, thus affirming the robustness and generalizability of our findings. Our research provides practical guidance for practitioners involved in the implementation of service robots. Additionally, theoretical advancements and suggest potential directions for future research are discussed.