Appropriate service robots in exchange and communal relationships

This paper explores which type of service robot (functional vs. social) is evaluated more favorably depending on a firm’s communal or exchange relationship orientation and the underlying processes driving the appropriate match effect between type of service robot and relationship orientation. The results of two scenario-based experiments and one video-based study with respondents who actually experienced service robots reveal that higher customer satisfaction with the service robot emerges when functional (social) service robots are aligned with a firm’s exchange (communal) relationship orientation. Further, the match between social service robot and communal relationship orientation promotes customer satisfaction with the service robot primarily through perceptions of the warmth of the robot. In contrast, higher customer satisfaction with a functional service robot in an exchange relationship orientation results from increased perception of the competence of the robot. This study provides theoretical and practical implications about how to implement service robots in service encounters.