Consumers’ Brand Experiences With Robotic Service Failures: Modeling Appraisal, Attribution, and Psychological Reactance

Due to the stretched capacities of human staff, consumers are increasingly placed in situations where they are “required” to use technology amidst their travel experiences, despite potential service failures in robotic technologies. Yet, research into how robotic service failures could potentially spill over to consumers’ brand experiences, robot experiences, and adoption intention remains unexplored. Drawing on appraisal, attribution, and psychological reactance theories, an interconnected research model of service failure, attribution, and (in)voluntary robot adoption was tested via two experiments. A mixed-design quasi-experiment (Study 1) found a significant interaction effect of service failure and attribution on brand experience in the hotel concierge context. Study 2 provided further evidence for the causal effects in Study 1 by employing a between-subject quasi-experiment in the hotel front desk context with additional measures. Collectively, this research contributes to the literature by highlighting how temporal, situational, and contextual factors in HRI may impact evaluations of brand and robot experiences.