Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31349
Title: rom cafés to clinics: Consumer attitudes toward human-like and machine-like service robot failures
Authors: Merdin-Uygur, E
Ozturkcan, S
Keywords: robotic service agents;chatbot;service robot;hospitality services;anthropomorphism;robotic failure
Issue Date: 30-May-2025
Publisher: Elsevier
Citation: Merdin-Uygur, E. and Ozturkcan, S. (2025) 'rom cafés to clinics: Consumer attitudes toward human-like and machine-like service robot failures', International Journal of Hospitality Management, 131, 104319, pp. 1 - 4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104319.
Abstract: This study examines consumer evaluations of robotic service failures caused by human interference by integrating service context, robot appearance, and individual anthropomorphism tendencies into a unified model. Two between-subjects experiments were conducted. In Study 1 (N = 402), participants interacted with a healthcare or food-service bot that failed due to verbal interference. Healthcare service failure elicited significantly more negative attitudes and lower failure tolerance than food service failure, and failure tolerance fully mediated the relationship between context and attitudes. In Study 2 (N = 213), we employed a 2 × 2 design (healthcare vs. food services × human-like vs. machine-like robot) and measured perceived deservingness and trait anthropomorphism. Human-like robots were judged most harshly when failing in healthcare (vs. food) services, whereas machine-like robots received similar evaluations across contexts. Perceived deservingness of the robot mediated this interaction. Moreover, the moderated-mediation effect occurred only among individuals with low to medium anthropomorphism tendencies. By positioning failure tolerance and deservingness judgments as core mechanisms in human–robot interaction, our findings advance theoretical understanding of moral attributions in service failure. Practically, they highlight the importance of matching robot anthropomorphic cues to service criticality: less human-like designs in high-stakes environments, while more human-like appearances may be appropriate in lower-stakes settings.
Description: Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
URI: https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31349
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104319
ISSN: 0278-4319
Other Identifiers: ORCiD: Ezgi Merdin-Uygur https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4065-7336
ORCiD: Selcen Ozturkcan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2248-0802
Article number: 104319
Appears in Collections:Brunel Business School Research Papers

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