Project Details
Description
Today’s service customers are no longer mere bystanders but active participants and “partial employees,” who contribute ideas and suggestions for improving service processes. Such customer voice is a critical form of engagement that firms actively seek to enhance but often struggle to achieve; in their daily interactions, 96% of customers resist voicing their opinions (Hyken 2020). Furthermore, among the limited research into drivers of customer voice behaviors, we find little consideration of the potential effects of advanced technologies, such as artificial agents (AA; e.g., robots, chatbots), when leveraged alongside human service employees. Such uses are increasingly common though, and AA are taking over substantial service provision roles.
In an effort to address the potentially critical relationship between using AA and promoting customer voice, the proposed study will examine how customers perceive multi-agent service teams (comprising human employees and AA) and the resulting effects on their voice behaviors. By leveraging self-categorization theory (Turner 1999), we propose that two opposing mechanisms determine the effects of human–AA (vs. human-human) service teams on customer voice behaviors: trait complementarity (TC) and trait transference (TT). Furthermore, we account for two key forms of customer voice—promotive and prohibitive—to specify their distinctive implications for firms. Beyond these focal considerations, our research will include various contextual factors, such as customer characteristics, collaboration form, and team features, with the recognition that they might also influence the effects of human–AA teams on customer voice behavior.
Some preliminary findings provide initial evidence that both forms of customer voice behavior are prevalent in human–AA service team settings. To test the main hypotheses, we plan to conduct a series of studies, incorporating both field and
experimental methodologies. We have secured collaboration letters from companies in multiple service contexts, which promises to enhance the feasibility of our studies.
The proposed research project will represent the first empirical effort to elucidate the intricate interplay among human service providers, AA, and service customers engaged in voice behaviors. We believe the resulting findings can enrich scholarly understanding of appropriate strategies for promoting various customer behaviors in contemporary, technology-driven service landscapes. They also will offer insights into some bright and dark sides of adopting human–AA service teams and reveal underlying psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions that drive these effects, which can provide valuable insights to firms seeking to navigate the evolving contemporary service landscape effectively.
In an effort to address the potentially critical relationship between using AA and promoting customer voice, the proposed study will examine how customers perceive multi-agent service teams (comprising human employees and AA) and the resulting effects on their voice behaviors. By leveraging self-categorization theory (Turner 1999), we propose that two opposing mechanisms determine the effects of human–AA (vs. human-human) service teams on customer voice behaviors: trait complementarity (TC) and trait transference (TT). Furthermore, we account for two key forms of customer voice—promotive and prohibitive—to specify their distinctive implications for firms. Beyond these focal considerations, our research will include various contextual factors, such as customer characteristics, collaboration form, and team features, with the recognition that they might also influence the effects of human–AA teams on customer voice behavior.
Some preliminary findings provide initial evidence that both forms of customer voice behavior are prevalent in human–AA service team settings. To test the main hypotheses, we plan to conduct a series of studies, incorporating both field and
experimental methodologies. We have secured collaboration letters from companies in multiple service contexts, which promises to enhance the feasibility of our studies.
The proposed research project will represent the first empirical effort to elucidate the intricate interplay among human service providers, AA, and service customers engaged in voice behaviors. We believe the resulting findings can enrich scholarly understanding of appropriate strategies for promoting various customer behaviors in contemporary, technology-driven service landscapes. They also will offer insights into some bright and dark sides of adopting human–AA service teams and reveal underlying psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions that drive these effects, which can provide valuable insights to firms seeking to navigate the evolving contemporary service landscape effectively.
| Status | Not started |
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