Abstract
PurposeThe technological revolution in the service sector is radically changing the ways in which and with whom consumers co-create value. This conceptual paper considers social robots in elderly care services and outlines ways in which their human-like affect and cognition influence users’ social perceptions and anticipations of robots’ value co-creation or co-destruction potential. A future research agenda offers relevant, conceptually robust directions for stimulating the advancement of knowledge and understanding in this nascent field.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from service, robotics and social cognition research, this paper develops a conceptual understanding of the value co-creation/destruction potential of social robots in services.FindingsThree theoretical propositions construct an iterative framework of users’ evaluations of social robots in services. First, social robots offer users value propositions leveraging affective and cognitive resources. Second, users’ personal values become salient through interactions with social robots’ affective and cognitive resources. Third, users evaluate social robots’ value co-creation/destruction potential according to social cognition dimensions.Originality/valueSocial robots in services are an emerging topic in service research and hold promising implications for organizations and users. This relevant, conceptually robust framework advances scholarly understanding of their opportunities and pitfalls for realizing value. This study also identifies guidelines for service managers for designing and introducing social robots into complex service environments.
Highlights
Social robots, defined as fully or partially automated technologies that co-create value with humans through their social functionalities, represent a rapidly growing element of service industries, where they perform frontline tasks
This conceptual paper focusses on the value of social robots in services, an area which is still in its infancy
The paper argues that because of their human-like appearance, minds and behaviours activating the social cognition mechanisms of users, different personal values might become activated compared to interacting with non-human technologies
Summary
Social robots, defined as fully or partially automated technologies that co-create value with humans through their social functionalities, represent a rapidly growing element of service industries, where they perform frontline tasks. Congruence between value propositions and users’ values The theoretical background of the paper emphasizes how: robots’ value propositions promise an improved wellbeing; subjective well-being can be assessed through cognitive and affective evaluations of one’s life; users activate the mechanisms of social cognition when interacting with human-like social robots; personal values are desirable end-states that when activated in context affect cognitive and affective evaluations (i.e. perceived value of the robot) and influence behaviours (i.e. robot acceptance); and (v) users’ perceived value combines trade-off, dynamic, and experiential evaluations or the value co-creation and co-destruction potential of social robots in services. Robo-sapiens should effectively combine both feature groups such that they would provide the most appropriate remedy for that person at the time while considering her or his emotional state, and perhaps, they would engage in comforting conversation before issuing the medication reminder In service contexts such as healthcare that require service providers to exhibit both affective and cognitive capabilities, social robots can co-create or co-destroy value.
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