TY - JOUR
T1 - Brave new world
T2 - service robots in the frontline
AU - Wirtz, Jochen
AU - Patterson, Paul G.
AU - Kunz, Werner H.
AU - Gruber, Thorsten
AU - Lu, Vinh Nhat
AU - Paluch, Stefanie
AU - Martins, Antje
N1 - Funding Information:
All authors contributed equally to this paper. The authors like to acknowledge the following individuals for their valuable feedback to earlier drafts of this paper (in alphabetical order): Russell Belk, Martina Ĉaić, Julia Hagel, Tae Woo Kim and Jasper Teow. Furthermore, the authors thank the attendees of the presentations based on this paper (in chronological order) at the Thought Leadership Conference “Theorizing beyond the Horizon: Service Research in 2050” (Brisbane, November 2017), the Research Seminar Series, Marketing Division as Nottingham University Business School (Nottingham, April 2018), the 10th SERVSIG Conference (Paris, June 2018), and the 11th European Association of Consumer Research Conference (Gent, June 2018) for their lively discussions and helpful suggestions and ideas. Finally, the authors thank Pascal Bornet for presenting McKinsey and Company’s approach and current projects on robotics and AI in service delivery and discussing the ideas with the authors (Singapore, May 2018).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Jochen Wirtz, Paul G. Patterson, Werner H. Kunz, Thorsten Gruber, Vinh Nhat Lu, Stefanie Paluch and Antje Martins.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Purpose: The service sector is at an inflection point with regard to productivity gains and service industrialization similar to the industrial revolution in manufacturing that started in the eighteenth century. Robotics in combination with rapidly improving technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), mobile, cloud, big data and biometrics will bring opportunities for a wide range of innovations that have the potential to dramatically change service industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential role service robots will play in the future and to advance a research agenda for service researchers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a conceptual approach that is rooted in the service, robotics and AI literature. Findings: The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it provides a definition of service robots, describes their key attributes, contrasts their features and capabilities with those of frontline employees, and provides an understanding for which types of service tasks robots will dominate and where humans will dominate. Second, this paper examines consumer perceptions, beliefs and behaviors as related to service robots, and advances the service robot acceptance model. Third, it provides an overview of the ethical questions surrounding robot-delivered services at the individual, market and societal level. Practical implications: This paper helps service organizations and their management, service robot innovators, programmers and developers, and policymakers better understand the implications of a ubiquitous deployment of service robots. Originality/value: This is the first conceptual paper that systematically examines key dimensions of robot-delivered frontline service and explores how these will differ in the future.
AB - Purpose: The service sector is at an inflection point with regard to productivity gains and service industrialization similar to the industrial revolution in manufacturing that started in the eighteenth century. Robotics in combination with rapidly improving technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), mobile, cloud, big data and biometrics will bring opportunities for a wide range of innovations that have the potential to dramatically change service industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential role service robots will play in the future and to advance a research agenda for service researchers. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a conceptual approach that is rooted in the service, robotics and AI literature. Findings: The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, it provides a definition of service robots, describes their key attributes, contrasts their features and capabilities with those of frontline employees, and provides an understanding for which types of service tasks robots will dominate and where humans will dominate. Second, this paper examines consumer perceptions, beliefs and behaviors as related to service robots, and advances the service robot acceptance model. Third, it provides an overview of the ethical questions surrounding robot-delivered services at the individual, market and societal level. Practical implications: This paper helps service organizations and their management, service robot innovators, programmers and developers, and policymakers better understand the implications of a ubiquitous deployment of service robots. Originality/value: This is the first conceptual paper that systematically examines key dimensions of robot-delivered frontline service and explores how these will differ in the future.
KW - 512 Business and Management
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - Consumer behaviour
KW - Ethics
KW - Markets
KW - Privacy
KW - Service robots
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054004996&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0119
DO - 10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0119
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054004996
SN - 1757-5818
VL - 29
SP - 907
EP - 931
JO - Journal of Service Management
JF - Journal of Service Management
IS - 5
ER -
