Although Pitiless,Yet Moving:The Effect of Apology Subject on Consumer Forgiveness When AI-enabled Ro-bot Service Fails
An AI-enabled robot is defined as an autonomous device that utilizes artificial intelligence and robotics technology to com-municate,interact with customers,and deliver service value.With ongoing optimization of algorithms and technologies,AI-enabled robots have penetrated numerous service sectors,including hos-pitality,catering,and tourism.These robots assist or even replace human staff in various service roles,such as front desk attendants,concierges,bartenders,and tour guides.For instance,Pepper,a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Group in Japan,has been deployed as a server in multiple restaurants,including Pizza Hut locations across Asia,where it manages orders and interacts with customers.However,due to the current limitations of AI-enabled robots'intelligence,the diversity of service scenarios,and the high costs associated with their implementation,failures in service pro-cesses involving these robots are inevitable.For example,the intel-ligent robots at Japan's Henn-na Hotel have faced numerous com-plaints due to communication barriers and their inability to provide necessary assistance.Reports indicate that they have mistakenly awakened guests at night by misinterpreting snoring as a command,ultimately leading to their"layoff".Service enterprises in hospital-ity,catering,and tourism are increasingly recognizing that if they do not implement reasonable and effective service remediation mea-sures to obtain customer forgiveness following AI-enabled robot service failures,they will incur irreparable losses.Previous research has primarily focused on the issues of AI-en-abled robot service failures and their remedies,largely emphasizing factors such as anthropomorphism and cuteness in design,hu-man-robot interaction strategies like humor,and the attribution of responsibility.However,few scholars have explored the emotional dimension to investigate the differences in effectiveness and the un-derlying mechanisms of apologies and remedies provided by AI-en-abled robots compared to human employees within this unique context.In practice,a common and technically straightforward remediation strategy following an AI-enabled robot service failure is to offer an apology.Effective apology remediation primarily operates through the expression of empathy,which elicits a recipro-cal empathetic response from the customer toward the apologizer,ultimately achieving consumer forgiveness.Thus,do AI-enabled robots,often perceived as"pitiless"in their apologies,struggle to engage customers emotionally?Is human employee intervention in apology remediation effective?This paper addresses these questions by examining the impact of the apology subject(AI-enabled robots versus human employees)on consumer forgiveness in the context of AI-enabled robot service failures,grounded in the theoretical framework of"apology-empathy-forgiveness".The hypotheses proposed in this paper were tested through four scenario experiments.In Study 1,we designed a service failure scenario involving an AI-enabled robot set in a science museum.The results indicated that,in the context of AI-enabled robot service failure,a human employee's apology is more effective in promot-ing consumer forgiveness compared to the"pitiless"apology of an AI-enabled robot,with consumer affective empathy acting as a me-diator.In Study 2,we examined the moderating role of AI-enabled robot anthropomorphism on the relationship between the apology subject and affective empathy.The findings revealed that the degree of AI-enabled robot anthropomorphism moderates the effect of the apology subject on affective empathy;highly anthropomorphized AI-enabled robots significantly enhance consumer affective empa-thy.Study 3 investigated the scenario of AI-enabled robot service failure and tested the second-order moderating effect of service fail-ure severity on the anthropomorphism of AI-enabled robots.The re-sults demonstrated that when the severity of service failure is high,the enhancing effect of a highly anthropomorphized AI-enabled robot's apology on consumer affective empathy is weakened.Study 4 examined the moderating role of consumers'implicit personality theories and explored group differences in consumer forgiveness following AI-enabled robot service failures.The results indicated that for consumers who are entity theorists,apologies from human employees(compared to those from AI-enabled robots)are more ef-fective in promoting forgiveness.However,there was no significant difference in the forgiveness willingness of the incremental theo-rists regarding different apology subject.The conclusions of this paper have significant theoretical implica-tions.First,it responds to scholars'calls for identifying a balance point in human-robot collaboration,while continuing and refining research on the three core roles of"AI-human-consumer"in the service domain.It examines the direct impact of different apol-ogizing entities(AI-enabled robots versus human employees)on consumer forgiveness,providing new perspectives and insights into the research on AI-enabled robot service failures and human-robot collaboration.Second,the study highlights the distinctiveness of AI-enabled robot apologies compared to traditional interpersonal apologies,revealing the underlying mechanisms that render AI-en-abled robot apologies less emotionally resonant.By introducing the Emotions as Social Information(EASI)model,it elucidates the mediating role of affective empathy in the influence of apologizing entities on consumer forgiveness.This indicates that consumers still expect emotional remediation from human peers following AI-en-abled robot service failures,providing an emotional perspective to explain research on AI-enabled service failures and remedies.Final-ly,this paper pioneers the application of the"apology-empathy-for-giveness"framework to AI research,establishing a comprehensive and effective theoretical model within the context of AI-enabled robot service failures.It proposes and verifies multiple boundary conditions across three dimensions:design characteristics,service scenarios,and personality traits,thereby enriching the scope and depth of the framework's application and offering more comprehen-sive and flexible problem-solving and predictive mechanisms.This paper presents significant practical implications for service enterprises regarding the construction and optimization of AI-en-abled robot design frameworks,as well as the formulation of effec-tive remediation measures for AI-enabled robot service failures.First,businesses should prioritize human-machine collaboration by acknowledging that the"soft skills"lacking in AI-enabled ro-bots—such as sincerity and empathy—can be enhanced by human employees.Second,companies need to emphasize the importance of anthropomorphic design and the empathy function of AI-enabled robots.Lastly,in response to AI-enabled robot service failures,en-terprises should develop remediation measures tailored to specific customer profiles.
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