Academic Research
The Dark Side of Fairness: How Perceived Fairness in Service Robot Implementation Leads to Employee Dysfunctional Behavior
The purpose of this study is to explore the unexpected effects of perceived fairness in the implementation of service robots on employee dysfunctional behavior within the hospitality industry. Contrary to the conventional view that perceived fairness always leads to positive outcomes, this study examines how fairness perceptions can increase negative behaviors through unmet expectations, overconfidence in job security and complacency. The moderating role of transformational leadership is also investigated to understand how it can mitigate these negative effects.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-09-2024-0508
Authors: Taeshik Gong
ABSTRACT
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the unexpected effects of perceived fairness in the implementation of service robots on employee dysfunctional behavior within the hospitality industry. Contrary to the conventional view that perceived fairness always leads to positive outcomes, this study examines how fairness perceptions can increase negative behaviors through unmet expectations, overconfidence in job security and complacency. The moderating role of transformational leadership is also investigated to understand how it can mitigate these negative effects.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data from 400 employees in the hospitality sector who have experienced the integration of service robots in their work environment. Using quantitative analysis techniques, the relationships between perceived fairness, employee dysfunctional behavior, unmet expectations, overconfidence, complacency and transformational leadership were examined.
Findings
The findings reveal that perceived fairness in service robot implementation can unexpectedly lead to increased employee dysfunctional behavior, particularly when it results in unmet expectations, overconfidence and complacency. However, transformational leadership was found to significantly moderate these effects, reducing the likelihood of dysfunctional behaviors by realigning employee perceptions and expectations with organizational objectives.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the service marketing literature by challenging the assumption that perceived fairness always yields positive outcomes, highlighting the potential for fairness to produce unintended negative consequences in service robot implementation. It also identifies transformational leadership as a key factor in mitigating these effects, offering practical insights for hospitality managers on how to ensure successful integration of service robots by actively managing employee expectations and behaviors.
The Role of Materialism and Social Judgment in Human-chatbot Service Interactions
Chatbots are increasingly deployed in services and marketing applications, although they are often met with scepticism. To explore how such scepticism can be reduced, this study aims to examine how materialism and social judgment influence human–chatbot interactions.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-06-2024-0288
Authors: Rajat Roy, Vik Naidoo
ABSTRACT
Purpose
Chatbots are increasingly deployed in services and marketing applications, although they are often met with scepticism. To explore how such scepticism can be reduced, this study aims to examine how materialism and social judgment influence human–chatbot interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct one pre-test, two laboratory experiments and one simulated study conducted in the field, to test the premises.
Findings
The studies show that when material pursuit is guided by positive (negative) values, subjects prefer a chatbot that is perceived warm (competent) versus perceived competent (warm). This, in turn, leads to favourable purchase decisions for services with perceived homophily mediating this effect.
Research limitations/implications
The work addresses the call for more research on how human–robot interactions can be improved applied to a services context. While the findings are novel, they are not without limitations which in turn lay a path for future research.
Practical implications
The findings have implications for driving more strategic value out of how marketing and service managers can improve the interface design in human–chatbot interactions.
Originality/value
The propositions demonstrate a novel framing in suggesting that positive (vs negative) values underpinning material pursuit can lead to a preference for perceived warm (vs competent) chatbots, which further guide favourable decision-making.
How Consumers Self-manage Service Interaction Vulnerability to Autonomously Improve Satisfaction Modes
This paper aims to better understand the relationships between consumer expectation-experience mismatches, the dissonance-induced service interaction vulnerability that arises from these mismatches, and the strategies consumers experiencing vulnerability autonomously enact to self-manage their satisfaction modes.This paper qualitatively (n = 20) explores the role of gist representations, being the essence of services marketing information that is used to generate an abstract mental picture. Specifically, this research explores the influence of gist representations in creating pre-commencement expectations among consumers experiencing vulnerability. It exposes how unmet gist-informed expectations induce consumer service interaction vulnerability and trigger autonomous vulnerability responses to elicit Oliver’s (1989) various modes of satisfaction. Three research propositions are tested in a complex multi-touchpoint service ecosystem.Data revealed that unmet expectations triggered a two-phased autonomous inaction-then-action response, with inaction resulting in either tolerance or regret satisfaction modes, followed by action, which results in either pleasure or relief satisfaction modes.Growing research into service interaction vulnerability seeks to understand the role consumers experiencing vulnerability play in improving their experience within service ecosystems. These findings provide insights to strategically shape service ecosystem design to mitigate interaction vulnerability by applying a strengths-based lens that foregrounds consumers’ capacity for autonomous dissonance responses to self-manage service interaction vulnerability and self-improve their consumer satisfaction modes.
Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-04-2024-0193
Authors: Courtney Geritz, Maria M. Raciti
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to better understand the relationships between consumer expectation-experience mismatches, the dissonance-induced service interaction vulnerability that arises from these mismatches, and the strategies consumers experiencing vulnerability autonomously enact to self-manage their satisfaction modes.This paper qualitatively (n = 20) explores the role of gist representations, being the essence of services marketing information that is used to generate an abstract mental picture. Specifically, this research explores the influence of gist representations in creating pre-commencement expectations among consumers experiencing vulnerability. It exposes how unmet gist-informed expectations induce consumer service interaction vulnerability and trigger autonomous vulnerability responses to elicit Oliver’s (1989) various modes of satisfaction. Three research propositions are tested in a complex multi-touchpoint service ecosystem.Data revealed that unmet expectations triggered a two-phased autonomous inaction-then-action response, with inaction resulting in either tolerance or regret satisfaction modes, followed by action, which results in either pleasure or relief satisfaction modes.Growing research into service interaction vulnerability seeks to understand the role consumers experiencing vulnerability play in improving their experience within service ecosystems. These findings provide insights to strategically shape service ecosystem design to mitigate interaction vulnerability by applying a strengths-based lens that foregrounds consumers’ capacity for autonomous dissonance responses to self-manage service interaction vulnerability and self-improve their consumer satisfaction modes.
Out of the Public Eye: The Art of Redirection in Webcare Apologies
Out of the public eye: the art of redirection in webcare apologiesLaurel Johnston, Joanna Phillips Melancon, J. Sebastian LeguizamonJournal of Services Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-In response to the growing popularity of brands’ using social media as a customer service channel (webcare), this research examines how companies redirect consumers from the public social media feed to a private channel. The purpose of this paper is to understand how to redirect consumers using service failure apologies and to discuss personalization’s role in these service recoveries.A text mining study reveals how companies use redirection on social media. Then, two experiments test the impact of redirection types and personalization on consumer perceptions and intentions.Service representatives frequently require consumers to initiate the first message after redirecting them from the public social media feed (a consumer-responsible redirection). Personalizing webcare apologies increases repurchase intentions and relational advocacy regardless of the redirection strategy used. Consumers are more likely to publicly respond to companies that initiate the first message in a private channel (a company-responsible redirection).Although most service providers require consumers to co-produce service recovery redirections (consumer-responsible redirection), this requirement may not be optimal. If a consumer-responsible redirection must be used, then personalization may improve consumers’ perceptions of webcare apology’s sincerity.To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test different types of redirections in webcare. The authors extend the literature on personalization and webcare apologies by examining how these webcare components operate with redirections. The need to prevent public complaints’ spiraling out of control contributes to this research’s timely value.
Paper Link: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/jsm-12-2023-0446/full/html
Authors: Laurel Johnston, Joanna Phillips Melancon, J. Sebastian Leguizamon
ABSTRACT
Out of the public eye: the art of redirection in webcare apologiesLaurel Johnston, Joanna Phillips Melancon, J. Sebastian LeguizamonJournal of Services Marketing, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.-In response to the growing popularity of brands’ using social media as a customer service channel (webcare), this research examines how companies redirect consumers from the public social media feed to a private channel. The purpose of this paper is to understand how to redirect consumers using service failure apologies and to discuss personalization’s role in these service recoveries.A text mining study reveals how companies use redirection on social media. Then, two experiments test the impact of redirection types and personalization on consumer perceptions and intentions.Service representatives frequently require consumers to initiate the first message after redirecting them from the public social media feed (a consumer-responsible redirection). Personalizing webcare apologies increases repurchase intentions and relational advocacy regardless of the redirection strategy used. Consumers are more likely to publicly respond to companies that initiate the first message in a private channel (a company-responsible redirection).Although most service providers require consumers to co-produce service recovery redirections (consumer-responsible redirection), this requirement may not be optimal. If a consumer-responsible redirection must be used, then personalization may improve consumers’ perceptions of webcare apology’s sincerity.To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test different types of redirections in webcare. The authors extend the literature on personalization and webcare apologies by examining how these webcare components operate with redirections. The need to prevent public complaints’ spiraling out of control contributes to this research’s timely value.