“Servant” versus “Partner”: Investigating the effect of service robot personas on customer misbehavior

Research indicates that customers are more likely to misbehave toward service robots than toward humans. Nonetheless, the relationship between perceived service robot power and customer misbehavior remains underexplored. From the perspective of customer–robot power comparison, we categorize a robot’s persona as either “servant” or “partner.” Leveraging the social comparison theory of power, we examine the association between service robot personas and customer misbehavior. Three scenario-based studies reveal that customers are more prone to misbehavior when interacting with servant robots than partner robot, driven by increased psychological entitlement. This effect is mitigated among customers with low power distance beliefs and when robots employ social-oriented communication. Our findings offer both theoretical contributions and practical recommendations for designing service robots that foster positive customer interactions and reduce customer misbehavior.